To think this nurse shouldn't have laughed / scoffed at me for asking for a room?

YABU. My dad was brought in to A&E following a big seizure, told he had a brain tumour and then told to wit back in the waiting room which was full of people. He was paralysed from the seizure and was sat in a wheelchair for 13 hours. I know because I sat with him on one of those hard plastic chairs. You are acting incredibly spoilt - yes you feel unwell but those rooms are obviously full of people who actually need them.

But you (an adult) asked for a room in Children's A&E because you (not the patient) were feeling unwell.

Regardless of what had happened before, you (non patient adult) were not the priority. Every single sick child in the department was.

Tbh, the way you state that you asked for it made it appear that you wanted the room for yourself, because you were sick... and in paeds A&E that absolutely would come across very badly.

I assume every other time you've asked for a room it was because your CHILD (the patient) was sick.

When I read how you asked I scoffed a little - because you did come across as entitled because you asked for yourself and not your child.

If your child wasn't sick enough to need a room (which I assume they previously have been) it would have been very wrong to tie up a room for you, thus preventing any other very sick child using it.

I spent two full days in A&E last week (two different unwell family members, both of whom I am responsible for. I saw three people actually collapse, one having a seizure, one a heart attack and one just unconscious, I don't know what was wrong with her. There was a queue to get into the queue for booking in, with its own packed holding area full of angry people not understanding why they couldn't book in. People sobbing, vomiting, sleeping on the floor. Steady stream of police bringing in obviously acutely mentally ill youngsters who then had to be left in the waiting area - police couldn't just sit there for 14h+ - so wandering around upsetting people and becoming more distressed themselves. Elderly people parked in corners with no attention, some crying because they were in pain and didn't know where they were. One old man wet himself and other patients helped clean it up with tissues. It was absolute fucking bedlam.

Every single staff member we saw was utterly professional, thorough, reassuring and kind. Including the receptionist who was just facing a torrent of frustration and despair from wave after wave of patients who had already been queuing for hours before they got to him. I know there are bad apples, I've come across plenty - but not on these two days. I don't know how they go into that hellscape and do their best, day after day. Nobody goes into healthcare because they want to fail their patients and leave people suffering, but there aren't anywhere near enough of them, so firefighting is the best they can do.

Tbh it sound very entitled to expect a room when you go to a&e!
And you knowing you got it 9/10 times shows really high number of visits to emergency service!
No wonder nhs is struggling

How should we not accept this? By leaving the ED?

Where I live there's 3 broadly equidistant A&Es and they are all heaving 24h a day. There might be some golden hour but we've never managed to luck out and find it in our extensive visits.

6 hours would be kind of normal unless you were basically dying right then and there

Also why on earth have you been there 10 plus times?!

I directed you to the answer, you couldn't be arsed to read it but thought your personal and very different circumstances were in some way relevant to the post I was responding to.

The fact that it’s a children’s A&E is irrelevant. All the people in there are children.

You have been lucky in the past. It’s definitely not standard to have a room.

If you had told us you were unwell and vomiting, we'd have asked you to get some e else to be with your daughter and sent you straight home. Don't want a vomiting parent spreading bugs around the ward. We've had it happen before

@supertrainers , 9 out of 10 times you go to Accident and Emergency you get given a room of your own!
WOW! Not only at the amazing treatment you have until now received but also at the dreadful situation you find yourself in with so many accidents and emergencies. 😱
Im so sorry that so many people might think that you are terribly entitled and horribly and irresponsibly misusing precious services. They just don’t understand how incredibly important you are.

Without wishing to sound nasty, you said you are often in the hospital and 9 times out of 10 they give you a room! I wonder if they think you are attention seeking and recognised you?

😂😂😂

Disagreeing isn’t rude, however calling somebody ignorant is.

Never been but looking back it was.

@spikeandbuffy er thanks... clearly you have a medical need! the OP stated that they did not?

Well then you are even more and ignorant.

It wasn't a walk in the park then either as I recall.

9/10 I get a separate room but there is a medical reason

I agree with pp who reckon that she was laughing at the state of the NHS rather than at you. Not because it's funny, but more "if you don't laugh you'll cry" kind of way.

It's rubbish for staff not to be able to give the care they want to.

I disagree

Addressing someone in the manner you did is bloody rude.

im not sure which a&e you are going too where 9 times out of 10 you get a room! i wish you would share it with the rest of us on MN so we can go there. whats wrong with you sitting with all the other ill people in the main waiting room?

i wonder if you are the type of person who rocks up to a&e, making so much fuss and noise and being so entitiled you've forced them into giving you a room rather than just waiting with the masses like everyone else

Suggesting a 6 hour wait in a&e isn’t due to it being very busy is ridiculous and it isn’t rude to point that out.

Your children are grown up? You can't compare their childhood to 2024.
Yes, it is 24/7 madness and understaffing now at NHS.