Whittington Hospital Emergency Department

"4 hour wait for my 1 year old vomiting and in distress despite having an urgent referral from a doctor with a set time. I was given a vomit bowl :s Not impressed. Then a rushed consultation. It gave me the reassurance I sought and the help we needed and I’m grateful for the help however they took so long, their pharmacy closed and I had to return the next day for his medication. I’m sure this is a reflection of the state of the NHS and not the hospital itself."

"Had the misfortune of bringing my daughter to the pediatric a&e here. Waiting area is filthy with rubbish lying all around... once we finally got a room there was rubbish in there (used cups, paper towels, and syringes) and the bed we were given was only 1/2 wiped down (I watched the nurse do this). When she finally arrived I heard the cleaning lady complaining about the state of the unit, and the nurse said "that's because no one comes to clean after 6pm." Grim. No communication about wait times or what is happening. Waited 2 hours for a blood test. The nurses put numbing cream on my daughter to prep for drawing blood, and then drew blood from an area without numbing cream. Asked several times about the blood results and was told by the nurse they hadn't arrived. Finally found a doctor to check and the results had actually arrived 3 hours previously. Waited 5 hours for an ECG, had to remind the nurses several times that I was waiting... the last time I went to remind them I found the nurse asleep at the station. She startled and went to get the machine immediately... so I guess she just forgot / couldn't be bothered about it earlier? The nurse then acted annoyed that my toddler was screaming while doing the ECG, but offered no help, kind words, or distraction. The doctor had to ask the nurses no less than 3 times to remove my daughter's IV catheter so we could leave. Nurses and doctors laugh and talk loudly at 4am right outside the room. No one came to check on us at all, even though we were meant to be under observation. No snacks for children provided (there's only a vending machine with unhealthy options) so my hungry screaming child had nothing to eat in the AM as she blew through all of our snacks through the extremely long wait time in the evening. Go to Homerton if you can."

"Waited 7 hours to be seen. Waiting room was awful and unhygienic- wouldnt be surprised if i catch something from waiting in there. Nurse who took my blood was incompetent and poked me over 7 times and wiggled the needle inside me causing pain.. Very poor communication from the waiting room staff. Left there worse than how I arrived."

"My TODDLER’s condition got worse so they gave me ibuprofen in a syringe to give to him. My child was fighting as usual and I DROPPED it on their DIRTY floor. I asked for a new one and one of the nurses said “ you can still give it to him just don’t put it in his mouth”. HOW CAN YOU GIVE MEDICINE THAT DROPPED ON THE FLOOR TO A SICK CHILD? She thought as long as it doesn’t touch his mouth it’s okay. I was absolutely DISGUSTED by the level of hygiene from that nurse."

"Not even 1 star. Absolute worst hospital i've ever been to!! been waiting for 4.5 hours at A&E, just to be told i should take paracetamol. Even though i had a bad fever, high temp, shortness of breath and so on for almost a week. they never did any checks on me what so ever. And the doctor/nurse didn't seem to care about my symptoms and was just rushing it. Did not listen to me at all. Even asked for a blood check and she said no. And just send me out again. They didn't even had a proper room to treat me. It was a plaster room. Went to a proper hospital a day later, turns out i had pneumonia. Which they would have seen if they have done their jobs right. It is absolutely unacceptable the way i was treated here. And i'm sure many others. Disgusting. Will never go back there again."