12-hour wait in A&E: is this the new normal?

[Pluvia]

I'm staying with a post-operative friend and had to take her to A&E at 2.30am this morning. There were ten ambulances and crews queued outside with engines running. The waiting room was 75% full. There was a 12-hour wait to see a doctor. We sat and waited beside a man with a broken arm who was in such pain that they put him on oromorph. He'd been waiting for nearly five hours when we left.

I checked the news, expecting there to have been a major RTA or similar, but could find nothing. Fortunately, once triaged, my friend was told it would be okay to go home and return to a minor injuries unit today. The very earliest she would otherwise have been seen was 9am, when a nurse practitioner would come on duty and might be qualified to carry out the procedure she needed. If it subsequently turned out that she needed to be seen by a doctor she would have had to wait — possibly till 2-3pm today.

Is this just how it is now? There's no point in blaming the Tories, I'm currently in Wales, where Labour has been running the health system for more than 20 years.

We have a minor injuries unit, but it can’t X Ray, so so many non-life threatening and sometimes not even that painful injuries have to end up in A&E. I did 14 hours with a broken wrist not that long ago. It wasn’t even that painful but I knew it was broken. It was a very depressing environment to be in, but as you need an x Ray followed by and initial cast and a referral to fracture clinic A&E is the only way. When you are not on deaths door but don’t have the option of going home and waiting for the GP or anything else other than the waiting room there, with only a broken vending machine and a plastic chair it really does get you down a lot.

Mind you, because you cannot self refer to the fracture clinic and here at least it seems neither can your GP, I also had to present to A&E with a broken ankle about 8 years ago that was treated initially (and bloody brilliantly) in Switzerland and needed to get back into the UK system for the remaining 6 weeks of care. That was definitely a time waste but I’d tried all the non A&E routes, it seems they are the gatekeepers for orthopaedics.

I know you probably mean well, but why does everyone immediately assume that I didn't phone 111 (I did) and we didn't consider all the possibilities including the MIU at NPT — which shuts at 11pm. I didn't have sufficient medical knowledge to know whether, on discovery that some of my friend's hysterectomy stitches had opened and there was blood and other matter soaking her dressings, I was dealing with an emergency or a minor problem that could wait. That's why I phoned 111.

My son cut his mouth open on a metal scooter. It was ripped from lip to half way down chin with blood/saliva pouring out. We waited 6 hours to see a doctor as did ever other child because the hospital had no doctors in children's a&e for that time frame. There was a small baby and about 5 other children. The doctor we eventually saw couldn't glue it (don't no why ) and was reluctant to stitch his face. Rang Sheffield children's for advice. Said during the consultation he wasn't a children's doctor nor did know about teeth (teeth were bent too) He also asked why ds hadn't eaten?! By this time it was late at night so Sheffield hospital said come first thing the next day. The doctor was in her words 'appalled' when she saw the state of our sons face. He is covered in scars . Would never go to our hospital again

Yes this has been ‘normal’ for a while now. My son had sepsis in January and it wasn’t until the 6th hour of me pleading and crying for a doctor to walk past us whilst doing something and rushed us through. By the time they saw he he was seriously ill, deteriorated rapidly whilst waiting. Terrifying.

I've been to children's A&E and had various waiting times. Problem is they can't predict it.

I had an over 12 hour wait with 18 month old ds back in about 2008 with a potential broken ankle. I could see exactly why, because the children that were coming in after him were struggling to breath or similar. I was just thankful that he wasn't in the worrying ill, just uncomfortable level. It was a Thursday night, and we arrived at about 2:30, but there were more and more children just coming in that had to take priority.
I had to take him last year with a broken wrist. We arrived at 6pm again on a Thursday night. I was prepared for a long wait, because he was teenage, not obviously in pain (he has a high pain threshold) and 6pm is after all the coming after school/sports afterschool club injuries.
We were all through and out by 8pm leaving behind an empty waiting room.

I'm not saying either time was representative of every day, but just it can vary so much. Both were similar times of year, both weekday evenings.

Being honest here, if she was triaged as fine to go home and return the following morning to the minor injuries dept- then she did not need to be in A&E at 2am. She would not have been prioritised, and would have been waiting that length of time anyway as her condition was obviously not critical.

(A&E staff)

I've been with DS twice in the last few months (cut head needing stitches and broken arm), I think we must have been lucky because we only waited about 5 minutes both times! They have a separate children's A&E. not sure if that makes a difference.