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

A&E (& all other healthcare providers) are stretched to the limit at the moment, that doesn’t excuse her attitude towards you but I understand why she may have questioned why you’d come in for a minor, week+ long problem that potentially could be a GP visit to solve.

However if the advice you received was to go to A&E or Urgent care, then you should have followed that advice. You did nothing wrong.
Id chalk it up to it a bad experience and try to get in with your GP first thing.

I have been a doctor for 30y. You did the right thing. I would be astonished if a GP did anything. They usually don’t do this stuff any more and ask ENT to do it in A and E.

You can’t sit there for weeks with that in your ear.

There was no excuse for the nurse to talk to you like this. I am sick and tired of people excusing rude behaviour in hcps. However tired and stressed I am, I have never ever been rude to a patient or relative. We cannot do that and I have zero tolerance of poor behaviour to patients and relatives. Having a ‘bad day’ is no excuse. Nope.

I hope you can get it sorted. A and E are used to foreign bodies in orifices. That nurse should not have taken out her frustration on you. It makes me angry to hear.

No it is not normal and you should have been seen and treated appropriately. My late husband had the same and went to A&E, an ENT person was called and the object removed. Yours is worse because you are in pain.

Go back to A&E, she will have gone off duty, and pile it on, you'll be seen. I am disgusted at how you were spoken to but that was just her, it's not the norm.

I’ve been to the GP maybe 5 times over the past few years and have been sent to A&E every time. I don’t know what the GP actually does anymore tbh. Everything just gets sent straight to A&E and you wait for 4 hours feeling guilty for being there

If that were my ear I would have had a prompt visit to my GP who would refer me to see an ENT specialist asap if they could not remove the object. If ear injured maybe either one if those two might put me on antibiotics.
I am a non medical person.

GPs wont remove it. It’s too close to the eardrum and don’t have the instruments (camera) to see inside as they try to dislodge it. If OP happens to get an appointment -she’d be lucky to see an advanced nurse practitioner never mind a GP. Nurse prob was having a bad day and OP should have stayed to have it removed.

My dh went to a&e at a local but notorious hospital.
They sent him away, despite the blood tests they did showing he had sepsis.
I made an emergency GP appointment for him the next day and he was sent to another a&e at a hospital just in the next county - they can't access his other a&e records.

I gave the triage nurse his history, including his CRP level, he literally couldn't string a sentence together. All he actually said to her was "I feel like I'm dying".
She dismissed him as a Cat 3 and sent him back to the waiting room. 3 hours later, he saw a doctor who instantly recognised the urgency. He then spent 8 hours on the corridor with antibiotic drips.
He spent 9 days in hospital on 4 antibiotics a day whilst recovering from sepsis (from infection of unknown origin), pneumonia and pleural effusion.

Quite frankly, I was just happy he was alive but I do wish I had noticed the triage nurse's name and formally complained about her shitty attitude. She couldn't have been more dismissive if she'd tried!

Seriously? 😂 Jesus …

It amazes me that some Mumsnetters are so incredibly sensitive. All that mattered was getting your ear sorted. Who cares if she was a bit abrupt? That’s just life. It was madness to leave.

If I was you I’d be putting a complaint in!

Minor Injuries and A&E are not the same thing usually, they have separate receptions with separate triage systems. It sounds like you went to A&E, and triage then sent you to minor injuries, instead of you checking in at minor injuries in the first place? Having minor injury patients being triaged does lengthen the waiting time for serious emergencies. But maybe it's different where you are.

I would go back this morning, this is not a GP matter and it needs dealing with quickly now as its causing increased pain. Do you have any signs of infection like a fever?

She was rude and unprofessional. This is why I have private health care. The NHS is a ridiculous antiquated system that needs to be dismantled.

My son had something in his ear and the GP wouldn't even look at him...the receptionist sent us straight to A&E.
There is nothing a GP can do. The nurse was wrong and so is everyone on here saying you shouldnt have gone! Go to another hospital if possible in the morning. Or the same one. Call your GP first as they will confirm thats where you need to be.

I get the nurses are overwhelmed but she was wrong! Good luck.

Why don’t you bloody read!!!!

She could have at least looked whilst she was berating you. That’s a totally pointless waste of her and your time!
We’re told to ring 111 for advice, you did so and they sent you to A&E, so why wouldn’t you go? They’ve assessed it as necessary, that’s the procedure.

Not an accident, but if she’s getting pains in her jaw, it is an emergency 🤦‍♀️

It is a bloody accident. She didn't stick it in there on purpose.

1. it was an accident - that’s how a foreign object entered OP’s ear.
2. It had reached the stage where it needed urgent medical attention. It was causing the OP extreme pain and her hearing was at risk if she didn’t get it seen too. I’d call that an emergency 🤷‍♀️

Jesus Christ the level of reading comprehension on here has reached an all time low! As have the empathy levels!

OP you were not wrong to go to minor injuries for this. This is EXACTLY what minor injuries are there for! 🤷🏻‍♀️Please go back in the morning and try again. Tell them you have been advised by 111 to go. Stand your ground if necessary.

There is no excuse for rudeness either from patients to NHS staff or from NHS staff back to patients. Having a bad day isn’t an acceptable excuse or reason for a nurse to be dismissive and rude to a patient. I don’t give a damn how busy the department is there is no excuse to be rude. From someone who has worked in the nhs

It’s not the sort of emergency that needs to be seen at 11pm, tbf. A&E is not staffed at the same levels overnight as it is in the day and ENT clinic won’t be running at that time either if it needs specialist removal (which it might if it’s been there for a few weeks and become more embedded).

Your GP should be able to contact the on call ENT team directly and arrange for you to be seen by them in the next day or two. They can also prescribe painkillers if needed.

Go to one of those places that hoover out ear wax

Something in your ear IS an accident. I went for exactly that last year, was triaged and had it removed. Admittedly, I did go straight after it happened, rather than weeks later, but it is the right place. I would go back to A&E tomorrow morning, when it’s less busy.

I worked in a public facing role for decades. No matter what was going on in my life I never took it out on the public, no matter how obnoxious they were (and OP was far from that). People who can't deal with others in a professional manner ALL THE TIME should not be dealing with the public.

Minor injuries is for people with wounds, acute but non life threatening pain, suspected breakages, injuries affecting mobility etc.

A&E is for people who are suffering following an acute accident or their health is in an emergency situation, such as a heart attack, stroke, seizure, acute respiratory distress, dangerous blood loss, extremely high temperature etc.

You need your GP to look at it, and they will refer you to the next service. The GP assessment will determine the rapidity and urgency. Same as someone with suspected cancer, they can’t just rock up to A&E, the GP is the gatekeeper who needs to assess people first before determining most appropriate route.

Call your GP tomorrow and explain the situation and go from there.

The nurse was rude but correct.