"Sent to A&E by 111 service for help with covid cough"

I had previously tested positive for covid. My daughter rang 111 because I had been coughing non stop for over 24 hours and was struggling to breathe. They sent me to a and e. I didn't want to go. I just wanted advice, but I went.

The nurse on the desk asked why i was there. They scoffed and said 'you just described the symptoms of covid! That's just what it is. Everyone who has it gets those symptoms!' I sat in the freezing cold doorway for an hour whilst ambulance brought people past me. And other patients were standing and waiting in the area. I told a mother with a baby that i was positive for covid.

I then sat in a cold corridor on a plastic chair for nearly 3 more hours...apart from half an hour on a more comfortable chair that I asked for, because I have a damaged coccyx... Doing my utmost not to cough and trying to breathe. I asked for a blanket because I was so cold. They just moved me further around the corner and put me back on the plastic chair. I had to keep moving so they could bring beds through.

I began to have a panic attack and struggled to get my breath. I tried to explain it to the doctor, but they just walked away whilst I was trying to to get the words out. I started to cry. Then another nurse came to take me to xray. They wanted me to walk, but I had been told they would bring a wheelchair. 

This nurse then shouted at me that 'you can breathe. You couldn't tell me that you can't breathe if you actually can't breathe.' I was already miserable and embarrassed and I just wanted to leave.

After my xray, the doctor came up to me and said that they had looked at my xray and there is nothing other than covid so I could go home. I was still upset and said that it had all been a waste of time. They left. I had to ask for someone to take the canula out of my arm. 

I then asked if someone could give me some advice about the original reason for calling 111, which was what I could do about the coughing. The nurse fetched the doctor who said...'you have covid. There are no pills for covid.'

I told them I wanted advice. They told me to lie on my stomach.

The experience was humiliating, scary, miserable and uncomfortable. I will have to be very poorly to go to Lincoln hospital again.

I also would like to point out that very few nurses wore gloves. There were signs everywhere saying that ppe must be worn. Most of them only wore a mask. On the blue covid zone!