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

Did you know that the Scottish and England& Wales NHS systems are completely separate? So when we raced up to Scotland when my dad was admitted to hospital in Dec and then got stuck there for several weeks, and my daughter was going to run out of her epilepsy medication, and I was told no, our GP couldn't send a prescription to a pharmacy in Scotland, and we would have to go to A& E (it's a controlled drug and has to be signed off by two consultants). There was a 12 hour wait in A& E so we drove home and went back up a few days later! And people may say "that's incorrect you should/could have..." but this is the advice we were given by the NHS. And it was to go to A&e.

Nail on the head. The entire NHS needs reform starting with GP surgeries which aren’t fit for purpose anymore.

I'm sure there are lots of people in A&E who don't need to be there but are there because they can't get the help they need from their GP.

It's much easier to blame patients for being at the wrong place for medical care rather than begin to imagine how you would go about fixing the system which is not working....

That last bit will be me very shortly. I've done myself a serious sports injury, I've been told (by two different medical professionals) that I need to go to A&E for a scan, for logistical reasons my family will need to wait with me until we know what's going on, and yes we may well talk to each other while we're there and we still need to eat. If I'm sat still I'm in very little pain so I'm sure I would seem to have 'no ostensible issues', but I may well end up being immobile - or at least on crutches - for months. If you like I can do a bit of performative groaning every now and again in case a judgy ignorant Mumsnetter happens to walk past.

I am SO sorry to hear about you Mum, I'm sorry she didn't get the care & treatment she should have had 🌷

It's not @CassandraWebb who must have a 'sad little life'.

We have no way of making GP appointments after they shut down the online booking facility which closes not long after opening. None no online booking or phone system.This seems to be widespread with online booking making it harder to book appointments than the old system for many. For those of us that work and are thus pushed out of getting GP appointments A&E is likely to be an even more increasingly used option.

Governments need to take the flack not patients .

My DD looked fine when we were sitting in children’s A&E two years ago. To look at her, you wouldn’t know we’d just been phoned by the lab doctor asking us to come in urgently because DD’s blood glucose had shown up above normal range. She was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and admitted, still feeling fine (I caught it early).

I don’t disagree that GP and other services need to be improved so that people can be seen. At my GP I can make an appointment for a week or two on, or I can see a GP/have a phone consultation on the day if it’s something that can’t wait. My DD’s blood test took place two days after I called the surgery with concerns about her tiredness.

Cried apparently.

🙄🙄🙄

I think it's fair to say you just didn't think. Other people weren't crying in pain, like you, so you didn't think they needed help, unlike you who did 🙄🙄

Kidney stones...should you have been there??

I dare say my NEED to be there was greater than yours, even though I was talking & not in great pain.

I've taken DS to A and E twice. First time had swallowed a non edible object (he looked fine) second time we were advised to go by 111. He had D and V and was passing blood every half an hour. If you'd seen him between toilet visits he probably looked OK. At that visit a few young children were there due to vomiting and another teenager who looked fine (but had been advised to go)
I've also taken my dad, on advice from other HCPs, he also looked fine but had concerning symptoms related to the cancer he had.
Considering the enormous wait times, I'd think there are very few people going unnecessarily.

I drove myself to a&e in Dka. There were no seats so I stood to one side- to an average onlooker I looked fine if a little tired. In reality I was literally minutes from unconsciousness. Once I had phoned first - despite telling receptionist I was in Dka- 2 nurses came literally running to take me to resus after I told them what my ketones and blood sugar were. No way you could have known just by looking at me standing there.

In my part of London it is very common for the GP to send you to A&E for pretty minor things or if they have no appointments left and you might need antibiotics or something fairly urgent. You also get people who are not registered with a GP going to A&E. We have also been asked to come back in to A&E by a surgeon because they wanted to see my son again in a week’s time to check if he was responding to treatment. The waiting list for regular appointments was months long. We waited in A&E and they popped down when they had a moment. That is why we have never look particularly ill in A&E but we are just doing what we are told by medical professionals.

Ffs you can’t tell to look at someone how serious their condition is. I have just found out I am dying of cancer but to look at me at the moment you wouldn’t know. Yeah I am sure plenty of people probably do t need to be there but have no other access route to treatment or help as it can take weeks for people to get drs appointments and if you are frightened, worried and in pain you need help or reassurance. What do you suggest people like this do? People are dying from a lack of access to care because our healthsystem is failing. Given that these failures and delays are what is responsible for me not getting treatment in time despite seeking it then I would absolutely advise people to go whatever route they feel they need. I wish I had made more of a fuss.

Not all of the people in the waiting room will be patients. In recent months I have sat in the waiting room while relatives have been in resus and have only been allowed to see them when they were more stable. To anyone looking around the waiting room it wouldn't have been obvious that I was a relative rather than a patient.

when you say severely underweight do you mean like an ED crisis? because I can’t think of any other reason why you’d take a kid to a&e for a weight issue.

I sat in an a&e waiting room with my mother chatting and looking like all the world was fine to everyone else, once.
In reality she was talking utter shit, waffling on a boyfriend I’d had when I was 17, and my grandmother. She’d woken up that morning totally confused and making no sense, we had a GP appointment for a blood test that morning anyway so I took her
there. When her highest blood oxygen level they could get was 78% they said to go to a&e. so didn’t sit there long admittedly. we were triaged within 20 minutes. 45 minutes after that they were putting her into an induced coma on a ventilator that they couldn’t guarantee me they’d be able to wake her up from. She was on that ventilator for 5 days. Thankfully she did wake up that time, however she was dead 9 months later from blood cancer which was why a simple cold had caused her to be so unwell.
But she would have appeared to be fine to anyone would have seen her come in. She walked in, she was talking, she was even laughing.

appearances can be deceptive.

The number of times I've taken my DC to A&E they've been sitting and talking normally. Reasons have been variously being severely underweight, head injuries, a strained knee ligament and an eye injury. I'm sorry they didn't look ill/injured enough for you.

I think more walk-in centres does lessen the load on A&E. My town had one in the centre and I used it a few times. I have MH issues and self harm, so it was usually for that.
It closed, and I went to the new minor injury/urgent care unit at the hospital. Was turned away and told to go to A&E. I was there for patching up, but because it was MH related, it was beyond their remit, and had to go to A&E.

They will be the ones waiting for an absolute age though, because they can wait. Then they will moan about it.

There are all sorts of issues that put people in A&E. Last time I went I was haemorrhaging as I was having a late miscarriage of twins. My DF took me as DH was looking after our other child at home. I lost one of them whilst waiting and my DF did his absolute best to keep me distracted talking (quietly) about normal things whilst I bled through my clothes.

Let the system figure out where people should or shouldn't be and focus on getting yourself better. There's so little dignity and privacy in A&E as it is.

(in that situation though if the waiting room is busy DH would stand up. But I would need to sit as my legs don't work well, although if we have time we would load my wheelchair into the car. But depending on the emergency we may not have that option)

Sometimes DH has come with me because if my condition is flaring I cannot speak clearly, or drive, or carry things, or walk far, but I need to be there as he doesn't have parental responsibility for my children (and their dad is often out of the country) . So again, you can't always tell from looking at people why they are there

They are grim places to hang out. I dread going. I doubt many people go there for fun.