If you work in A and E, when is the quietest time for a patient to come in?

Tuesday, Wednesdays and Thursdays - after rush hours and shift changes and before the schools close

@NamingConundrum I've ended up in A&E a fair few times due to my endometriosis which is what the cyst was linked to and thankfully that was the worst time and longest wait. I do think there needs to be more strict triage procedures in place though as a lot of people who arrived both before and after me decided they wouldn't wait and went home!

5am Tues, Wednesday, Thursday.
11am Friday
9am Sunday.
Or on the second day of a heatwave, anytime in lockdown, or Christmas Day.
Doctor strike days are also very quiet

@InAMess2023 I'm sorry that's awful! We only ended up in A&E for an hour. Triage was quick, just no beds. When they triaged at the half hour mark they realised there was something very wrong with him an we were moved to an emergency specialist ward. Luckily in our case they did deal with an emergency very quick, but if you'd had an accident and wanted to know if ankle sprained or broken you were stuffed.

@Eightfour you completely misunderstood @InAMess2023’s post. She was saying if you can wait 12 hrs at home to plan your visit you don’t need A&E not once you’re there 🙄

Totally agree.

@Eightfour erm what? My response was to the OP saying they need to be seen within 12 hours?

Reading comprehension please

5pm on Christmas Eve you get seen immediately.

What a stupid post. It’s not if you can wait 12 hours you don’t need A&E, it’s that you have no choice but to wait 12 hours if you need urgent medical attention.

I waited 12+ hours with a broken wrist and I’ve waited 6+ hours to get stitches. Both times I needed to be in A&E and both times I was able to wait but equally couldn’t just leave and go about my life.

With the 12hr wait I saw several people flanked by police having acute mental health crises also having to wait hours and hours. Did they not need A&E either?

Thursday midday!

We were sent by our GP DC had severe headache vomiting, sensitive to light - A&E 25 mins drive.
triaged in 15 mins consultant seen not long after - blood tests etc all done. Very quickly. Thankfully turned out to be first presentation of migraine - but so quick.

@NamingConundrum absolutely this was me the last time I was there. 7pm until 11am

Turned out to be a burst ovarian cyst and I waited 13 hours just to see the first doctor - the poor HCA kept coming round the waiting room taking obs and thankfully I was allowed a few doses of morphine in the meantime after being triaged. Irony is I worked upstairs in the same hospital so ringing in was interesting while my car was in the staff car park downstairs...

I was there one bonfire night expecting it to be filled with burned children (child of the 70's safety films) and they said it was usually one of the quietest days of the year.

You would think, but no.

If you can wait 12 hours then you don't need A&E. if you can pick and choose when to attend then it's neither an accident nor an emergency

Was there 11 hours on Tuesday night with chest pain. When I left the queue was over 25 people, and hadn't been less than 18 all night.
The previous time I went (tbf that was with ds so the children's one) it was 8pm Saturday night, and bonfire night, and he was straight into a cubicle. We were there 6 hours having tests and treatment and there were only about 6 people in that time. Never seen it so quiet.

When we were there a few months ago the receptionist told us Mondays are always busy due to GP’s not being open over the weekend and then no appointments when people phone Monday morning and the second busiest time is Wednesday afternoons onwards when the GP’s close early for the afternoon.

Call me old fashioned, but don't people go to A&E when there is an accident or emergency ?
It just isn't somewhere I've ever thought to plan a time to go.

Before the Tories were voted in.

1973

I had to take my elderly father recently at 4 on a Sunday morning. It was just him and three individuals with injuries from Saturday nights out on the town. They'd all sobered up or maybe hadn't had that much originally.

We left at 7 and by then a few more had arrived. The triage system does make wait time slightly random which is absolutely right.

Part of my role is managing the hospital as site director.

Avoid Mondays entirely if you can. The hospital is backed up from limited discharges over the weekend and this pushes queues back to ED. If your problem is medical, a wed, thu, fri or even Saturday morning would be good. After 9am to allow for handover and the day team working through the tasks from the previous night.

If your problem is surgical, you'll likely get good attention if you come in overnight as surgery is often busier in the day time. We get a raft of patients come in with GP referrals for abdo pain etc, which compete with the regular A&E attenders. Senior surgeons (reg and consultant) also very likely to be in theatre during the day so can be delayed in responding to ED bleeps. We do very little operating over night (which is a Good Thing) and will have a registrar level doctor as a minimum on site overnight. Busier units will also have a resident consultant.

If you're bringing a child, come later. Late afternoon or early evening is busier. If you're having a baby come in the morning. Labour ward always heats up later in the day and staffing levels often reduced on night shift.

I went recently, 4am Friday morning. Full. There were people there that had come in 7pm day before.

Luckily for me that is, not for them being ill!

I had to take an elderly relative recently and the signs said waiting times were 12hrs for urgent and 15hrs non-urgent. Staff said it was unusually busy due to doctors' strike and people waiting over Xmas and New Year the unable to get GP appointments. Luckily my relative was triaged and rushed in quickly