To love A&E despite the wait?

Possibly. People are dying in corridors and more will die as a result of not being prepared to engage. I’m on the verge of disengaging from all medical care because the combination of hospitals, GPs and the people that deal with my medical condition couldn’t organise a piss up in a brewery.

Nope. This has been my experience at every a&e vsit.
Lucky to have this particular nhs trust maybe.

YABU What a ridiculous post

You got lucky then.

I am reliably informed that I looked about 10 years older after one night in a corridor.

DD broken ankle:
Check in, consultant, x-ray, boot fitting and out in 90 mins.
Everyone kind and attentive.
Amazing.

Well they seem to have put people off seeking their assistance so i suppose that’s a start 🤷‍♀️

She didn’t wait 9 hours - most of it was treatment apparently.

Idiotic post that makes me so angry.
It’s not ok to wait 9 hours for emergency care.
I’m not even going to describe my experience trying to get care with my mum. She’s dead anyway.

9 hours is absolutely disgraceful.

You must realise that the first step to solving a problem is to simply admit it exists. Posts like yours set us backwards OP. Total denial of a problem.

That’s no disrespect to the staff that cared for you - but even they would admit that their hospital would benefit from double the amount of space and staff. At the very least.

About three years ago, my knee gave way, with a crack, and an enormous amount of pain. I couldn’t bear any weight on my leg, it was agonising. I rang 111 and they told me to go to A&E. DH drove me, and got me into a wheelchair there, then went home. Very fortunate, as there were few seats, family groups seem to be the thing at our A&E.

After five hours, I was seen by a nurse who gave me two paracetamol and discharged me, and was very dismissive. I asked for a crutch as I couldn’t walk. My GP then referred me to physio, I couldn’t do the exercises, I was sent to various physios until one suggested an x-ray or scan might be helpful! At last someone with a brain. Severe osteoarthritis, never going to repair itself. Basically my knee had disintegrated. I saw a consultant, who was amazing and within a few months I had surgery. He agreed I could have had the op much sooner if A&E had just sent me for an Xray instead of discharging me. I suppose it shortens the waiting lists, or perhaps I’m being cynical. I’m eighty now, very mobile, relatively pain free. Thanks to the consultant and his team.

well most people on here would have not experienced care in these countries so they have no idea just how bad the nhs is by comparison.. so they are ‘protecting it’ at any cost :). i highly doubt it will ever change. people who can afford will pay for private and the others will just continue to wait 9 months for a hernia surgery

We have similar in Finland. We have emergency rooms in hospitals which are like proper A&Es and then health care centres will have their own 'emergency' area which are like urgent care. The one in my town used to be open 24/7 and it was bloody amazing, still is amazing but not open 24/7 any more due to cuts but can still go there and be triaged, seen, and treated within an hour or so usually, longer if there's quite a few people or more complicated cases, and a bed ward if you're not well enough to go home but not ill enough to need to be transferred to the hospital - stayed there once for observation when I had an unusually bad headache.

The NHS version of A&E is probably acceptable if you’ve spent your entire life living in a cave and are unfamiliar with modern healthcare and its efficient delivery. Otherwise, it’s like a fucking field hospital without the war

Unfortunately true at times.

It's appalling service, staff, derelict buildings. It's not free. They sell your data to Palantir and you pay them for the privilege. What's not to love.

I'm afraid I disagree. I think your standards are set far too low, though I am glad your mum got out OK.

My mum (91) is currently in hospital and experience has been poor to say the least. She was in a cubicle in resus/majors for well over 24 hours before a bed on a ward could be found. She wasn't even the worst because at least she had a cubicle with curtains.

Other people (lots of them) were on trolleys in the corridors and outside were still others being treated in ambulances. There were actually up to 30 ambulances outside A & E with people being treated in them. That obviously means that until they can hand over their patients properly those vehicles are off the road and unavailable to go to attend other emergencies.

My mother is still in there, and still hasn't been seen for the main reason she was transferred (at 2am) to that hospital a week and a half ago.

So I really can't agree with you at all. The system is shit, utterly broken. Of course, it can work, but it frequently fails spectacularly.

You had a better experience than most and that's OK, but I would still stop short of singing the praises of such a shit and broken system.

I'm glad your experience was OK and that your mum came through it well. Unfortunately for me, it's looking as though mine won't.

A&E care is so variable that it's not even worth discussing. I wouldn't consider a 9h wait as positive.

Acts I was given the pain relief by the paramedics. They said they would give me a big dose cause they knew it was going to be hours before I was seen.

We're very fortunate to have a minor injuries/urgent treatment unit in the former "cottage hospital" where I live. It's open 8am-8pm 7 days a week. They're brilliant, and even when the waiting room is full, the wait is rarely more than a couple of hours, and that's usually on a Sunday morning, when it's full of footballers and rugby players who've hurt themselves.

It must save lots of trips to A&E and I don't know why they're not more common.

It's also fortunate that we have 2 A&Es within easy reach. One is 12 miles away in a large commuter town, the other is 7 miles away in a city. The further one is infinitely preferable to the city one. The city has a big homelessness problem, a drug problem, a lot of residents with MH issues, loads of nightclubs and is a popular place for stag/hen parties. Consequently, the city A&E is always busy, especially late at night, and the wait is not only long but fraught. You get seen much more quickly at the town one.

I'd always go to the town one if I was travelling under my own steam, but ambulances always seem to take people from here to the city one, where the waiting times are much longer.

Having said all that, the only time I've had to wait more than a couple of hours was when it was snowy and icy and the waiting room was full of people who'd either fallen over or crashed their cars because of the icy roads. They almost ran out of plaster of Paris because they dealt with so many fractures that day.

When asked the worst A and E in Europe Google says:

Determining the "worst" Accident and Emergency (A&E) care in Europe generally centers on nations struggling with severe waiting times, doctor shortages, and underfunding. Both Ireland and the United Kingdom (particularly within the NHS) consistently rank among the lowest in Europe for hospital wait times.

Yay, only a 9 hour wait to be seen! Wonderful!

How low our expectations have got.

I have been in A n E in Ireland where I live, Spain and Italy when on holiday. They are all awful!! Although the one in Italy was the most efficient! My must recent stay in Ireland I was very ill with calcium level of 1.57 which is dangerously low. I knew I would need IV calcium and that I would be kept as an inpatient for a few days. I still had to stay 23 hours on a trolley, hooked up to an IV and a cardiac monitor with people coming and going all night and day long. Extremely rude patients, who were not that ill having full blown conversations with their ‘visitors’ at 4am. And being discharged an hour later!! Other patients out of their heads on drink and/or drugs roaring and shouting all day and night. I’m more convinced than ever that they should all be in a separate holding drunk tank. It’s self inflicted and can be avoided. Mine wasn’t nor were the older people with pneumonia etc. I’ve also been on a trolley on a cardiac monitor and a drip for 26 hours with dangerously low phosphate of 0.29 and potassium of 3.1 but I was eventually moved to a quieter part of the ED, still on the trolley, where there was a clear glass door, the rooms were added during Covid as isolation units. But there was still bright light coming through. Got a few minutes of sleep there!

You’d have to have been seen to be given the pain relief though.

i really don’t understand people moaning about the wait. They have ambulances coming constantly with emergencies, small children and people in immediate danger, which always take priority.

Yes I was really grateful to be pumped full of morphine and left in a wheelchair in the waiting area for 8 hours before being seen 😳

it’s not the staff’s fault but let’s not pretend the NHS isn’t a complete shit show in almost every area

Not unreasonable and I totally agree. I had to visit A&E on one of their busiest days recently and yes it was slow, even the staff said it’s much busier and slower than usual, and I got seen by a nurse, had a blood test, saw a doctor, spoke to a consultant, had a scan and saw another consultant before heading home about 10 hours later. Totally free and in and out in a day, treated and reassured. The staff we are all lovely in horrible circumstances. Honestly we are lucky.