As an A&E doctor, I start every consultation these days by apologising for the long wait. For some of my patients, it means a scramble to organise emergency childcare. Others miss the window to access the best treatments for strokes or heart attacks.
The waiting room is a hotbed of emotion. My patients are understandably furious that they’ve been left in a windowless waiting room for hours with limited food and water, inadequate pain relief and little information about when they might be seen (aside from the hourly PA announcement that the current wait time is 15 hours and is expected to increase).
