DH been in A+E since 10am this morning

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I left him at 6pm with a sandwich, drink and a bar of chocolate. They thought they had a diagnosis and I needed to get DS home.

Its midnight and he's still in A+E, hooked up to an antibiotic drip that still has a while to go. The diagnosis is looking shaky and they're waiting for more results. He hasn't been admitted.

Is this where we have got to now? Being treated in the middle of the waiting room with no access to food and no privacy whilst you feel like shit? All the while the car payment creeping up?

I don't want to go back with DS now - he found it pretty alarming this afternoon, never mind in the middle of the night - and I've no one to leave him with.

Sorry - I'm worried and I want to rant. I just can't believe the indignity of it all.

So sorry, for all of you and everyone struggling with how shit things are. Have a handhold.

I'm sorry you're going through this. After my NHS experiences I'm scared of being in this kind of position. Helpless, vulnerable and no dignity. It's horrible.

Are you able to message him? Is there anyone you could call just to come and sit with you and chat? Or someone to look after DS?

Sorry you already said you don't have anyone you can leave him with.

Are you sure though? We once had to leave baby DS with our next door neighbour who we barely knew as DH had to pick me up from A&E. Most people would go out of their way to help in an emergency.

Yes this is how it is and it’s horrendous.

I work in the NHS and honestly if people saw just how bad it was I honestly think they would be out on the streets protesting.

10 years of Tory government has taken its toll and hospitals have less available beds than ever, more staff shortages than ever.

I am sorry you’re having to deal with this, it’s not acceptable at all. Once you’re feeling up to it a complaint to your CCG would help show that it’s not just the staff complaining about the situation.

I’m sorry. I hope oh picks up soon.

In exactly the same position! He was there all day yesterday, was sent home at 8pm, I took him back in today at 2pm and he’s sitting in a chair with no idea what’s next. Saw the urgent care GP who couldn’t believe he was sent home last night so he doesn’t want to leave til he’s had an endoscopy.

What a horrible position for you to be in. I was in an Ambulatory care unit for 8 hours on Saturday & it was hell on earth.
I had a kidney stone and was in excruciating pain. There were no beds & they kept saying 'take a seat in the waiting room'. I was sick twice & nobody came to check I was ok.... Truly awful. I was discharged while still in pain but I needed my bed so went home after paying £19 for the medication (not to mention the extortionate car parking prices!) that I should have received under their care.
I hope your husband gets better soon. Take care ❤️xx

No, don’t go back there. You’re more useful at home with your son than you are at A&E with your H.

I know it’s worrying, but he’s in the right place. He’s being treated, tests are being done. You’ll know more in the morning.

It is awful now. I was taken in by ambulance with a dodgy heart trace. It was 2 hours before I was put on a heart rate monitor. I'm disabled and trying to attractive anyone's attention to make sure I could get to the toilet or get a drink was difficult. The staff are utterly overwhelmed.

Thanks all, I know we are powerless in this situation but its good to have a moan.

Been messaging him but don't want to drain his battery in case he's there even longer. He's still waiting for his drip to finish.

Neighbours on both sides are away for the school holidays and my colleagues / family / friends aren't near or are also away. Making me realise how isolated we are here.

Should really get to sleep and aim to head back first thing - although I'm hoping he'll be home by then. Feel guilty sleeping.

Ironically he works in public sector consulting - I suspect he's been writing complaint letters in his head for hours.

@LydLyd - sorry you're in the same boat.

It's the subtle cruelty of it that makes it so upsetting.

Get some rest- well try. You and dc both need to. Hopefully things will be better in the morning.

This is what we thought was happening this afternoon, then they decided it might not be so the promise of medication got pulled away from us

@LizzieBet14 - hope you're feeling better now!

My terminally ill dad was left sat on a plastic chair for 18 hours before they found him a bed. Quite frankly for all they did to him in his last 10 days he would have been better off staying at home, we could have cared for him better. You would have thought total renal failure would have been an emergency.

When I was pregnant with ds a routine MW appointment showed irregular pulse for me and funny breathing. I felt fine. Nut she asked someone and said it could be a clot on my lung. Go straight to a&e their expecting me. Went there. Hardly any battery. No money except my card. At 1pm.
I parked a side street with 2 hr parking as car park full, which often is.
I got out 2am.
All my care was in a corridor. I was starving felt giddy with hunger. 1 cup water the whole time.
I asked of i could walk to go get food, no 'in case its a clot'
2am had to walk alone 8m pregnant to may car 10 min away (its not the nicest of area) was trying to 'run' /waddle fast. To get in car.
Thankfully I was ok, and also no parking ticket.
Dh wasnt allowed with me either

Honestly the place was rammed. Id say 15 in corridors minimum

He's home, refused to stay any longer and promised to go back first thing for a scan.

I'm dropping him off with a spare battery, a full packed lunch and a couple of novels.

Thanks for the hand hold everyone. Sorry everyone has had such depressing stories to tell

My 86 year old gma is still in A&E and has been there for 6 hours.

Still hasn't seen a doctor.

When she arrived there were 14 ambulances outside and a queue outside the door to register.

The NHS is fucked.

It's normal :( I'm a frequent flyer in a and e with a rare autoimmune condition - since covid the shortest time I've been in a and e before admittance is 27 hours - longest is currently 34

I hope you get some answers and he gets a bed soon

9 days ago my DM spent over 6 hours waiting in an ambulance to go into A&E. She spent 8 days in hospital, so clearly wasn't someone who calls them out for anything and everything.
However, she is still not well and the GP surgery is seriously letting her down.

I’m sorry you’re going through this. I wish the best for your husband’s diagnosis.

This illustrates the NHS no longer works for this country. It was never designed for the way Britain runs in 2022. We need to look towards Europe for a better model of healthcare. (And I don’t think this is a government issue, that distracts from the problems at the heart of the institution.)

What’s most worrying is that normally summer season is the quiet part of the year. My hospital are trying to reduce a and e beds by adding extra beds to the ward. Which is a solution but no extra staffing. In fact staff shortages getting worse. Everyone getting angrier and taking it out on staff.

Hope he gets treatment soon op.

I won't start whinging about the NHS because it's pointless and we've heard it all before

It was a hell of a lot better five years ago and a damn sight better again ten or fifteen years ago (remember the days of hospitals being fined for breaching the 4hr A&E wait target?)

Huge staff shortages due to Brexit (all the EU staff went home, of course); and huge problems discharging patients from hospital due to massive Tory “austerity” cuts since 2010 to local government, which funds the care system.

Most care homes now privatised. Funding doesn’t cover the real cost of social care, plus there are massive staff shortages because — guess why — Brexit! Because the EU staff went home; and the Daily Mail little Tory Britain idea that there are huge numbers of doleites claiming benefits who could be out there working is a complete fantasy. There never was much Brirish unemployment in working age people; that’s why we had tons of EU workers to do the jobs in the first place…

The NHS and the social care system has been facing an entirely avoidable demographic crisis; but Tory economic policy since 2010, the failure to tax assets to set against care costs, Tory privatisation (the whole NHS Trust commissioning system was completely changed and part privatised since 2016), and of course Brexit, have made it immeasurably worse.

Tory governments chose to do this and voters voted for them to do it. And they also voted for Brexit. Where did they think the replacement doctors and nurses and healthcare staff were going to come from? Huge parts of the NHS were staffed by EU workers. And I’m sure there’ll be people jumping on here to whine about how it’s not the fault of Brexit; but they must be stupid not to know that it’s made the situation for the NHS ten times worse than it already was.

Hope he gets better treatment today.
What a thoroughly depressing country we live in....