How long did your recent visit to A&E take?

[Magik01]

I’ve got a friend who went to A&E last night at 9pm, and walked out 9 hours after only having bloods done and no follow up.

it got me thinking, is this the norm for A&E on a normal Tuesday night or is our area just tragically understaffed and long wait times.

if you’ve recently visited A&E how long did you have to wait?

25 hours I sat in a and e. Having been in for 6 hours the night before and was accidentally sent home.

Got there at 5pm was out by 11pm. I had bloods done and results came back. Not too bad tbh as most of the time was spent waiting for bloods.

And I went on to spend 8 days in hospital for treatment so wasn't like I was there for a broken toe or anything minor.

Last 3 times me and the kids:
visit 1- 2 hours
visit 2- 3 hours
visit 3- 1 hour but then admitted

It’s normal here

I was sent by 111 about a month ago. Was told by receptionist to sit in a chair, it was completely heaving (weekday night). Absolutely no contact beyond that inc triage for over four hours.
I had no idea things were so bad and it has genuinely made me fearful that I or family or friends aren’t taken seriously ill in the coming months

Got there at 7pm and out at 9.30pm. North London hospital.

To be fair though I was taking my daughter for stitches so went via paediatrics which was quicker. While waiting in the main A&E to book in they were announcing 12 hr waits for adults and no admissions as hospital was full.

4 hours mid-week in the evening with my 2 year old for a broken wrist. Waiting room was very busy but the children were seen in quite reasonable time. Not sure about the other services

My mum was 25 hours with a broken leg last week. Shocking

Seven hours. Sent by GP at 1300 on Friday. Bloods, head CT, medication and follow-up plan.

Last Wednesday it took me about 20 hours to get a bed. There were people sat in a corridor still waiting 24 hours later, and poorly diabetics led on the floor trying to sleep with infusions running due to lack of space.

It depends what you are there for!

It's not a reasonable comparable if you ask someone with crushing central chest pains, against someone with a sore throat.

7 hours. Had sepsis. Ended up hospitalised for 4 days

9 hours with dc. In the middle of the night.

After 4 hours the doctor announced that if anyone wanted to take their child home please do (check with a nurse first) as he was the only doctor on duty all night. Nearly everybody left!

44 hours on space on a floor in a staff room with some blankets on it.

Severe head & chest injury (assault) - it took 20 plus hours to get a CT scan.

Childrens A and E visit 1 via ambulance -at 8pm I am still a bit traumatised tbh and I don't say that lightly. Came in via ambulance to a room approx 3657777 degrees and locked so you need to ask to leave. No water facilities. I had come in with no bag and DD had developed terrible nappy rash and was screaming. I asked for a nappy, wipes and some cream. They had nothing apart from nappies two sizes too big. Every now and then a nurse would come out, take temps and dish out calpol. There were discarded calpol syringes all over the floor. Dirty nappies kicked under seats. There was a TV blaring to compete with the 15 phones also playing cocomelon to the poorly babies laying limp in their nappies. We were there six hours.

Visit 2, went in at midnight. Empty. Was seen within the hour.

Normal A and E - went in and board said 5 hour wait which I didnt think was too bad. Was seen quicker as I vomited and collapsed. This was Saturday at 6pm. There seemed to be a lot of people there that should have been in minor injuries or GP or social care.

DH was 48 hrs sat in a chair in A&E and the assessment unit after being sent there by GP after abnormal blood test results.

Went on to spend the rest of the week on the ward. They knew he needed a bed pretty soon after arriving but had to wait for a bed.

Thankfully just 3 hours, a friday lunchtime, broken elbow. Waited 2 hours to get an x-ray, then an hour to have it looked at and put in a sling.

In June we arrived at about 10pm and were admitted to the ward at 4am.

I was there for DD2 who was only 6 weeks old though.

It’s quite scary how long some of you or family have had to wait for! I had no idea things were so bad as I’ve luckily not needed to visit A&E myself!

Took Ds to A&E a few weeks ago, we didn't even wait to be triaged. The receptionist shouted for a doctor as soon as she took his details. He was on oxygen and a nebuliser within a few minutes of arriving. We were in A&E for a few hours until he was stable enough to be moved. He was admitted and in for 5 days.

Just thinking I haven't been to an A&E in > 4 years when DH (dislocated shoulder, brought in by ambulance) was fixed about an hour after delivery. Before that... I was admitted with high fever, bypassing A&E in 2009 (I think, I don't remember much... it was Mothering Sunday). Oh, and 3yo DS in 2007 got immediately admitted via pediatric A&E for 8 hours with wheezing. DD had a bead removed from her nose about 10 minutes after afternoon arrival to A&E in 2006.

I have been to MIU in 2022, that visit (DS had boxer's fracture) took > 1 hour which was exceptionally long by their standards. Only because they literally had a crisis, someone in a car outside stopped breathing (the patient woke up bewildered at all the fuss).

6 hours to do the following: Triage, X-ray, cast, bloods, anti coagulants

There is an initial triage at the door where some patients are rerouted to a GP service and some are prioritised as high urgency

Triage is then done on the middle group.
That allocates a specialty if possible and then we're seen in urgency order.

If your not as dangerously ill as others then you will wait longer. I know it's inconvenient to wait a long time but it's really important that the sickest are seen quicker.

The old fashioned way was to aim to see everyone within x hours but that means the person with a splinter (yes it does happen), a sore finger, a broken fingernail (yes I've seen this one too) will potentially be seen whilst someone with sepsis is waiting as they came in afterwards. It makes much more sense Ito be in the order of need.

Went with baby DD last week; 43 minutes. May be different as she is under 1.

Shout out to the Countess of Chester checking for concussion then assessing, washing and stitching a head wound in 45 minutes last week.