A&e regular attender

Not an expert, but my husband in the NHS has involvement locally and my colleague’s Y6 son (different NHS Trust), has been identified as a “frequent flier”.

I think the approach varies trust to trust, but is very much not about black listing people who need to use A&E regularly. It is about identifying them and understanding the reasons for the visit. Then considering if alternatives can be explored to avoid the visits. For some there won’t be alternatives, for others, eg mental health related, there may be.

In the case of my colleague, son has extreme allergies and the school have been largely ineffectual in managing this - peanuts regularly being thrown at him in school grounds etc (apparently not meant for him and only done in jest), but mum threatened with fine if she’ doesn’t send him in. The NHS has been slow around paperwork to support his allergies to give the mum the weight she needs with school.

The recent regular A&E focus seems to have got things moving in a positive direction very quickly both from the NHS and school, who are the place that call ambulances for him most often.

I work in housing (homelessness) and we attend the frequentvattemder meetings as lots are also on our caseload. Ime there's a lot of people with dual diagnosis and chaotic lifestyles.

Substance misuse and mental health problems do not make a good mix.

Agree with PP. Multiple times a week, or even day. Often calling an ambulance.

As a PP said, some of our frequent callers are there daily, if not multiple times a day. I've been to one who has had over 300 Ambulance attendances this year.

I only saw it on couple of people's files and it generally is when attending repeatedly for a symptom which, on investigation, appears to be not an urgent concern. Think frequently attending for shortness of breath and chest pain which appears to be anxiety-related other than heart attack.
And I also saw it for people who frequently attend A&E with MH crisis.
I am not aware of anyone being pulled up on it and, a lot of time, I disagree with it being kept indefinitely on someone's notes. I think it taints your perception of a person and also someone may have stopped attending years ago but notes remain unchanged.

Did you post about this already, heart arrhythmia or something?

You have an emergent medical need, you go.

I assume many people who do it don't have support networks and are vulnerable in a variety of ways.

Our frequently attendees were there multiple times a day!

I work for the ambulance service and the people who end up on these lists are not using A&E 6 times in a year, we're talking those who are there multiple times a week / month consistently over some time, if not more frequently! And even then unless they have been abusive / violent towards staff or patients, its not barring them from attending, but to support them in accessing services that may be more appropriate in managing their needs.

I can reassure you that you will not be on one of these lists :)

If you need the help, please go. They would only ‘blackmark’ someone who was wasting their time, and from what nursing friends tell me, it takes a lot of abuse/ time wasting before they would flag that.

Sorry you have to visit them frequently. But that is what they are they for.

Or people with poor mental help who are not being supported by services.

I'd assume it's for the more attention seeking type of person.