But the general public don't see it that way. I can remember a bloke with "back pain" post RTA - 6 months post! - who represented at A&E basically looking for evidence to beef up a compensation claim (happens lots in NI) but unluckily got the same Dr... After he had been waiting 4hours + (no 4 hr rule in NI) he said "I'm going home and calling an Ambulance, then I'll get seen", only to be sadly dissapointed by the Dr who told him what would really happen. I worked as a receptionist in A&E for nearly 3 years and sometimes the Ambulance crews booked the patients in, but usually the nurses just thrust the yellow forms at us and left us to it. Not very helpful when you are tryng to find the details on PAS/Symphony. Our triage system was arse about tit to, so you booked in at reception and then waited to be called for triage in the order that you arrived (unless you went straight to cubicles). It wasn't unheard of to be waiting 40mins for triage on a busy day, or longer if the receptionist forgot to click "awaiting triage" on the computer system.... oopsie! A few times some of our frequent flyers were not put on the system for an hour or more as the forms from the crews would be left at the nurses station and no one would pass them on to us. We'd only realise when we saw them wandering up and down and would ask "why is so and so not on the ssytem" and then go and investigate.