I RECENTLY had to visit Hereford County Hospital A&E. The staff were lovely and I would like to give them top marks, but two things let it down, one of which seriously concerned me.

I was seen quickly by the triage nurse and then by a doctor who ordered tests at about 4pm. One of these tests was an ECG, and I had to wait more than five hours for this to happen.

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Secondly, and more importantly, the new system where all patients wait in the waiting room means that clinical observations are carried out in public, with one nurse doing the observations and shouting the results to another sitting at a computer across the room.

We all therefore heard the following information about each patient: name, date of birth, sometimes first line of address, BP reading, temperature and heart rate. Surely most, if not all of this information should be considered sensitive? One woman was loudly given a bottle and told to produce a urine sample.

I found the whole experience very uncomfortable.

DEBRA THOMAS

Bromyard