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

Absolutely this. Triage missed an advanced lung cancer in my DH’s case. He was discharged with pain killers and a referral for physio for a trapped nerve. He was dead a couple of months later.

That is not a decision for a receptionist to make.

YABU
Stupidity and carelessness is a common reason for people to end up in A&E but the reason does not matter... the treatment of their injury does.

Even triage can get it wrong.
I broke my foot, could walk on my heel but not my whole foot. The triage nurse outright accused me of making it up and said I was walking fine... then said I did it on purpose (how?). She begrudgingly booked me in to have an x-ray.
It is a shame she did not see me hobble out in a boot with crutches, and a follow up appointment to the fracture clinic.

I think everyone should be seen and triaged, then after that some people should be turned away. I would say burnt feet is exactly the kind of thing A&E is for though even if it was caused by stupidity

I think everyone should be seen and triaged, then after that some people should be turned away. I would say burnt feet is exactly the kind of thing A&E is for though even if it was caused by stupidity

I was sent to A & E by the practice nurse. I had, what I thought was fairly mild breathlessness. The receptionist at A & E took one look at me and asked if my GP was closed.

I was subsequently admitted to hospital with multiple blood clots in both lungs.

This is the difficulty with turning people away. Who wants to take that risk?

A&E and walk in acute care both missed my husbands’ lung cancer. He didn’t even get the courtesy of a chest X-ray , despite presenting with what I now know were classic signs of the disease that they should have picked up on from the start. The only reason I didn’t sue them after he died (less than a month later after being admitted as an emergency when he collapsed) was that I don’t believe in profiting from the NHS’s mistakes. And neither did he.

What can you sue a&e for for turning you away?

I think as long as they have paid national.onsurance they should be allowed treatment, anyone not paying NI should be billed

The key being that you were sent there by a GP!

I’m just a normal person who is aware that when it’s hot, it’s too hot to walk barefoot on tarmac.

If it “burnt down to the bone” that implies a long, long time stood on the surface. It don’t occur to him at any point to slip a pair of shoes on?

Allseeingallknowing

but I didn’t have that 😂 I had sciatica

I've not read the whole thread so apologies if this has already been pointed out, but burns to the soles of the feet can be anything but a minor injury. In fact the national guidance for emergency department staff/GPs from the British Burn Association is that all burns to certain parts of the body, including the feet, should be at least discussed with a specialist in a Burns Care service.
I think this demonstrates quite well actually that people are not always very good at determining what is and isn't "bad enough" to go to the ED. People get it wrong fairly often and yes, it's frustrating if departments are full of patients who don't really need to be there. Some EDs now have Urgent Treatment Centres adjacent to them or GPs and other primary care staff working within the department so that patients can be directed to the best service from triage which I think is a very sensible system.
But people get it wrong the other way too and don't seek emergency treatment for things that they really should. I think most of the ED staff that I know would say that they would rather see people that don't need to be there than miss those who really do.
The reasons why people attend EDs inappropriately are complex and have been around for a very long time, though without doubt difficulties accessing GP care have made things worse in recent years. But people shouldn't be afraid to seek care if they think they need it. I have seen quite a few threads on here recently where posters have been berated for going to the hospital or the GP for things that other posters have incorrectly deemed to be trivial. I don't think many people actually see a trip to the ED as a fun day out and we do need to find ways of improving emergency and urgent care. But making moral judgments about people's injuries and illnesses and deciding who "deserves" medical care really is a very slipperly slope that we should not be going down.

I’ve been for 2 stupid reasons myself. One I collapsed in the street in absolute agony in what I thought was my stomach, a colleague was with me and called an ambulance. I literally couldn’t talk with the sudden stabbing pain. I had a womb infection (PID). Doctors didn’t know what it was but ruled out appendicitis and bowel obstruction and put me on an antibiotic drip, was literally fine in a few hours

The second was even more stupid, I couldn’t feel my butt, thought it had just gone to sleep. 8 hours I waited at home, pins and needles in top of legs and lower back but complete numbness on whole bum. Finally went in to A and E as I googled and it came up with something serious (cauda equina). Got there, was seen very quickly as A and E was empty. Doc shoved her fingers in my butt and my butt resisted. She said it’s definitely not that (thank god) but was sudden sciatica.

now I’d never had either of these above conditions before and with HINDSIGHT they’re not remotely serious but sudden onset incoherent pain or what felt like paralysis was really frightening.

Of course it is. People abuse a&e and we should have a zero tolerance policy for it.