I think there's actually something in the 'can't be bothered' argument. We went to A and E recently with DH and a suspected fracture, and - surprise surprise - it was actually TOTALLY EMPTY OF PATIENTS at 9am in the morning (i.e. beginning of a shift), and we still waited 45 minutes for an x-ray etc.
Another time I went mid-morning with DS2, who definitely had a fractured collar bone, and after the x-ray they left us over an hour in the children's play area with the usual 'you will be seen in order' statement, but then I eventually realised there were absolutely no other patients anywhere in there either (I am a bit trusting and slow on the uptake sometimes). So I knocked on the nurses station door to say I was going to leave as there was no treatment for a broken collar bone anyway, except a sling which I knew how to do myself, and suddenly we were 'next' to be seen and the doctor immediately appeared, etc. There had been three paediatric nurses in there with their feet up, basically, and they looked a bit guilty when I caught them, so I assume this was, shall we say, a somewhat additional tea break, and I suspect not related to the fact they may have been rushed off their feet all day without a moment to themselves, etc etc. I think they forgot we were there and generally couldn't be arsed, basically. I also wonder if they suddenly saw "Dr BoffinMum" on his notes and got scared when I started displaying some medical know-how (I am not actually a medical doctor but I find it doesn't do any harm if sometimes nurses etc are unsure of the facts).
I have to say though if I was a fellow nurse I would be very unimpressed that they were behaving like this. If we did this with our students at the university, leaving them parked in corridors for an hour at a time for no reason, we would be in big trouble.