Tbh the pasting the OP has got on this thread is why the NHS will never change - how dare anyone question the efficiency of the NHS when every single doctor, nurse, HCA and admin assistant is constantly rushed off their feet at all times and if you say otherwise you're a liar, a troll or just don't understand how the NHS works.
People have been adamant that the OP is wrong despite not being there; "just because it doesn't look busy doesn't mean the staff aren't busy" etc but having been both inpatient and outpatient frequently I have seen first hand how inefficient some wards/departments are. Yes some staff can be multitasking and spinning 1001 plates at the same time but equally there are often times where there is massive inefficiency and general lack of any kind of urgency that should be addressed. We should not have to be grateful that we got out of A&E in 2.5hrs when we could have been out in 1.5hrs if things just happened quicker (emergencies and urgent issues notwithstanding obviously)
For example, last year I was taken into hospital as my iron levels were dangerously low (as in I had a blood test and the GP called me to say there must have been a contaminated sample as it was showing as so low I should not have been conscious so I needed to do another test ... Did the retest at 2pm, was told I would get a call the following day and by 7pm the OOH doctor rang me to tell me to come in immediately, and if I wasn't able to get someone to bring me in then they would send an ambulance to collect me) I needed an immediate iron transfusion.
First one I had in A&E, no issue as I essentially walked in and was whisked straight through as they knew I was coming.
The follow up one I had to have via the hospital day unit. Turned up to the unit which was one single large room, a reception desk, a bank of 5 desks (all occupied by at least one nurse) on one side and about 10 little pods of chairs set into groups of 4/5 with about 3 other people already in the room and hooked up to various infusions.
I walked in and waited at the reception desk for five minutes as various nurses and HCPs stood around the desks chatting. I assumed the receptionist was on a break or off doing something so I eventually asked one of the nurses at the nearest desk (who was working but also recounting her weekend away to her desk neighbours) who I needed to sign in with as I'd been waiting a while for the receptionist and it was almost my appointment time. She just said "Oh we don't have a receptionist in this unit today, what was your name? Yep I can see you're on our list. Iron infusion is it? Just take a seat over there for me and Mary will be over to pop your cannula in and get your transfusion set up in a minute"
Why could she not have spoken up immediately when she saw me waiting? How long would I have been left waiting if I didn't interrupt their conversation? Why did no member of staff ask "Hi, can I help?" when they could clearly see me waiting at the reception desk and they knew they didn't actually have a receptionist?
So, once I took a seat I waited for Mary to come over and insert the cannula ... 20 minutes after I sat down Mary came over with a hospital band for me to wear and then went off again to gather the stuff to put the cannula in which took another 5 minutes. In the intervening 20 minutes Mary had been doing what I would call "busy work" - tidying the equipment shelves and making a list of items they were low on (she was discussing this with another staff member at the desk as they couldn't agree on the number she should order as they were due a delivery the following day etc), wiping down chairs that nobody had been sitting in, organising the files at the desk - that was not urgent and could just have easily been done after she tagged me and put my cannula in so my treatment could get started.
Once I finally had my cannula in and the transfusion hooked up, the machine would occasionally beep as it needed adjusting. The same happened to the couple of other people who were there before me. Every single time the machines would beep, none of the staff came to check them until the person who was hooked up to the beeping machine asked them to come over, once they did so pretty much every time something needed to be adjusted, so it's not like it was just a "you're nearly done" heads up beep it was a "there's an issue" beep.
When my transfusion was finished the machine beeped to say so, and the bag was clearly empty, so Mary came back over to check the machine and stop the beeping. I was then told "Right, that's you done just give me a minute and I'll be back to unhook everything and you're good to go" ... I was then left for another 40 minutes before being unhooked and the cannula removed as every time I asked if someone could come and remove everything I was told "I'll be with you in a minute," and then left again and again until I actually had to say "Its been 40 minutes since my transfusion finished and you've been saying you'll be over in a minute for that entire time. If you can't come and unhook everything then I'll do it myself as I don't have all day to sit here" (I had an important meeting I'd been waiting months for with one of DDs consultants and I had to get across town to attend it and time was just ticking away) at which point she actually came and unhooked everything.
I could understand if the unit was busy, every seat was occupied or there was lots going on, but the whole time that I was there there were no more than 5 patients and about 10-12 staff all milling around the unit. The couple of patients who came in after me all had the same treatment - no communication when they arrived and then absolutely no rush to get them dealt with - and from the tail end of the patients who left before me they all had the same treatment of zero urgency, so it's not like my experience was a one off they just seemed to work under the impression they had all the time in the world. If that is what they were like when it's quiet, I can only imagine how slow things would be if the unit was at full capacity.
I am sure some of them had specialist jobs and others weren't trained that meant they couldn't step in, but from the conversations I got to listen to during the hours I was sat there they all worked on that unit (so nobody popping in to do paperwork on a free computer); none of the staff left the unit while I was there except one who was going on a break and another who went to pick up some files and was gone for 5minutes before coming back so they clearly weren't covering 17 other departments at the same time; they were discussing their workload and the follow ups/prep they were doing for their patients etc as well as their social lives but not one of them were proactive with dealing with the patients in front of them.
If they had put the patients first then we would all have been treated and out of there at least an hour sooner than we were. Am I grateful for the treatment? Of course and I don't envy the work they have to do, but as someone who works in retail and is expected to drop everything for customers and do everything to make their experience as efficient and pleasant as possible, then it was just jarring to walk into a hospital where there was no sense of urgency or prioritising the patients over other jobs.