What would do - dh injured himself

[ForFuckSakeWhatNow]

So dh fell over and ‘skimmed his knee’ - his description.
I can see a bit of skin hanging through a hole of his trousers so I’m going to say it needs looking at.

There is no minor injury clinic where I live. I’ve just checked.

What would do? Dh will not go to A&E. won’t be able to see a doctor or nurse for a few days either.

Im at loss at what to advise him - esp as he is extremely reluctant ‘to make a fuss’
He is currently in the shower and told me he will just ‘cut the hanging skin off’

If you definitely need it assessed and dressed by a clinician, and there is no separate minor injuries clinic, then you go to A&E who will treat it as a low priority case. (Unlikely that GP or Pharmacy will be willing to give it time, but they might).

But old fashioned First Aid will probably get you a long way. Clean, nice bit of fresh air unless it's big enough/he's fragile enough to be an infection risk, in which case a nice plaster and some common sense will do.

And you can enjoy practicing "I told you so" in case it does get nasty and he has to get attention for it.

Well he is an idiot then - any fool that doesnt wash a wound, deserves what they get?

Seriously - how do you get to being an adult and not know you need to clean a wound?

I don’t think they current description suggests he needs a&e however I do think you have a point about minor injury clinics. There’s none in our area at all and I hurt my foot 2 weeks ago - still having to walk on one side of my foot and it hurts to touch. No swelling but I take so many meds for a separate pain condition that I can’t tell how bad the pain actually is. Have to wait until end of the week (nearly 3 weeks since injury and making appointment) for GP. Pharmacist said 111 but they would advise a&e which seems silly as it’s not life threatening or anything but really hurts and hard to walk… there’s no good solution sometimes!!

Yes. If he won't clean a wound and will let it fester then that's pretty useless. Especially if he knows the effect it will have because he's already done the same before.

Grim.

That’s what being from a farming background does to you. His dad was the same.
Unless you have your leg chopped off, you’re fiiine…

A grown adult who is not able to assess their own injury and take appropriate action to avoid further impacting their health seems a bit useless to me too, tbf.

I would also expect an adult to know to wash and dress an injury appropriately. He doesn't seem to have learned anything from the last time?

Bloody hell, I’m from a farming background. You clean a wound and cover it so you can keep working. Your husband and his dad are just idiots.

well, guess he's not so attached to his leg then

Have a look at the knee. Clean with warm water. See if it is superficial or deep. See if there is a skin flap partially detached that can gently go back in place. If superficial and not bleeding out on Dry dressing / large plaster. keep clean and dry. If any worrying features or very dirty / gritty call111 or go to minor injuries. Check he's had tetanus vaccine.

Does your GP have a practice nurse who could look at it?

I used to be very injury prone. It’s a long story. In every area without a minor injuries unit, the a&e processed them, sometimes on a separate track.

why can’t you just tell him you want to look at his knee?

If it's bad go to minor injuries or you'll be diverted to minor injuries from AE main.

Sounds like a clean it up with water or an alcohol wipe, cover with a dressing and keep dry for a couple of days. Recovering after showering

@ForFuckSakeWhatNow obviously is you can see bone it's not just a scrapped knee! But for most cases a scraped knee doesn't need a health professional. Can he not make that judgement himself?

I'd just get it washed and air it off.

It's not an a&e job as it's not a danger to his life. Jeez, if I took my kids every time they skinned their knees we'd never have been away!

I mean, there's slightly grazed, skin hanging off but it'll be fine, and there's skinned down to the bone with a flap of flesh hanging off, but still, get it cleaned and leave alone. He's a grown man fgs.

I fid something like this once and went straight to A&E where they debrided the wound and put about 30 steroid tips on. They told me it was good I went straight away otherwise it is possible the skin won't regrow and heal. So I'd try and persuade him to go to A&E.

Steristrips!

What a nasty response. Just because he is a man, why is he automatically 'crap'. A lot of us are crap with dressing a wound (and it is often harder to do it to yourself than someone else'.
My poor 90 year old gran got a nasty wound on her leg walking into a bed, and she had to have a nurse dress it for her as she couldn't do it. Was she 'crap' too?

OP please encourage him NOT to cut the skin off. The hanging skin will die and it will shrivel and fall off - doing it with unsterilised scissors etc will just cause an infection and make it painful. A&E might be a bit much but needs cleaning with antiseptic and a proper gauze/sterile dressing applying. A scrape can't be stitched so proper wound management is key.

Where are you living where there is no minor injuries provision? Local hospital (10 minutes drive) has A&E but no minor injuries. Last week dd had hurt her ankle I drove 30 minutes to a minor injuries with an x-ray department to get her seen. I had rang 111 who had said they would give a GP appointment within 24 hours but was pretty certain it would need an x-ray. I could have driven to several minor injury departments within an hour. We were seen and sorted after 1h and 15 minutes of walking through the door.

I don't think the PP thinks he's crap because he's a man, but because he has form for wasting NHS time and resources by not seeking appropriate treatment in a timely manner and is on course to do the same again despite the distress he's causing his wife.

If you don't have a minor injuries/walk-in place and it's not bad enough for A&E (which it doesn't sound like it is, to me) then you can call the GP surgery and ask their advice. If they have a practice nurse, the nurse would be the right person to see for this sort of thing. A pharmacist might also be able to suggest the right kind of wound care and dressing.

Last time dh skimmed his knees, he ended up with two general anaesthetics. First one to clean the wound. Second after a few days of IV antibiotics to close it. And that’s only after a paramedic told him to go because they could see the knee bone

This is tangential but... I opened up my knee down to the bone when I was a child - split it right from one side to the other. Whole knee joint exposed. At no point did I have a general anaesthetic! I had a local for them to clean and stitch it, and then a couple of weeks later I had it drained (with no anaesthetic at all), then had to have antibiotics every four hours (including through the night) at home. When did they start knocking people out for stuff like this? I was nine years old and I kind of feel I'd have been better off asleep for that shit, but hey, it was the 1980s.

Rinse it off with saline (or a tbsp or two of salt mixed into half a glass of hot water until dissolved and then add cold until tepid.) Leave the skin alone. If you have some dressings big enough pop one on after it dries.

Dettol and a wire brush!

That's what my farmer grandparents would have used 😂

Is there not a walk in clinic available in a different area he could use?

I would ring the GP and see if they’ve got any appointments (I doubt it).

For now, I’d clean it and dress it and see how it gets on (if it is actually just a small cut and he’s not playing it down).

Ultimately, he is an adult and he can choose when and where to go.

Was about to ask if he is a farmer! I work with A&E doctors. If a farmer voluntarily attends A&E they know it will be serious.