There are few places as extreme as a hospital’s Emergency (ED) Department.

I was in CUH’s ED last weekend and what goes on there each and every day is incredible.

You see and meet all types of people there - we are all equally in need of emergency care!

It’s not a pleasant place - I wonder how staff get used to such a seemingly chaotic working environment which is often filled with the sound of people in pain. It’s very hard to hear children especially, scream and moan in discomfort.

I got there around 6pm on Saturday after getting hit in the head. I didn’t have any symptoms but a medic from CUH who treated me when it happened at a match said that CUH was the only place to go to have a head injury seen. And she said that I must have it seen to as head injuries can be so dangerous.

I’ve read quite a lot about head injuries and concussion so I had to listen to her and so I headed to CUH without having showered or picked up much food etc. It was very busy there as you would expect on a Saturday evening with lots of listless, ill children around. Registering was quick and straightforward. It took awhile more to be triaged - initially examined by someone. After that I was brought back to A+E proper where there were ‘pods’. These were a high backed chair with a small wing sticking out on each side to give a little privacy. Just a little privacy though as there are people constantly moving around all the time.

The woman next to me was there with her partner and she seemed to have an appendix issue. After a few hours, she got a bed on a ward as she would need an operation. I knew all this because the surgeon talked to her while I sat next to her.

There were older people on seats and on trolleys with their offspring, there were young kids in the arms of their parents in various states of distress and people in their teens and 20s and 30s sitting in seats patiently for hours.

Those in greatest immediate need are seen first, so I and many of the people around me, once the woman with the appendix issues had gone were all lower priority as we weren’t in need of immediate assistance. Generally people were very patient as they waited, although not all. One man cursed busy medics for failing to get him a sandwich.

As the night dragged on, some people tried to sleep although it was uncomfortable in the high backed chairs. Dawn arrived although you wouldn’t know it as nothing changed in the brightly lit waiting area. I was seen after 8am, around 14 hours after I arrived. The doctor looked fresh so he must have been on the morning shift.

After a 15 minute consultation and checkup, I was given a clear bill of health and could leave.

I was very glad to get out of there and the staff who work there have my utmost respect. They need more resources to make their lives and those of the patients better.