Would you go to A&E for this?

[bluemonkeysocks]

Ds fell while playing football last week and hurt his foot. He couldn't walk well for the next few days but it gradually got better. A week on though and he's still in a lot of pain with it. He can put weight on it and drive but has limited movement (can't move it side to side or wiggle toes) and there's still bruising coming up. He's luckily been on annual leave this week is due back to work tomorrow. He's not composing too much and thinks it just needs to heal on its own but he flinches when anyone goes near it and it's at its worst when he's walking up/down the hill in front of our house. Problem is he can't get a Drs appointment till the 8th of August and we have no minor injury units so while A&E seems extreme it seems his only option. Would you take a trip to the hospital in this instance?

the gp signs the request for an X ray!

It’s clear the OP’s ds needs and X-ray and in the majority of cases that can only be done via A and E (where you won’t take the place of someone needing urgent care) they just parcel you off to the right part of the hospital.

Yes, that's why they have something called triage...

Yes, he needs an x-ray.

I work in Drs surgery's and if someone turned up with a poss fractured foot they would look like this  and tell them to go to a&e for an x.ray.

This is exactly what happened to me when I broke my toe!
He explained that our A+E is majors and minors and the triage you to the relevant area.
There's a separate MIU an hour away but he told me not to bother going there if I thought I'd need an x-ray as they'd sent me to A+E.

the gp signs the request for an X ray!

But why is that necessary?!!!!!! If you turn up at minor injuries / A&E nobody asks if you have a referral from a gp!!!

Some of the responses on here are

Going to the GP with something like this is actually a waste of resources - the GP can’t deal with it without ordering an x Ray, then you get into the palaver of having to refer to A&E/ fracture clinic etc.

By going to A&E you’re in the most appropriate care setting AND you save the GP all the hassle of trying to sort you out.

I’m all for avoiding A&E as far as possible, but you’ve also got to have a bit of sense about your own care and where to be seen

How did he get on OP?

Re the 'only ligament damage' comment, that kind of injury can take longer to heal than a straightforward break.

Listen to the A&E consultant everyone, this is a perfectly acceptable use of A&E, if no minor injury unit nearby, it would be a waste of a GP appointment that someone else in more need could use.

GPs are also suffering from overused services and xrays that are referred by GPs still have to be reported and then the patients treated if there is an injury. It's the most efficient use of the professionals and the patient's time.

I was put into a cast for ligament damage so sometimes a&e is needed for that.

@Lweji - which is what I said in my first sentence

@bluemonkeysocks how did your DS get on at the hospital?

update? Does sound like ligaments. What treatment was offered? (none would not surprise me).

@bluemonkeysocks what did they conclude?
The nurse who saw me when I broke my leg wasn’t very sympathetic until the X-ray came back

It wasn't an A and E issue and the op has done the right thing by finding a minor injuries unit. Most areas have one even of you have to travel a bit. It's always worth ringing in advance as some can do x rays and others can't (some can do stitches) I am a fairly regular visitor to minor injuries (kids and husband are accident prone) and they are much quicker than A & E

@YvonneMyBelle

I was agreeing with you. The triage comment was to pps who seemed to think OP's some would take a heart attack victim's place or something.

Although what you said on your first sentence wasn't for A&E, but a centre that would refer or not to A&E.

Lweji - not to argue the toss as we are singing from the same song sheet (!) but our A and E and Urgent care are literally the same place pre-triage which is what I said. You sit in the one initial waiting room. You are triaged and then sent to one waiting room or another according to what they think you need, which seems an eminently sensible to me and stops the worry of those who think they aren’t seriously ill enough to see A and E but aren’t suitable to see a GP - like Op and her son.

I was triaged there once with pains in my left arm and a slightly dodgy ECG (was referred over from minor injuries) it was the most awesomely efficient thing ever. They did an ECG, blood pressure and took blood within a couple of mins. Dh didn’t even see them taking blood they were so quick, triage ninjas they were

Minor injuries with and without X-ray, urgent care centres, walk in centres, a&e, what you have locally and what you don’t, no wonder people don’t know where to go.

Yes, go to A&E. I sprained my ankle and went to the walk-in clinic; who told me to go to A&E for an X-ray.

I would have thought it was a broken metatarsal, I'm 4 weeks into recovery for the same and it went almost exactly as you describe for your son. Ligament damage would still need at the least a bandage if not a cast so I'm glad he went to get check out OP.

When I said GPs have access to X-ray, I meant they can request an X-ray to be done in the outpatients radiology department at the hospital, not that they have a machine in the surgery. We do xrays of chronic injuries, chests etc all the time. For the reasons I stated it isn’t useful for acute stuff. So they can organise for an X-ray to be taken but you don’t get the result for a week and if it’s broken then what do you do? Send em to a+e!

Sorry everyone just getting round to updating now.

It's a damaged ligament and "chipped" bone. So nothing too serious (though very painful) and he's just been given a tubi bandage to support it.

On leaving the hospital though we were behind a car turning right at a set of traffic lights and just as the green light turned to amber they moved off and a car came speeding through from the other direction and hit them head on.

It was awful! I know we were behind the car that was hit so couldn't see as clear but the car that came through the light and hit them was going some speed 😰

It's was a daughter driving with her older mum and luckily no child in the car seat in the back. We had to call and wait for an ambulance (luckily another car stopped and took care of everything as I was a wreck) so I wasn't really thinking about updating last night.

I hope it's not true about it coming in threes!

Goodness me! I hope the car occupants in front of you were ok?

Glad your son has been checked although a tubigrip for ligament damage and a chipped bone sounds rather underwhelming!

Hope he heals soon.

minor Injuries unit if you have one.

sorry ignore that