New A&E waiting room 'too small', patients claim

The waiting area of a new £58m emergency department (ED) is "too small", patients have told the BBC

The building at Queen Alexandra (QA) Hospital opened its doors in November.

Hospital bosses promised "a better experience" for patients, but some have told BBC Radio Solent that they found it to be "heaving".

Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust said the room was "very full" during high demand.

The new ED at the QA Hospital replaced the previous building which dated from the late 70s and had seen lengthy waiting times and long ambulance queues in recent years.

Announcing its opening last year, the trust said it had "the patient journey at its centre" with extra space for seriously ill patients and "custom designed areas for care to be delivered".

The new building has a separate waiting area and ED for patients under 18 years old.

However callers to BBC Radio Solent, as part of a day of reports on waiting times in hospitals in the UK, said the new waiting area for adults was not fit for the level of demand.

Kevin from Petersfield said he walked in to the ED with breathing difficulties at the beginning of December.

"It was heaving, I thought about just going home. I'm frightened to go again."

Another contributor, Julie from Portsmouth, explained that she was sent to the ED by 111 as she had chest pains.

"Some people had been sat in chairs all night, for more than 11 hours."

She added staff were bringing out extra chairs because people were sat on the floor or stood up.

"They were also giving people sandwiches and hot drinks."

Julie praised the staff saying she was triaged quickly and her treatment was good.

"The staff were great, the waiting space was not."

Kevin said: "Lots of people had brought two relatives with them, which makes the situation worse.

"The hospital needs to say only the patients can wait when it gets like that."

Portsmouth Hospitals Trust did not confirmed the capacity of the new waiting room and whether it has more or less seats than the previous one.

A spokesperson said: "We are very busy and seeing more people attend our emergency department meaning our waiting areas can be very full".

Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust said it was now asking the community to help by only bringing one person when attending the ED, unless coming with a child.

It said limiting the number of people in the hospital would help cut infection.

The trust declared critical incidents three times in three months last winter.

In November, chief nurse Liz Rix had said the new department was not the answer to all their problems but said the hospital was "as prepared as it could be" for winter.

You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.