Bringing your whole fucking family to A&E

See also supermarkets (although obviously not as serious)

Hope your DH is seen and better soon

My friend who is an A&E nurse in another country complains about this too. Complete with the Mcdonalds/kfc/pizza delivery. Insane but not limited to any nationality it seems!

I think it would only be acceptable if they had just bought a set of five saucepans which were wired together and they had somehow each managed to get one wedged onto their head and were blundering about like drunk Daleks.

I could accept this SPECIFIC situation without recourse to the staff in A&E, although I would find it a tad annoying.

You have to wonder at the mentality of some people, it should be obvious that space is limited and that there are sick people needing seats in A&E. In my local A&E it actually says something along the lines of "when busy - seating priority to be given to those awaiting treatment".

I was once in hospital, sharing a room with a lady who had just had brain surgery and was completely bed bound and unable to speak.

I was being taken down for an MRI after major surgery when my room mates family turned up (5 of them and one carrying a toddler). I went for the MRI and when I came back, my room mate had the curtains pulled around the bed. The porters settled me in and left. I had to lie completely flat and was not allowed to move for 3 days.

I became aware of a strange noise coming from behind the curtain and was vaguely aware of movement but couldn't turn to look. Then I heard a young childs voice. To cut a long story short, in my absence, the visiting family had gone off to get a coffee and left a toddler in the care of a seriously ill woman.

I pressed my buzzer as the toddler started crying and just as I was waiting for the nurse, the family came back and when I raised issue with the kid being left with only a seriously ill, bedbound person to look after her, there response was that she wasn't on her own she was with me as well. I pointed out that I wasn't even in the room when they left her and if I had been, and they had asked me, I would have declined as I couldn't move. At this point the nurse came in, got the jist of the conversation, told them that only two visitors at a time were allowed and no kids allowed unless by prior agreement due to the serious nature of the illnesses.

They were as rude as hell!

Of course! You can get food delivered to the wards as well, which is why sometimes we have a takeaway on a night shift (on the rare night shift we have time).

YANBU.

and it is the staff’s job to manage the situation - utilising the security guard - to ensure only patient + 1 (and the +1 standing if any other patient needs a seat).

if the waiting area is thronging with entourage you can’t see if any patients are deteriorating and in need of more urgent help. Like the poor woman who died under her coat (reported in press).

my local London hospitals 1) have signs about not bringing more than one person with you 2) make it clear seats are for patients 3) have staff who police rules 1) and 2).

This type of thread is exactly why so many people don't go when they need to be seen

I've badly hurt my ankle but refused a&e tonight as I know it'll be busy and I don't look poorly, so I'll go tomorrow morning when it's statistically likely to be quiet - yes I may be able to laugh and joke with my mum when I'm at down but I'm in agony and can hardly walk. Someone laughing doesn't mean they're not in need

My local now only allows one parent to be present, thanks to Covid. Means we don’t have the whole extended family rolling up treating it like a day out.

Can you actually get food delivered to A and E? That's insane. and wrong on so many levels.

Unfortunately the norm sadly.
There are unlikely to be any more chairs anywhere if it’s similar to the A&E I work in. The staff will likely get a torrent of abuse from relatives and patients if they directly challenge people, and sometimes we get chairs and computers thrown at us as well as the verbal abuse.

We make regular announcements for only patients to sit but they make no difference. Occasionally a particularly feisty nurse might make people stand if they’re not wearing a patient wristband but it soon goes back to how it was. Everyone ignores the one relative rule too, basically people are just really selfish!

Ordering takeaways is a frequent occurrence, why you’d want to is beyond me as there’s usually at least one case of gastroenteritis in the waiting room!

I’ve done this, ever been stuck at A&E with a hungry five year old with a badly broken arm? We waited for hours to be seen/ x- rayed. It was decided it needed to be surgical but that’d be done at a different hospital the next day.

A &E staff suggested it as it’s not great to be taking painkillers on an empty stomach. Also would be nil by mouth from midnight (a few short hours away at that point) and hadn’t eaten since lunch. I get that s food delivery might seem questionable but actually in the circumstances it seemed like the best thing to do.

No intention to belittle your experience. And each to their own. But IMHO, there are worse ways to die than listening to Metallica 😂

Of course it's the staff's job to "manage" A&E.

I was in A&E last week and they asked all friends/ relatives to wait outside as it was so rammed.
I too saw people who seemed to having a night out with their mates there - it was crazy

Similar story in antenatal clinic. I've been having to go once a week/fortnight and there's often 1 if not 2 sets of grandparents plus other family members. Perfectly able bodied men taking up all the seats, random relatives giving full run downs on the phone to whoever stayed at home...

I often prefer to stand and have no problems doing so but this specific clinic is for women with complications and it can be a whole morning waiting to be seen/see several different people so some women will really will need to sit.

I never take DP, he really doesn't need to be there! Fair enough if you need somebody to drive you but barely anybody needs to bring more than one person to a hospital waiting room!

I do think the hospital have a duty of care that starts once you arrive at A&E especially as people are there for hours on end.

If they don't want to send people home they need to make it less appealing e.g. the patient can sit with one person on this side and everybody else who's come with you can go stand over there or outside as they'll soon go home.

YANBU - they sound like a melodramatic family. There should be a rule on this. Speak to staff who should sort it out.

Why not? It’s the hospital’s job to provide an appropriately furnished waiting room so it’s their responsibility to make sure seats are available for patients and not being hogged by non patients. Luckily they are paying a security guard, so it can be part of his remit to evict non patients from chairs.

when I was in A&E recently, after triage there were signs stating that non-patients could only stay if there was space, and would otherwise be asked to leave. I think there was a limit on total numbers regardless.
Speak to the staff and say your partner needs a seat.

& I know the availability/selection of food in A&Es is atrocious - but they ought to be chucked out for stinking the place out with KFC ffs.

They built that one on the basis that nobody would just turn up, they’d either be referred by their GP or get there by ambulance.

Can’t imagine why it’s always at 3 times capacity! 🤷‍♀️

🤣🤣🤣🤣

England matches are the only time there’s no wait to be seen. Well known.

A&E departments make it much worse by putting on Eastenders on the big wall tv or playing hospital radio. People could actually die in there to the sound of Metallica. Don’t assume I’m exaggerating. I’m picking from two of my own experiences.

Fucking broken Britain, right there.

Urgh some people just to love me the characters in their own little dramas. How annoying but not surprising.

Not the same thing but last week in the steam room of a posh hotel gym, DP saw a bloke peeling and eating 2 boiled eggs. Weeks previously, there had been a bloke in there having a meal deal and a Stella.

Hope you reserved the security guard's seat for DH

YANBU. (A food delivery to A&E FFS?! 🙄)