I get that a&e is busy, but was not expecting to be spoken to so rudely

YANBU OP.

The triage nurse was quite rude to my mum and I about being there at all. DM was dying of stage four pancreatic cancer, age 85, had broken a bone in her shoulder after chemo (just in bed!), beside herself with pain in spite of Oramorph, and we had rung the hospital specialist cancer helpline who said to go to A&E. I nearly lost the will to live myself.

Please let us know how you get on.
Wishing you all the best...

I'd have done a vauge no idea but pain is worse shooting pains in jaw taken as much over counter pain med I can and 111 and GP friend all said to come to A&E.

I'd have also probably have waited out any rudeness from nurse till you had been treated.

I've learnt through my parents and my own being triage wrong to be very careful what I say as many people have tendancy to latch onto one word or phrase and dismiss everything else.

The nurse should not have been so dismissive that you felt you had to leave - but sadly it's not uncommon.

My Dmum was made to feel stupid for heading to A&E under GP and 111 advice by a nurse - not a doctor who rules out a few things - so point when she was still ill a few days later no of us could get her to go anywhere- she fell leading to broken bones - and then they found they'd missed an infection making her dizzy - she cost the NHs way more and had weeks of treatment and support.

Couldn't 111 have got you an appointment with an out of hours gp?

Why shouldn’t people use their own health service as they need to?

I’m not a doctor. I do not have the medical expertise to decide which one of the various frontline health systems is most appropriate for a medical condition-it is up to the frontline healthcare workers to decide that. So if I think something is an emergency then I will present myself at the nearest or most relevant service and if they need to (and it’s feasible) they can redirect me.

What they should not do is berate me and try to make me feel like an idiot for trying to access healthcare.

A&E is for an accident or an emergency. And a foreign object getting lodged in your ear falls under both categories.

I took my DD last night and ended up with a "I don't know why you're here!" from a doctor.
DD had UTI symptoms and was in a lot of pain around her ribs and back, feeling sick, so she rang 111 to see if she could go to the urgent treatment centre at our small local hospital, for antibiotics. 111 made her the appointment 2340 so we went over.

Dr there was lovely but worried about pain around her pancreas, wanted a function check blood test and didn't have facilities to do it there. Said he wasn't convinced it was UTI and he wanted us to go to the larger city hospital for this blood test.

Drove off to that one with our printed notes/referral from him. They took urine and blood samples, and after 4 hours a Dr saw DD.

"I don't know why you're here! This isn't an emergency" etc. By this point it was 4am, we both have work today, we really would have avoided spending 4 hrs in a grim A&E if we hadn't been told to go by a doctor.

Diagnosed with kidney infection and given script for ABs.

I hope your ear is ok and any damage heals quick.

Please do come back and let us know how you have gotten on.

I’ve thought this for a while. There have been several similar threads where new onset diabetes has been suspected and it’s baffling to me just how many posters who clearly don’t know what they’re talking about feel entitled to post drivel that could have serious consequences for someone. I dread to think what the outcome would have been if a doctor hadn’t posted and spelled out exactly what could happen if OP didn’t get some immediate help for her son.

No, as usual, they quietly backed away from further comment after OP updated.

Good luck OP, I hope they get it sorted quickly! I would say the person you spoke to last night was wrong, I would have been angry if that was me!

OP was in minor injuries. She said in her OP that A&E referred her there - which was why the triage nurse was grumpy.

all these people on mumsnet with their 'rules' about when you can and cannot go to A&E....as if you'd do the same if it were you or your children!

OP when you get to see a medic, be sure to tell them you attended last night when a very rude and dismissive triage nurse made you feel as though you were wasting everyone’s time and that you felt so belittled that you left without treatment. OK so it was your decision to leave but had you not been made to feel like that you would have stayed and been treated. As things are it’s worse this morning and may necessitate different treatment. The nurse’s workload is not your concern and you shouldn’t have been made to feel like a nuisance because you needed help.

You didn't do anything, wrong OP.

There's no excuse for being rude - and she was rude; 'you need to see your GP about this' was all that was required. I wouldn't speak to a member of the general public like that at work.

My GP practice actually wouldn't do anything about this other than refer on, so I understand why you started with 111 and Minor Injuries.

My grandson had to go when he was little as he'd somehow got a bit of lego stuck in his ear.... GP wouldn't touch it, nor the local MIU and DD was given short shrift by both for not taking him to A & E .

You can't win, OP. The reality is that we're now living with a buckled NHS that it barely functioning on the surface. God help us all.

Everyone should treat others as they wish to be treated. Would the person who spoke to you like to have been spoken too like that?
Ask them next time.life is actually easier when people are nice to each other.

I agree.

It's all well and good not reading the OP properly and flinging out wild guesses based on "what you reckon", hearsay and massive projection based only on your own specific experiences when it's about what to do on a hen party or whose MIL is awful, but to do it in the guise of medical advice is actually harmful.

I know! We’ve had to go a lot for my dc. I hate it with a passion and it brings back so much trauma. I’d do anything rather than go to A&E but if you have to go you have to go.

She went to minor injuries!

I completely agree but I have seen posters wanting to go to A&E for something that can easily be checked out in minor injuries.

Why wait in A&E for 9+ hours when you can go and be seen much quicker in minor injuries.

Of course not everyone has access to minor injuries, especially after a certain time but many people don’t seem to know much about it and think it’s either gp or minor injuries.

Ah I bet that made the wait go much easier

Forgot to add I hope they quickly sort you out and you may need some antibiotics as sounds like it's all infected, if you are up to it please return and let us know how you are as some strangers do care xx

Risk of reduced hearing is an emergency. The GP has told her to do exactly what she did - go to A&E - so the upshot of your advice is that she has wasted a day when time is of the essence.

I wish I had of seen this last night, as I would of told you to sit tight as it is in need of urgent medical assistance, my son died the same thing but he was 4 and just decided he wanted an earring so he found a butterfly (earring back) and shoved it into his ear canal, trip to the GP, then a trip to minor treatment then transfer to a&e for a specialist ENT and inn the end he went to theatre to get it removed mainly due to his age and where the butterfly has rested, he was home the next day, a month later we saw the same ENT after he got some paper lodged up his nose. He is now 36 and had stopped putting things where they don't belong.

How can PEOPLE try when GPs or trusts are not doing it then? I expressly told you that when I had this “appointment” in A&E I still had to join the general queue and triage