Hospital waiting

11:27am Wednesday 18th July 2001

We were all delighted when the new hospital building went up at Barnet, since the complex it replaced was outdated.

It seemed like the dawn of a modern age in healthcare. But old habits die hard and I found last week that you wait as long in the new A&E as we did in the bad old days.

I went there with a minor injury and knew I would have to wait to be seen. I had no idea that four-and-a-half hours would elapse before I was attended to.

Why do we have to wait so long for minor treatment? This is not a political inquiry but rather begs the questions: How can hospital management be improved? What would happen if there was a major disaster? I wonder what the hospital's managers think and hope they see a problem as real as the inadequate buildings of yesteryear.

William Sholto

Tudor Road, Barnet