To share ways to make A&E more bareable

It is abused, but someone being able to pack a bag in preparation to go, or someone able to stand up without pain, is not automatically a person abusing A&E. There are many examples on the thread of occasions where people have very legitimately attended A&E and taken a jumper and phone charger with them - both things can be true.

What you're saying is totally different.

I assume you went in KNOWING it was an emergency, hence you were in A&E...

And yes, they do make mistakes with triage sometimes, but your wait might have been much less if other people had followed the above rules and only gone to A&E if they NEEDED to.

Speak to anyone who works in A&E and they'll tell you the amount of resource/man power that is wasted dealing with things that a GP or pharmacist could have dealt with.

They'll tell you the amount of people that have come in claiming to be in pain, but haven't even bothered to take a pain killer.

A&E is MASSIVELY abused.

Because the government decided another service could provide it cheaper so took the funding away….hoping either the GPs would do it in funded or people wouldn’t bother going to ED.

Yeah for very many people going to the a&e isn't like that. My mum has a chronic condition that requires frequent enough admission, when it flares up she might die without immediate treatment and it always starts with admission through a&e.

Grabbing a bag is just taking good care of your dependant, it's not indicative of time wasting or level of emergency. It takes 2 minutes

You will be triaged in A+E and prioritised based on that assessment. You wont be quicker just because 111 have sent over their notes

That's just disrespectful. I was sent to A&E by the GP. I drove myself there and home and could walk. So what happens then? Blame the GP?

Well, it would be unwise not to prepare when you have a kid with a broken bone, so need A&E, but know you may have a very long time waiting around. There shouldn’t be a very long waiting time, but there is and that’s the reality of it.

Kindle, iPad, phone, charger, power bank, blanket. Change of clothes. Spare change and bank card. Water bottle.

Having spent quite a while in and out of hospital, vomiting over myself (bowel had completely closed down and I was in a pretty bad way) and not being able to get hold of anyone due to dead phone. I now like to go prepared.

I usually pack an overnight bag as I typically get admitted and it saves the husband bringing stuff over the following day.

@OneTC Not far off, because we're not in the UK.

But otherwise when someone I love has been in urgent need of A&E then a phone charger or a jumper has been the last thing on my mind. So perhaps it's not that I can't fathom having the time, it's that I can't fathom caring about anything except getting there as soon as possible.

I have an elderly parent who has been taken to A&E often enough that I now keep a Go bag stocked all the time because I have to go with him. In it are: phone charger, bottle of water, snack bars, book, notebook and pen, scarf, paper hankies and a sock to knit. He is usually seen fairly quickly but waiting for the results of tests or for a bed to be available can take hours.

Our local A&E are wonderful but they can't do anything about the sheer volume of people they need to see. It's not always possible for me to nip off for snacks because they are often taken for scans or to see the doctor and if I'm not there they won't get all the information they need from them.

You really won't. The only time I've been fast tracked was being blue lighted into majors, once I was stable I was returned into the general melee.

There was a similar case where consultant triage was looked at.

instead of nurse led triage a consultant sat at the front desk and sent all those who should be elsewhere (home, GP, eye clinic, MI, x ray, maternity etc) straight there.

it was clearly the most effective way to reduce waits and improve efficiency. It was not adopted though as consultants are there for the serious stuff, not triage, so was not deemed a good use of their time.

somehow a&e’s need an authority on admission who is able to make these decisions. Nurses can’t without a dr, junior drs need a senior sign off, so many get admitted who don’t need to be.

@mugglewump this is a myth! You won't have a shorter wait just because 111 has sent you (at least in my area). Still done on triage. When I've called, I have begged them to send me somewhere else with an actual appointment, but they just send to A&E where I've been at the bottom of the queue.
Whole system needs overturning

I would take tissues, (loos run out), snacks, water bottle, change for machines, mortgage application for parking

Oh behave with the name calling. If you are somebody with complex health needs who requires genuine A&E attendances, reserve your name calling and rudeness for the frequent flyers and inappropriate users of the system whose choice to attend A&E inappropriately contributes to overburdened systems and means that YOU get to wait for more time than you should.

In answer to your question OP I have a bag with charger, watter bottle, medication, hoody and some snacks. My books are on my phone as is my card. Also take undies and basic toiletries as I have been admitted three times following long a and e waits.

Don't worry, it never happened.

My mum has required emergency admission more times than I can count in the last few years and we've always been able to take a small bag of essentials because we're not stupid.

I waited for 8hours with a necrotic gall bladder before being given proper pain relief. Sometimes the triage system does not work. I was admitted and was in hospital for 10 days with an emergency operation. During my wait I vomited in the toilets and collapsed on the floor.
So not as black and white as your post suggests.

And the ambulance was just waiting outside for you?

Ring NHS 111 first. Once you have talked through the symptoms/problem and the responder thinks you need to go to A and E, all the info you have given them will be transfered to your nearest A and E department - and you will have a much shorter wait.

Really? You can't possibly fathom a situation where you'd have some time to gather together some stuff to take to a and e? Let me help you with some examples from my family over the last few years:

DH - Stabbed hole through foot with muddy garden fork. Sent to an and e by urgent care centre.
DM - Fell down stairs and broke both legs
DF - had shingles in eye. Sent to moorfields a&e by gp
DD - suspected appendicitis.

On all of these occasions we had enough time to grab a small bag with a phone charger / book or newspaper and a few snacks and toiletries just in case.

I can only think of one occasion where we had no time to grab a quick bag (involving ambulance trip).