To think 70% of people shouldn’t be in A&E

Yes I agree with you. I visited A and E a few times a few years ago and saw a load of folk thinking it was jolly day out. Whole families taking about 6/7 seats up when two folk could have just waited. Genuine sick people couldn’t get a seat. Ridiculous

Yes, it is a fact that it all depends on your post code. Once you are on the unlucky lot, it is a proper nightmare!

I was at A&E with my dad this weekend. Arrived in an ambulance. Suspected (and as it turned out, actual) stroke. He looked fine, apart from a stiff arm. Had we not had an ambulance, and I had driven him there and waited in the room, he'd have looked perfectly healthy to you, OP.

If a GP can't see you, you call 111. If there's the slightest chance that your problem can't wait a few days, they'll tell you to go to A&E. What are you then supposed to do - even if you don't think you need immediate attention? Stay home and find out they were right?

Have gone to a and e with clot symptoms, tho not particularly painful at all. Had multiple clots, both lungs. If i followed your idea that no one should be there unless in agony id quite likely be dead.

Our GP is 6wks wait for a telephone appointment to see if you actually need to see a GP in person, then thats another 6wk wait - its no wonder people take themselves to A and E if they're in pain!

I think there is also a culture of wanting to pass the responsibility of being sued onto someone else - very elderly FIL had a routine app with the nurse yesterday who said their heart beat was too fast, go to A and E, which they did, many hours sat there to be told no issue go home. But I suspect had they not gone and later dropped dead, the poor nurse would have been in trouble.

I think a lot could be solved by family GP’s who actually know their patients - I couldn’t even tell you my GP’s name anymore, just one of the 20 or so GPs at the practice, and good luck trying to see the same one twice, would probably be 6 months for an appointment if you were fussy who you saw!
It’s all pretty rubbish, for the amount of money the NHS swallows up I’m sure it could be better.

I attended a and E in the summer with a threatened miscarriage.
When I arrived there was a 5h wait in a and E but due to me experiencing very heavy bleeding, having bled through 3 night pads during the afternoon I was fast tracked straight through to urgent care section and was seen in 30 minutes.
I looked completely normal though as you couldn't see where I was bleeding from!

Be very, very careful when it comes to sepsis. It only takes one time and if it doesn't kill you, it can be life changing.

Do you have a central line for your chemo? If so, you are very susceptible to sepsis because the central line goes directly to your blood stream. My son developed sepsis twice, the first time was before we even knew he had cancer and the second time was during his treatment but it was caught incredibly early thankfully.

It's been 15 months since he had septic shock and he still can't walk, he was in intensive care for 7 weeks and his heart, kidneys and bowel all stopped working properly. His bowel was permanently damaged and it was lucky he didn't lose his right leg.

Please, please take care with sepsis. I hope your treatment is going well and you have a speedy recovery xx

It’s tricky because sometimes you get sent to A&E from elsewhere in the hospital because they can get it done faster than whatever department.

I have cancer and every time I spike a fever, I get sent to A&E for them to run bloods, mainly sepsis cultures (I’m apparently at high risk of sepsis, plus 40c fever). It’s because it’s after 5pm and the cancer day assessment nurses have gone home or there isn’t a bed on the ward.

Even when I refuse to go in (which I’ve started to because I can’t be asked with sitting in A&E all bloody night shaking and feverish), my GP won’t do them. They don’t do the cultures anyway, but even normal bloods requested by my consultant, they refuse to do. So I have to drive an hour to the hospital and sit in A&E until someone will do them, if they can’t take me on the ward. It’s annoying. I’ve stopped going now because the bloods are always fine and I hate sitting in A&E.

That said, one of the issues with A&E is that people seem to bring their whole bloody family with them. One parent with a child, yes, of course. Or one carer with someone who needs a carer or advocate, perfectly fine. Both parents and a 5 year old in attendance with a 20 year old. Or you and your 6 mates from rugby. Too much.

I don’t honestly know why people want to come en masse to A&E. I’ve spent enough time in A&E though (alone, I’ve never brought anyone with me because Dh needs to be home parenting our dc) to know that there definitely doesn’t seem to be a good reason in most cases for one unwell person to attend with 4 other people. I’ve sat next to them all night, seen them diagnosed and sent off with some antibiotics. Their herds didn’t seem to do much other than take selfies and watch films loudly and eat, and take up seats, so people who are actually ill are standing or on the floor. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I was sent to A&E last week by my GP. I had seen him early morning for a whole list of issues but he was seriously worried about some swelling I’d got on the same side as my recent craniotomy surgery scar. He sent me for a CT scan. Should I have not gone and spent 8 hours waiting just because I ‘looked fine’ and was talking to a chap also waiting for treatment as he was brought in by ambulance because he was unable to walk??

That is the ooo gp, we have one based next to a&e and also have one at our minor injuries

I have gone to A&E twice in the last couple of years as advised by 111.
The first was a cat bite that I needed a tetanus and antibiotics for, my GP surgery said they could not deal with animal bites.
The second was a bad scold that needed dressing etc.
So yes I will have looked well and drove there on both occasions but there was no alternative.

@WitcheryDivine I didn’t know that 😱

DS years ago was once ill on holiday (febrile
convulsion v high fever general lethargy) Ina mountain resort in Austria about 45 minutes drive down a mountain if you needed a hospital.

the private health clinic there was absolutely amazing and actually not that badly priced for the care we received. 3 doctors appointments, a room where he could be monitored in and really good communication.
yes it cost £300 for the whole thing but it was amazing.

expecting to be able to access healthcare when we want it should be a basic minimum

There are also NHS bonkers workflows/policies which don't help.

So on holiday in the UK and dd breaks a finger. We go to the local hospital minor injuries and they x ray and strap it. They say she will need to be seen in fracture clinic back home the following week. They write me a letter and even give me a disc with the x-ray images on it to take home.

I get home, ring up the fracture clinic who will not see me without a local dr referral and tell me to go to a&e. I think this is bonkers and ring my GP and ask if they can refer me to fracture clinic. No they can't. So 7 hours waiting in a&e to be seen, new x-rays and an appt for fracture clinic!!!!!! Crazy.

In terms, that they’re not there because they want to be.

No one is there for fun thats for sure! Unless you are medically trained, and even then how can you know someone "looks fine" FFS! There is a growing population in this country .Most people will need urgent care /A and E at some point in their life .Hospitals are under immense strain now .Our local Hospital has A and E ,and Urgent Care next door .Many people seemed "fine " on my last visit but clearly werent and nor was I ! Try not to judge everyone so harshly you may find you dont look "ill" next time but worries over constipation ,heavy bleeding or an accident at home may not be visible

Our a&e has this now. So the OOH doctor provision is in the same unit. You go through the door, talk to the nurse on reception and are directed to either OOH or a&e. Seems to work well.

The Penzance one is also usually closed overnight now I think, I saw a campaign about trying to reopen it.

The simple logic @phoenixrosehereis that people with time on their hands will pop down to the Dr /A&E more regularly than those that work FT. Most GPs will say the same. FT people don’t have that luxury.

They should have a 24 hour GP next to A&E so patients not needing A&E can be signposted there by triage.

Where someone mentioned people go to A&E as it's the only way to see a Doctor, on the flip side you get people ringing their GP because they don't want to wait X amount of hours in A&E. These people should be in A&E as it can't be dealt with at the GP surgery eg chest pain, falls and in pain, urine retention and head injury for example.

The whole system is on its arse with demanding pressures. Yes, a lot of people may not need ED but where else can they go with the lack of services within the communities. It is a matter of time before it becomes private. There just isn't enough money to go round and the money the NHS do have could probably be spent better. Too many chiefs and all that. Is my opinion anyway not saying my opinion is the right one but that's how it would appear anyhow.

My husband don't need to be there either (at urgent care as was told to go there but at ours A&E are all combined) but needs his dressing changed after an operation and there is no nurses appointments in our surgery for 2 weeks.
What is he supposed to do?

My minor injusires has an xray tech twice a week, and no ability to put a plaster on if there is a broken bone... they just send you off to A&E anyway - in which time youve sat in MI for 4 hours to be seen, then tottle off to A&E where you have to wait even longer. MI also cant give you anything stronger then an Ibuprofen for the pain - which doesnt even touch the sides with a broken bone 🙄

There was a similar thread to this yesterday. I was advised to go to A&E after fainting in a supermarket. Felt fine enough for DH to drop me and run (only 10 minutes from the hospital). I probably looked fine to most people, but, blood tests found I was severely anaemic, to the point it was life threatening.
If I had ignored advice, or gone home I might not be here now.
My experience was good though, triaged an hour after arriving, bloods etc seen by dr after 4 and on a ward having a transfusion after 6 hours.