Think I've just seen the longest a&e wait time ever

Most people who are suffering from dehydration are in that state because they can’t keep fluids down. Pp said she’d been sick 17 times. Rehydration sachets will do bugger all if you’re bringing them back up immediately. That is exactly the reason why they put you on an IV rather than just giving you a drink of Dioralyte.

But presume they had to sort the vomiting out or the rehydration stuff wouldn’t have been able to do anything?

Dehydration can be treated at home, and I doubt it was actually life threatening dehydration. My dad is prone to dehydration when unwell and has been told to treat it at home as it’s a waste of a&e’s time!

Sorry you had that experience that’s horrific 😞 as you’ll know sepsis is one of the biggest killers and the impending sense of doom people feel should most definitely be taken seriously

My mum actually died a few years ago and had had a brain haemorrhage and she had a 5 hour wait for an ambulance under the category for strokes, the whole situation is dire and for the majority of us nurses, not the care we are happy to be working in. I’ve also had to go down myself whilst on shift and had a 9 hour wait myself with analgesia given in that time but couldn’t go back to my shift because of how unwell I was.

i hope my post didn’t come across as no one very unwell will be waiting all that time because there is of course exceptions where people slip through the net, I just meant to op that broken bones and things will be waiting a long time whilst the most unwell patients are dealt with first when in minors or majors. Resus is a different story with different staff and a smaller amount of beds where I am. I hope your dh is doing better now as sepsis recovery can be hard too ❤️

Yes, dehydration is an obvious emergency! 🤦🏻‍♀️

Treating at home in the first instance would be better. Rehydration sachets are available from boots for a fiver and would do the job. IV fluids are nothing special

Similar situation. I went in by ambulance as I had a massively swollen face and shortness of breath. We waited about 9 hours until my bloods were taken and it was found sepsis was just about to kick in - after that I was on a drip within about an hour and in for the next 10 days extremely unwell, on the strongest nastiests antibiotics the whole time and no idea until I left how close things had been to a not very pleasant outcome!

If you’re that unwell they’ve treated you with IV fluids, where should you go?

Gosh that’s awful!

I asked the triage nurse where the loo was. She said “it’s over there but I’m not taking you nor is anyone
else” (I was in a wheelchair due to not being able to put any weight on one leg). I ended up having to hop on one foot to the loo in front of all the other patients. It was utterly humiliating. I did complain. The consultant in charge of A&E phoned me up and apologized profusely.

Again, very sorry you felt unwell, but it’s not really an emergency is it?

I once had the misfortune to have to
go on New Year’s Day and there was a sign at reception ‘wait time, 24 hours!!’

I was really sick last week. Migraine that became so severe I vomited 17 times. By the time I went in I was severely dehydrated and sitting in the waiting area heaving into a bowl. It took 5 hours to have a canula put in, another two hours before any fluids were put through it, sitting on the floor the majority of the time. I was given anti sickness iv when they saw me in a heap on the bathroom floor. From arrival to going home it was 11 hours.

I downloaded an app recently which told me the waiting times at all my local hospitals, which was really useful.

If you can pick and choose what hospital you’re seen at, you don’t need to be in a&e.

I am disabled as a result of inaction by the NHS. I haven't worked since 2017 and am about to sell my house to fund the rest of my life as best I can. I have spent over 30k trying to get well and am giving up now.

The nhs is in a bad way.
A relative got sent in tge other day because their leg had swollen to twice its size and was hot and painful.
They waited several hours for blood to be taken then got told to go home and come back the following afternoon for a scan to check for a blood clot.
They got a phone call a few hours later to say comeback immediately.
Turns out it was cellulitis and very bad.
They waited 12 hours on a chair for a bed, had iv antibiotics in the waiting room. Has a scan the next day which thankfully ruled out a clot.

Its not just a&e. Its the whole nhs

Another relative has a 6.5cm pulmonary aneurism and after first being told it was urgent and needs surgery ASAP, then spent almost a full year being passed between hospitals while being told all the things they cant do while waiting, has just been told they won't operate but will monitor it. So now they are scared and stressed out that this aneurism could burst at any moment and have been told to just go on as normal and come back if they start coughing up blood (im really simplifying that bit, they got a list of stuff but it was just so dismissive)

And these are just 2 examples of at least a dozen from my own family alone.

I sat with my DH in A & E for 25 hours. He has cancer in his spine. I thought it would kill him. I asked for a bed or a recliner repeatedly. No.

This country is fucked.

You need to do a bit more research. You’ve ignored half of what I said and the same issues and complaints are there with gold schemes. Most US family and friends know are hugely jealous re our our system.

Where would you magic up these private staff? Currently private is still NHS doctors which means non paying wait longer than the moneyed. They need a policy change to employ all the newly qualified.doctors coming through that can't get jobs.

My daughter dislocated her knee which popped back in so we were apparently not an emergency and waited 10 hours to be seen. Told all okay. 6 months later has had major surgery to reconstruct her knee after things were missed. While waiting saw one man who was sent by 111 for an inhaler, one elderly man who had randomly appeared at someones house and no idea where he lived so sent to a&e and a prisoner in handcuffs. Lucky to have the nhs but its not fit for purpose.

But if you have decent medical insurance in the US, you are in a much better position than you would be in the UK. That’s a fact. I am terrified of one of my kids falling ill and needing emergency treatment. Several people have died recently at my local A&E whilst waiting in the queue for the triage nurse (which is often out of the door). I paid over £40k in tax and NI for this wonderful service last year. Fucking disgraceful. From a personal point of view, my family would be much better off in the US when it comes to medical treatment.

I was describing to my US boss the awful experience that one of our colleagues had recently with her teenage son when he needed emergency treatment from the NHS. My boss was open mouthed when she heard about it. It really was dreadful.

That said, the US system wouldn’t be the one if my choice. I have family in France. Theirs is far superior to both the NHS and the US.

Not if it is for the elderly parent. Pharmacists can only prescribe for UTIs for age 16-64. Older people have to be seen by a dr.

Average wait times of US ER is 3,5 hours
Average wait in uk A&E is 5 hours

considering USA gdp on healthcare is 18% whereas uk is 11.4 you’d think the gap of 90 minutes would be a lot bigger

Sorry to hear this - I too waited over 30 hours in A&E for a bed a couple of years ago. Pretty miserable feeling terribly ill sitting on hard chairs under very bright lights!

Yep. Our GP usually prescribes broad spectrum antibiotics after a positive urine dip and then re- prescribes if necessary when lab test results come back.