To think some things should just be turned away from A&E?

I thought that this was what was done anyway?

Reception takes the reason, then the system ranks it based on injury type?

But common sense does seem to be lacking. Even my own OH is an idiot when it comes to this - like recently, in pain in left leg all day.. decides at 18:10 to call someone about it - 40 mins AFTER the doctors closed. Of course it is triaged as non emergency, and a 12am gdoc appointment that muggins had to take him to as he could not wait until the morning.

Just because it’s self inflicted and a bit idiotic doesn’t mean they should be denied medical care. Jesus.

No, terrible idea and just creating more work for a&e departments and would just encourage people to lie. It's an accident with burns, the how that came to be, shouldnt factor into it.

Also not all areas have a minor injuries.

He may have inflicted the burns on himself, but they still needed to be treated in case they got infected or became worse.

Tbh if you’re prepared to go to A&E with a mild headache (that turns out to be meningitis as per earlier example) you’re not likely to be satisfied with a GP visit either

I'm not convinced that access to medical care should be based on IQ.

A&E is not a great place to be for anyone. You (generic you) have to believe that the nurses/doctors are doing their level best prioritising the people coming in through the door.

Many individuals they will recognise as will be there on a regular basis - either because of mental health issues or physical health conditions that require regular A&E trips. You could argue better support for both of these groups in the community would not only help them but also reduce their reliance on attending A&E.

And as for MIU - ours only opens on a Tuesday! Any other time you have no option but to go to A&E! And so far, my kids have resolutely refused to tie in their injuries with Tuesdays...

OP, |I saw the clip on the news last night and was shouting at him for being such a moron. I agree with you, in the heat we've been having, to walk across tarmac with no shoes on is the height of stupidity. A&E was the right place for him to be, because those burns looked very nasty, but it was the stupidity of the man that riled. It was certainly not far off being an emergency for him, but accident? No! The man was a complete bellend for having done it to himself. It is why I think there should be a charge for A&E. Genuine cases get refunded, bell-ends go home a bit lighter of pocket.

It is not business as usual in a heatwave with red heat alerts. Bare feet on tarmac! That idiot has a vote. It's scary.

I'm in a relatively big city, no miu.

In fairness, if self inflicted injuries were excluded from A&E the waiting times would be a quarter of what they are now. I don’t work for A&E but I would imagine that the overriding priority is ‘risk of imminent death’ and so in spite of having some awful painful conditions, if you’re not going to keel over and die there and then, you’re likely in for a long wait. I once phoned 111 for an extremely painful shoulder and left arm and was told to go to the minor injuries unit within the hour. An appointment had been made for me and I was ushered through and seen almost immediately. I think they suspected a heart attack. It wasn’t, thank goodness, but it demonstrated how well the system works when it’s potentially critical.

I agree. Who decides and where is the cut off point? We could all do more to be preventative and I'm saying that as a non smoker, non drinker fitness enthusiast who has had cancer three times.

My late father used to always rant about idiots wasting medical time -

One of his friends was a surgeon in a&e and had to waste his precious time operating on some fool who had been in a bar fight. I heard about this probably fifty times.
Specialist heart surgeons should refuse to treat anyone who smokes. But what if they smoked in the past I asked. My dad, an ex smoker, paused.
Similar attitude to alcoholics or any kind of addicts.
Obese people should be put in an entirely different wing of the hospital anyway so nobody has to look at them, the absolute cheek of them inflicting their appearances on us.

When he himself was in hospital for the last 6 months of his life I wondered was the fact he never ate vegetables or any fresh food and had been downing paracetamol and double dosing steroids for at least a decade relevant.

Our local MIU was closed with the resulting, and completely forseeable, increase in people attending A&E.
It's impossible to get a quick GP appt so people resort to A&E.

We need better access to GPs, more MIUs and maybe A&E will then be just full of people with actual emergencies.

My local a&e is inundated on race days with women who have hurt their ankles in their ridiculous heels. I always say they should set up a mobile ankle unit there to bandage up and send on the way!

Right.

Yep.

I took my son to A&E because I suspected he was dehydrated due to a tummy bug that he was struggling to shake off. He was in fact dehydrated but the 'tummy bug' was actually an aggressive tumour in his bowel causing an obstruction and he needed emergency surgery.

He was also sat in A&E on his ipad before he was seen and also chatting with me. Not many people look like they have cancer before it is diagnosed.

A&E is for accidents and emergencies, a lot of accidents are caused by bad decisions and stupidity. In this case it would depend on how bad the burns were, I assume very bad if he was seeking emergency treatment. I did the same thing when I was a teenager but didn’t seek any treatment, I just hobbled on my heels and the sides of my feet for a week - natural consequences of stupidity. But if it was so bad that he had gravel lodged in flesh because the soles of his feet had burned off or something then I think that is quite a serious accident that deserves A&E. But a brief wash, gauze and first aid bandage would only need urgent care or he could’ve done that himself

I was able to walk, talk, read, laugh, even eat in the hours before my appendix exploded even though my stomach hurt. You have no idea that their less visible issue wasn’t more life threatening than yours.

I always think this when people talk about elderly people waiting in a&e for hours and hours- it’s so miserable and undignified but that doesn’t make it a medical priority

I image he had a brain fart in everyday life didn't think it through ie it's really hot at minute and was left learning a painful lesson.

I don't see how jumping out a airplane or climbing a mountain is beneficial as there are less risky ways to stay fit - it's actively chosing a dangerous situation.

This man probably walked across thousands of pavements in his life- meaning he was less aware of risks as environment changed on him - wasn't considering the risks had changed.

You really can't attack judgement to injury - as where do you draw the line - what I think of as stupid another thinks of as keeping fit or never considered could go wrong.

OK and then what happens when idiot with burnt feet’s burns get infected and he dies? Or loses a foot?

People don’t all have the same level of intelligence, knowledge or can even have mental disabilities or illnesses that make them make decisions you wouldn’t. Doesn’t mean they’re not worthy of treatment.

Yes that is usually how triage works but unfortunately this time it was based on waiting time which I have never experienced before. Kidney stones can be life threatening if not treated quickly enough, you can't get sepsis.

Many people end up in A&E because of their own actions. Where do you draw the line?
There aren’t MIU everywhere.

Unfortunately (for you) how triage works is they look at symptoms according to risk of life and risk of rapid deterioration. So someone with chest pain, even if they seem OK within themselves, will be seen sooner than others in case it's a heart attack. Burns will also be seen quickly as if untreated they get worse and worse. Kidney stones is crazy painful but equally not an immediate or urgent risk for life so it's one of those situations where you have a long wait with horrible symptoms. It feels really awful and unfair but that's the way it goes sadly.

For my own part I had a pretty awful 15 hour wait last year with a thunderclap headache, impaired vision and nonstop vomiting. I had a pretty frank discussion with the doc who explained that either it was a terrible migraine (dreadful but not life threatening) or a brain hemorrhage (life threatening but not time critical) I was a lower priority even though I was probably the sickest person in the waiting area.

Fair enough right.

It doesn't matter whether an injury is self inflicted or not. FFS. Are you nuts?

Our a&e asks breaks to attend MIU, or UTC, not a&e
But again, maybe that's where the guy was sent to.