To say stop moaning about A&E

This.

I have complex health needs- highest rates of PIP indefinitely, I’m in several online health groups. Every day we have members who have nearly died or left without adequate care due to failures in emergency care. It is absolutely shocking, And a lot of it is sheer negligence, not lack of staff or being underfunded, just inability to do what is required or the bare minimum to keep people safe.

The few times I was waiting in A&E, very few who came in had an actual real emergency / accident. In my local A&E there is an out of hrs GP, so most are sent there. I have always been seen within 20 mins or so, because the times I’ve been admitted were for acute pancreatitis, which can be life threatening. Maybe 2hrs when I had suspected appendicitis (did have it, and was rupturing by time they operated the next day). Even when I had acute pancreatitis, I waited a few days to see if it would resolve before giving up and going in. I don’t understand why people go with such trivial stuff.

Your original post did NOT say respect the staff, it said stop moaning. I do respect the staff who have to do the best they can in a system so underfunded and badly run that it verges on abuse . Bully for you having a good experience but please don’t insult patients who have suffered or even died in A and E waiting for treatment.

Glad you had a good experience OP. I’ve been lucky enough to have managed not going very often, but all of my experiences (genuine E.g. broken leg, lacerations etc.) have been marred by the sheer numbers of people that turn up there, for things that a pharmacist should be able to assist with, such as colds and headaches.
My two visits were pre-COVID and both resulted in 9+ hours wait, so it’s been like it a long time, but pleased it seems to have been better for some…

Your son was very very lucky on this occasion. Do you really think that the numerous people who’ve seen their loved ones left seriously ill in a corridor for hours orwho have waited in the waiting area in great discomfort overnight are time wasters who ought to be grateful?

My toddler son not only had a dislocated shoulder but had snapped his collarbone in half. I ended up having to put the dislocated shoulder back during our 4-hour wait to be seen as he was in agony. And they refused to x-ray him on the grounds that he wasn't crying hard enough to be really hurt.

He now has one shoulder an inch lower than the other.

So, yes, I think some people experience considerably worse treatment than you did. In your shoes, I would be inclined to be thankful in silence.

You've gone in with a straightforward minor injury that's easily treatable

The experience for Minor injuries is going to be completely different.

The departments are virtually always split into Minors (where you were), Majors and resus. You won't have seen majors & resus - that's where the very sick & frail patients with very complex needs will be lying for hours (even days) waiting for beds. Often on a trolley in the corridor or even left on chairs on the waiting room.

That great you had a good experience with excellent staff but obviously that isn't the case for many, many people.

People are being forced to go to A&E as many (not all) GPs make it so hard to get an appointment with them. Also waiting lists for tests are so unbearably long people end up in A&E as a last resort. A&E are bearing the brunt of an all round broken and underfunded, poorly managed system.

I don’t respect a system which allows old people to be cared for in Ambulances or corridors, make people in agony wait in waiting rooms for many hours, who can’t communicate or record basic information well or provide basic care whilst people are waiting. I have had 5/6 experiences which most people would be shocked and saddened by. I’m sorry for people who have lost loved ones because of poor care.

Ridiculous post. It’s a fact that EDs up and down the land are over-stretched, ambulances queue up outside waiting for space to hand over their patients, and people die while waiting to be seen.

Your good experience is great. Hats off to the staff. It’s encouraging to hear it’s not a shit show everywhere and there is hope that the NHS can be saved.

But how dare you tell people to stop complaining when their experiences have been poor? Should people just shut up and put up? Or are you suggesting they are lying and the newspapers are making stuff up?

I had similar went with a pulmonary embolism sent home told it was anxiety nearly died at home got brought back to hospital for a nice 27 hour wait for a bed

The last time I was in A&E was with a fractured ankle and 3 broken metatarsals in the 16 hours I waited to see a dr and then the further 3.5 hours I waited for the xray, my foot and ankle had swollen so much they couldn't get a clear image so I was given a boot and crutches referred to the fracture clinic for more xrays. I should have been seen at the clinic within 3-5 days but it was 10 days before they could see me, by which time I needed an operation on my foot to rebrake and realigne the bones in my foot which had started to heal wrong.
So I'm glad your son was very lucky but you can fuck off with your smug crap about not being an emergency, I was just not a life threatening emergency so others came 1st as they should.
Having spent years in and out of A&E and the fracture clinic I can't fault the staff but I can and will fault the system that is so under resourced that they've closed all but 1 A&E in my county and did away with the a&e orthopedic department which resulted in me needing an operation and twice as long healing time when all I needed was a quick xray ,bone manipulation 2nd xray and cast all that would have taken about 35 minutes max (not my 1st misaligned brake)

Incidentally, OP, when my husband was finally admitted to the ward, someone did not raise the guard rail on one side of his bed. Still delirious, he tried to take himself to the lavatory and fell full force on one knee. Only then was he catheterised. As a result, he is still using a walking stick.
I also should have mentioned that he has osteoarthritis in his spine along with several compacted discs. Can you imagine sitting in a hard, plastic chair for over 2 days in that condition?

yes, I’m still bloody angry.

Imagine having a high standard experience of A&E and telling others to STFU when they don’t the same standard. You sound weirdly proud OP that you were there for “real reasons”. Playing devil’s advocate - he could have gone to an Minor Injuries unit and left A&E for people who need it

Well you were extremely lucky OP and I'd say one of the few. I think if people want to moan then let them, because in my experience in the level of care has been appalling. We are in Wales though - been a labour run NHS for a long time and feels alot worse than England.
My brother has had multiple, maybe in excess of 30 TIAs (like mini strokes) over a 4 year period and every time he has phoned for an ambulance he has been told its a 24 hour wait. I have a family friend who's husband had a stroke and was told to make their own way to A&E (30 min drive away) because the wait was 12 hours. The local hospital (5 mins away) used to have an A&E department but that was closed down (cost saving) in favour of a new 'super' hospital 30 mins away which can't cope with the number of patients in A&E. The wait for a 'telephone' appointment with a GP in the area is 2 weeks. So I'm not surprised so many people go to A&E or they don't bother and die at home.
My mum worked as a nurse for the NHS for over 50 years and even she thinks it's appalling. She was diagnosed with bladder cancer a few years ago at the age of 72. She had to have her bladder removed and a stoma put in. A couple of weeks later she had to call for an ambulance because she was in agony. She lives alone but wasn't well enough to drive and she was told there weren't any ambulances available and to take a taxi to hospital (30 mins away). When she reached A&E she had to wait in a chair in a "holding room" for 24 hours to wait for a bed. No hot food, just sandwiches, and sat in a chair in pain for 24 hours at the age of 72 having dedicated her life to the NHS. It is absolutely disgusting and indefensible. It's not normal and nobody should be accepting this as normal. Its not like this everywhere else. l live overseas and the healthcare is incredible.

I don't blame anyone who moans about the NHS because it's diabolical and not fit for purpose and A&E is a complete joke. Nothing works in the UK anymore, it's a total mess.

I'm not going to quote what that poor woman went through but only to reiterate what a horrific experience and after enduring that what kind of mark does that leave after experiencing that level of trauma.

My husband was in a plastic chair in A&E with sepsis for 54 hours waiting for admission at Blackpool Victoria hospital.

The sepsis was caused by a combination of double pneumonia and, finally discovered after twice being misdiagnosed at the same department (with 32 and 18 hour waits), a necrotic gall bladder that had by then developed gangrene and enormous cysts that attached themselves to his liver. He required complicated surgery in two stages to save his life, over a period of several weeks. He was in hospital for 6 weeks, last surgery on 24th January. He is still recovering, having had his final drain removed just a month or so ago.

His, remarkable, surgeon who went above and beyond in many ways, told us that she had only ever seen a gallbladder in such condition post-mortem.

Your son was a fit young man with a very straightforward injury that is very quick and easy to put right.

Frankly, your post is offensive.

You speak with the sense and fervour of a newly awakened cult convert OP

I waited 16 hours on the floor of A&E recently. I was triaged after 20 minutes and was cannulated immediately by the triage nurse - it was clear I would be admitted before I'd even seen a doctor. I then spent 3 days in a chair, and a further 2 on a trolley - so 5 days until I was admitted to the ward. I was extremely unwell and spent 4 weeks in hospital. Prior to attending A&E I'd seen my GP, and we'd phoned my consultant, so I was attending on the advice of both my GP and consultant. Are you suggesting I didn't need to be in A&E as I wasn't seen quickly? Actually, I found when I was there, that the 2 of us who were the sickest in the room waited longest as there just weren't any beds to admit us to. People with injuries or minor illnesses were seen much quicker.

I'm sorry about your twins. You didn't deserve that poor treatment at all.

The night DH has his stroke he was taken back to the hospital that had sent him home without treatment (we'll ignore the fact I was on hold to 999 for 10 minutes and that the ambulance took over an hour to come because I blame funding for that) He was taken straight to the stroke unit, when the doctor called me to tell me what had happened I heard a scream in the background and knew it was my husband. He'd fallen over the bedrails and out of bed. He had three more falls in his three weeks on the stroke ward. He was left unattended in the shower twice and had two further falls. His food was left on his table on his right hand side along with his call bell, the stroke had paralysed him. On his right side. He had lost his speech so couldn't call for help. His medication that he needed to digest food wasn't given to him. He was left so long when he needed the toilet he soiled himself. His time there was hell on earth. Your experience was good. It doesn't mean that everyone has the same experience.

And who decides what is genuine and what isn’t? You and the OP? Is being unable to breathe not a genuine emergency? Because my wife was turned away by A&E when that happened to her.

Sorry for your loss and that's the reality for to many families in this country.

That’s awful, I’m so sorry.

It didn't come across as preachy

It was much worse than that

It sounded as if you were telling everybody to shut up about their terrible experiences in A&E. Trust me, these are so upsetting we don't particularly want to discuss them. I ended up posting here because who else was I gonna chat to in the middle of the night. And I couldn't quite believe that it was happening.

I think we partly end up talking about them out of sheer frustration and also to warn people what situation they're facing. I happen to know that our local hospital has got much worse and an elderly patient with a broken hip was recently on a trolley for 70 hours.

you posted here and told people to shut up because they dare tell the truth about what's happening.

Now you're trying to backpedal.

I'm not having any of it.