Quote: Ferocious Aardvark "So you actually know the specific method that triage nurses use to prioritise patients in "many A&E"'s do you? I'm impressed. I won't ask you to reveal where you got this information, but perhaps you could quote the official triage methods in use at just one specific hospital A&E which to your knowledge has a triage system that does not, in fact, triage whatsoever but just places people in a straight queue without any regard at all to the nature of their problem.
I am familiar with the method used at Bradford Royal Infirmary, where most certainly each case is individually and carefully assessed, and given a priority based on the triage assessment. Maybe BRI is unique, though?'"
Well I have visited a number of A&E's these last few years! I can say that I distinctly recall one particular occassion where the "careful assesment" you refer to was carried out by a very young nurse, who did not have a clue what we were talking about and we had to spell all the words for her! Given that advice at that stage was never to be more than 20 minutes away from a major hospital in case of emergency and then we were left to sit with an unconscious child for 3 hours on a hard chair in a cold reception area I can safely say the triage was ineffective. So much so that we subsequently asked for and were granted open access to a ward to avoid a repeat.
I am a great believer and lover of the NHS but for people to come on here and tell me everything is great (when in my EXTENSIVE personal experience it is very often absolutely CRAP and sometimes outright dangerous) is a joke. Things will never improve if people do not accet the faults. As I said previously, it may be that hospitals up North are better - certainly Queens Nottingham was better than the ones down here.