To say stop moaning about A&E

The a&e staff who didn't bother to xray my 87-year-old dad after a fall last year and sent him home with an undiagnosed broken hip weren't doing a great job. Neither was the receptionist who refused to call me when he was ready to come home on another occasion because she apparently knew she would be too busy wasn' t doing a great job either.
Why do we constantly feel the need to congratulate and praise people for doing the job they are paid to do anyway?

Oh go away OP, I have every right to moan about a service I pay for that treats me with utter contempt. A few months ago I had to go to A&E with my wife as she was having difficulty breathing. We were treated like utter shit for the 14 hours we were there. She has a long term medical condition that was completely ignored. The triaging doctor did not even examine her and decided that she was “just” having a panic attack and that we didn’t need to be there. Long story short it actually turned out that she was having a sustained allergic reaction that is still under investigation and she has been on a cocktail of medication ever since. If we can’t even use front line emergency services when we literally cannot breathe then what on earth are they for?

I'm so sorry for your loss, how devastating for your family

OP show some sensitivity ffs

I have a colleague whose son was sent home from A&E erroneously, the next morning they woke up and he was dead. He was 7.

My daughter has a respiratory condition which one time put her in intensive care with a serious risk to life. it can come on rapidly with subtle first signs.

it only comes on at night and at its worst it happened fortnightly for about a year. She was 1- 2yo at this time.

we were always told at the first sign to go to a&e. After that experience I folllowed those rules.

Because I took her in before she got terrible, we would have to wait in triage for about 5 hours (would usually arrive at 10pm). Then monitoring was 4hrs once in the system.

this happened fortnightly. I’m a working single parent with an older child. It was absolutely terrible. The staff etc were great, but that whole experience was awful.

And I’m sure I was judged by people thinking it wasn’t an emergency cos she was bouncing around triage.

Very pleased that you had great treatment but the system often fails.

Op, it might not have been your intention (I think you're expressing happiness & gratitude for your experience) but your post did come over somewhat preachy

This is such a silly post. Everyone's experiences vary wildly and for you to say it's all great cus you happened to get lucky is not the "I told you so" moment you think it is.

May daughter has had a chronic condition which results in acute dislocation for the past two years. Sure we have had times that resemble yours and theyve been great but they are massively on the minority. We've sat with her in acute pain and no relief for 10 hours plus as that shift decides she needs to be triaged to surgery and they give her nothing. We've had 4 hour waits for triage with no pain relief.
Weve had referrals to surgeon who don't attend 3 hours later and state no need to review. We've had brilliant pathways to admittance as needed. Every single time has been different. And most of the horrific. Great it worked for you this one single time but please stop trying to extrapolate your random lucky instance across the NHS.

Fucking hell OP. You've started a really divisive post and are now arguing with someone about whether the pain they were suffering was good enough to warrant fast treatment. Fuck right off!

No, you're implying people who have long waits don't need to be there or aren't 'real' emergencies.

Why is there a big difference? No one knows for certain until it's x rayed.

Eh?

YOU had a good experience, so you want other people to stop moaning, regardless of what their experience is?

Sorry to be blunt, but I couldn’t give a toss about your sons shoulder.

you have no idea what I’ve experienced in A+E.

DH went with all the signs and symptoms of a DVT, he was messed around, sent from pillar to post and eventually sent home without a scan or treatment and a few days later had a massive stroke. I guess he wasn't sick enough to warrant A&E's time.

Not until they know it's not dislocated there isn't 🙄

You're clearly just here to wind people up.

I haven't seen anyone moaning about a&e for a while and when they do they seem pretty clear to blame the fact its so overstretched.

I've also had positive experiences recently in emergencies but that doesn't change the fact that people who are not highest priority have a tough time or that people with complex medical conditions are not treated appropriately.

My 70+ year old mum went to a&e last year with chest pain, she’d had a heart attack and needed a coronary stent. That’s an emergency. She was in the waiting area for 6 hours, then in a chair in majors for 48 hours until they found her a bed. She’s got a complicated medical history and is quite frail - she was kept in a chair for 2 days after a heart attack and so she couldn’t even sleep. She was eventually admitted to CCU, she then waited 2 weeks to get the stent because outpatients were filling the angiogram list. Unsurprisingly she developed a hospital acquired pneumonia after being immobile and in need of a coronary stent for weeks. The staff are brilliant, but they are working with their hands tied.

My young child broke there wrist a couple of months ago, was looked at, had xray and casted within 2 hours and they were lovely.

My son with additional needs had a pin prick rash that didn't fade all over last year.
Did not have a good experience at all, so unfortunately one experience is just that!

Also here you get told where to go on entrance, either A&E or walk in so no you can't sit in A&E with a cold!

Good for you? When my teen had a suspected dislocation (the staff also thought it was dislocated) we were sent to the minor injuries section and waited 4 hrs just for the X-ray. There certainly weren't any bloods done.

There is definitely something about timings and about them having the right facilities and open when you need them. We recently whizzed through A&E, which sent us to Minor Injuries, X-ray, and back to confirm a broken bone, followed by plaster, all in 2 hours on a weekend (daytime). Staff were brilliant. I mean, it’s taken me longer to get through an airport.

But the last time we did A&E, we waited 9 hours for a doctor to decide whether a head injury needed glueing or taping. One doctor was covering the entire A&E on a weeknight. We spent the night there, and by the time we were seen, the staff in question were too tired to care and bickered over my DC’s head about how to close up the wound - which was already scabbing over. That was fairly crappy, and the emergencies there will have had far worse evenings, especially the poor people waiting in the 12 or so ambulances parked outside.

Good for you and your son. When my friends son (15) dislocated his shoulder they had to wait to 8 hours to be seen and were told to go to the pharmacy and buy some pain relief while they waited. That was also a real emergency so I think it's a bit of pot luck with wait times

This. Recently had to.go with our baby, fucking terrifying as we were triage then swiftly dispatched 8n ambulance onblue lights to a specialist paeds unit. Great service.
Agree too many alcohol cases, too many 'I meant to contact gp in week but forgot', too many 'why should I wait to be seen'...

This is really, really short sighted. I'm sure you will get plenty of people telling you about their stories. You probably touched lucky with timings. My A&E experiences with a recent spell of ill health have been pretty piss poor if I'm honest and had to have surgery and was sat in agony most of the day.