So disgusted with A&E about my son.

[Paranoidandroidmarvin]

My son has a undiagnosed chronic painful condition.

Got to the point today that he was in so much agony. He could walk and Everytime he tried his legs went from underneath him. The doctors at the surgery have given him no painkillers for this condition.

So I took him to A&E. hoping that they would help him with the pain.

Nope. He sat there for over six hours. And they refused to help him as it was a pre condition. He crawled out of that hospital to the door.
When I got there I had to get him a wheel chair as he could walk.

They let a 17 year old unable to walk. Walk out of that hospital with no treatment and on his own as I had to wait in the car.

@Bowtie292

Wiltshire90 it's not our place to diagnose him over the Internet. You have no idea if he has spinal damage. I work in the NHS and have had lots of personal.dealings with them and sometimes, unfortunately you absolutely do have to be demanding or you.dont get heard.

I'm not sure if I want to know the answer to this, but if I'd shown up in A&E with spondylolisthesis, does your response mean that you would have treated me and sent me to a consultant then? Instead of me waiting for 15 years for my consultant to refer me.

A&E were out of order, how can it be both “undiagnosed” AND “pre-existing”?! What a shambles the NHS is

It is shameful.

Go and see GP and/or A&E (if no GP available) and kick up an almighty fuss until he gets seen, assessed, scan (fractures in back?) etc

How horrible for him and you

I have once screamed in A&E waiting room after hours and hours that I needed to see a doctor for my son, who had passed out from illness but they insisted he was asleep (he was not. He lost consciousness.), I kicked up an almighty fuss, not very “proper” but needed to do this

Imo the NHS is in a very poor state, and was even before Covid, so you really have to fight and kick up a fuss to get seen.

A&E won't give you stronger drugs for something that's already being managed by a GP. This is a regular thing some people try when a GP won't give a stronger drug.

What's the history with the adult son? How did the pain start, how long for. What scans or investigations have already been done?

Need more info from the OP.

@Handsoffstrikesagain 111 can refer to a GP out of hours at A&E and therefore save the patient waiting 6 hours to be seen and then discharged, as is what happened in this case. Plus they'd already have the information in front of them which OP could help provide over the phone - she wasn't allowed into A&E. Not sure why you're calling me rigid or unsympathetic based on a few posts other than to be unnecessarily "goady"- the NHS has systems and policies in place and there are particular ways to navigate them.

It is not being managed by GP though, is it? No diagnosis, no pain relief and no referral

He is 17 so still a child !

I can't believe some of the 'advise' on here . Im glad I listened to my instinct when my son was in a similar position as dread to think what could have happened .

Op of I were you I would keep going back to A&E , This needs some answers .

111 can refer to a GP out of hours at A&E
GP OOH aren't (usually) connected to A&E. They're an extension of a GP service, and only operate when GP surgeries are closed. Calling 111 an hour before GP surgeries open won't result in a referral to OOH because we're not really OOH.

@Freshstart2014

He is 17 so still a child !

I can't believe some of the 'advise' on here . Im glad I listened to my instinct when my son was in a similar position as dread to think what could have happened .

Op of I were you I would keep going back to A&E , This needs some answers .

It needs answers but a&e is maybe not the best place to get those answers. I guess we are all basing our answers on our own experiences but pain like what OP is describing would send me looking for a chriopractor, physio or osteopath if GP had already ruled out the causes someone else mentioned above eg broken bones. This is based on the experience of back pain my DH has and also my own experience with pregnancy related pain.

I don't think they were out of order - you needed an out of hours GP. If you ring 111 - they will be able to help you.

Something doesn’t add up with this thread.

Go back to the gp and sit outside the surgery door on a deck chair if you have to.

Something is very wrong here, painkillers might not solve it, what is at the root of it? What are his symptoms? Where is the pain?

It sounds like the system in the UK is so bad that you will have to fight like a professional boxer to get help for your son. Go back and don’t give up.

This is not A&E’s fault.

Your GP is in the best place to provide answers and care for your son. You should direct your anger and efforts at your GP and not A&E.

It is a sin that GPs are not treating patients correctly. A&Es are overwhelmed with people trying to access care via them when the proper place would be via a GP.

My daughter has had a debilitating condition that leaves her unable to walk and unable to keep her body still for almost a year. They discharged her from hospital when she was having something they called psychogenic seizures. No medication. No assistance. I had to fight like mad to get her to see a neurologist who diagnosed a condition and referred her to a specialist. Who we are still waiting to see. Even if she is in terrible distress and pain, the hospital will do nothing. It's "not an emergency, Covid, blah blah blah."

I totally know how angry and astounded you must be feeling

So if your legs give way and you can’t walk and you are in agony people would just remain on the floor and not seek help?

Of course A&E is the appropriate place to go
Unfortunately unless it involves sticking plasters or a care pathway that leads to death the NHS are pretty useless.

Instead of doing a proper investigation you are more than likely told to go away in the hope you either never return, die, go private or if you persist they refer you to someone else who will go through the motions of treating you but not really do a lot if it costs money
I too have been in your ds’s position. I would go private even just to get a diagnosis to return to the GP with

I was told when I did go private that the pain I felt could have been deferred pain from my back and they were surprised that after 7 years of treating me and looking at my hip which was where I felt the pain that a orthopaedic hospital wouldn’t have looked at my back at some point for where the pain could have been coming from.

I am no expert but it sounds like your Ds has a something in his spine that is pinching a nerve type thing that sends a signal to his legs to walk/remain upright.

I would think an immediate MRI is the appropriate first treatment.

I have lived like your Ds in constant agony for 7 years under the NHS from an undiagnosed slipped disc Only diagnosed (in 15 minutes) when I went for a private osteopath appointment.

Part of the problems with the NHS is everything is done on the cheap but it doesn’t look at the overall cost of not diagnosing versus diagnosing and giving appropriate treatment.

I was told that a £300 MRI would have diagnosed me . Instead that was too expensive and ended up probably costing the NHS somewhere in the region of £250,000 through inappropriate treatment and consultant and physio appointments

Call your GP and insist you get a referral for an MRI.
Or go private. Your Ds can’t go on as he is.

You poor son - what tests have they given him - I really would beg steal or borrow the money for an MRI scan.
I understand the desperation - a and e was the right place but yes I’m sure they felt as it’s ongoing it’s the GP responsibility.
Call them today - also find a better GP - complain to the practice manager - the Clinical Care group too - take forceful action.
Best wishes

You need to push your GP for a referral to a consultant - as many as needed- to get a diagnosis.

It's unlikely that A&E could find the right doctors when you were there to diagnose him without admitting him overnight.

Your son is going to need MRI and CT scans perhaps to find out what's going on.

Why is your GP not sorting this out?

Have you not pushed them for this?

So you were diagnosed in 15 minutes by an osteopath? Yet you're saying a&e is of course the right place to go? A&e is clearly not the right place if your own experience is anything to go by!

Maybe a&e should be the right place to go if the NHS was as perfect as we all wanted it to be. But it's not. And those of us saying "see a physio, see an osteopath, see a chiropractor" are aware of that.

Sorry, that was a reply to @Bythemillpond

I know A&E turned him away but I don't agree with it, his condition had worsened till he could barely walk and the GP hadn't treated him to me that is an emergency and they could have at least given him painkillers and checked him over to ensure nothing else is causing him such pain.

Porridgealert my personal experience is with crohns disease. I was in so much pain and so ill, 12 months of visiting the gp had been a complete waste of time. My parents were so desperate on one of the trips to A&E they kicked up a storm I was transferred to the gastro ward, booked in for a colonoscopy and diagnosed a couple of weeks later.

I work in an Orthopaedic Hospital our patients recieve a very specific type of treatment. The ones who phone the consultant's secretary frequently, who have been diagnosed with depression or anxiety due to their condition do often get priority.

Op where is the pain? How long has he had it for? How many times has he seen a gp?
I would go back and see a different gp ASAP explain the situation and explain how bad the pain is when it comes.
What are you giving him for pain at the moment?

How is A&E not appropriate?

I ended up there on Saturday for back pain that I’ve been “seeing” (all phone appointments) the GP for, because I’d already seen the out of hours people the night before and they couldn’t add anything to what the GP has prescribed me already - so they suggested if I was still in that much pain the next day to go to A&E

I wasn’t trying to skip the queue or access anything by bypassing my GP, I just didn’t know what else to do at that point because the pain was unmanageable.

They gave me a quick check over for neurological symptoms and then gave me morphine until the GP opens today.

What else are you supposed to do if you’re in so much pain that you can’t actually walk or do anything?

I disagree with PPs-if a person is in extremes severe pain and it is affecting their ability to walk--A&E is the place.
A&E can offer pain relief, do a scan.
Long-term solution-GP.

Don't describe it to drs as a long term chronic condition , that might be appropriate if he had had tests and scans and nothing was found . Even so this is a new symptom . He needs an MRI and some pain relief . A&E wasn't the wrong place to go and at the least they should have examined him to see if it was cauda equina if they didn't I would complain . Other than that they can't do any more.