Woman dies whilst waiting to be seen at A&E

[VaccineSticker]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-68243636

The poor woman- She had been waiting 7 hours before she was found unconscious then dies few days later.
Now they want to launch an investigation into this case - like doh?? Isn’t it obvious that because she wasn’t treated promptly, she died? Maybe recruit and pay staff more to avoid cases like this happening again? But no, they would rather waste money and put it into investigating it instead of fixing the blinding obvious issue here that A&Es are not coping.

In October I had an asthma attack and went to A&E.I was there for 4 hours before anyone saw me. I was gasping for breath and eventually lay on the floor because I simply could not breathe properly and could not sit upright. i was lying on the floor right in front of the staff member who was checking people in and was completely ignored. I could not even speak. I was thinking 'I am literally going to die right here in front of this woman'.

This is completely and utterly appalling from start to finish. I'm so sorry.

Absolutely appalling - your story and everyone else’s!!

Bloody hell What happened in the end, who came to help you?

In the end someone came and I got an oxygen mask and a nebuliser and a bunch of injections and steroid pills and was admitted overnight. And sent home the next day with prednisalone pills.

I have had asthma all my life and I knew (and had told my asthma nurse at my review meeting) that the preventer inhaler I was on was not working terribly well. About 2 weeks before I had put in an e-consult to say that the preventer was not effective. I got told that the issue was probably 'user error' and they would review how I was taking the medication. I had the attack before that happened. I'm now on a different preventer and it is like night and day.

That's fine if the walk in centre is on the same site, ours isn't. I went a couple of years ago with what I found out was a Bartholins cyst. Without even examining me they told me I needed A&E so I drove there and was asked what I was doing there as I should have been at the walk in centre! When I said they'd already been they rolled their eyes and said the walk in centre is always sending people to A&E when they don't need to. It's half hour drive between the two and parking fees at both so no way was I going back again! Luckily I was sent to ambulatory care and home inside 4 hours.

My trust has used cupboards on the wards (no window) the middle of the bay taking our bays to 8 patients, x ray corridors and a mixed sex area within theatres. They have even suggested 2 in a side room (not seen it yet thankfully) It is unsafe, undignified and I am never able to give good care. It is sould destroying. The poir patients are all so lovely as they understand the pressure but it is not ok.

I had the most awful experience with a friend a couple of years ago, waiting with her for six hours in our nearest A&E. She had been throwing up for two or three days and I started to panic when I noticed traces of blood. She is also epileptic which was another concern. Took her in and had to beg for a trolley for her to lie down on. Hardly anybody around to explain things and when I asked questions about her treatment I was made to feel like I was being rude. I have never felt so out of my depth.

To be fair, they did check her over - eventually - but I did not appreciate it when the doctor on duty (who looked about 14) stuck his nose over my shoulder and read the WhatsApp updates I was sending to DH, complete with venting about the conditions. It was none of his business and I told him so.

Nowhere near as bad as some people’s experience in that she did eventually get assessed, given anti sickness meds and she didn’t have anything life threatening (it was Covid as it happened; I gather her GP also adjusted her epilepsy med dosage, something to do with hormone fluctuations) but it seriously put me off hosting anyone with a health condition far from their home. I couldn’t live with the responsibility of ensuring their safety and not be able to rely on the local services.

@PinkSparklyPussyCat my walk in is in Canterbury - the Dr there who said it was probably a PE told me to drive to Ashford (20mins)!

I live in a country that is poorer than the UK and has lower taxes. My son has asthma and we are in a&e fairly regularly. The last time we went in, there wasn’t a single other patient in there. They had treated them all. At other times, we have never waited longer than 15 minutes. When he’s needed an ambulance, it’s arrived in 5 minutes and unloaded as soon as we arrived.
There’s no reason the UK couldn’t have a working health system, but people will probably need to vote in a government that doesn’t want to privatise it.

I sat on the very uncomfortable chairs for 9 hours with my bff who was extremely unwell post chemo. All drips were given in the waiting room. I literally caught a lady near to me who fainted and called for help. The next day a young man under 30 very sadly died of complications of an ear infection in there. He's left behind a young family. Fast forward to my own heart scare where the best treatment I had was from a HCA. I wished I'd shouted at the consultant who did ward rounds in the waiting room the next morning and had the audacity to say it was not usual for them.

Acute care is seeing at least double the number of patients it's resourced for. At times of pressure it's more like 3 times the number. It's a brutal environment to work in and no, you're not safe in ED or the wards. Some people will due prematurely as a result.

Don't shout at the staff. They've seen more than you can possibly imagine and just showing up is now a huge effort.

Shout at the government, their neglect of the health service is responsible for this mess.

DH is a dialysis patient. He was vomiting and bleeding from his bladder. He was seen at the exactly the 24 hour mark. There were others that had waiting longer.

This country is fucked. Nothing works. Roads, courts, police, penal system, water companies, power companies, mental health services, nothing.

To many people in the uk and people going AnE for "chest pains or coughs" wouldn't be surprised if this happens more often then we know

What do you think is the solution to this?
Very difficult to get to see a doctor where I am (even just getting through to the surgery is a nightmare) so while I would sit out a cough, I would go to A&E with chest pains.

Definitely not the fault of the staff. The fault of the Government and people who vote Conservative; ironically older people who will have more need of the NHS than most. As we all get older and sicker that's been revealed as a poor decision. Private medicine won't insure chronic, disabling conditions when you are old.

I suspect it is only just dawning on generation of older Conservative voters that this is what they will have; you know, the ones who don't have medical insurance and now have to rely on public services and they don't like it.

This thread reveals that the Conservative's plan to abolish our nationalised health service and bring in private health insurance schemes is going very nicely, thank you very much.

Softening us up for the inevitable sell-off by making it 'obvious' that the NHS, as it is currently funded, isn't working. We'll be so scared of being the next poor fucker to die under a coat we'll let them do it.

I'd prefer the system in France to this.

I work there (not A&E) but I agree, it's absolutely carnage at times. I always worried about the people on trollies in the corridor, with no one with them to keep an eye on them. I doubt any other city A&E is any different though.

I have definitely learnt something from my experience this week.
If you can, take a pillow and blanket, and food and drinks - or at least watch out for when hospital shops close.
On a corridor wait it can get cold and draughty although it is generally quite hot within the hospital.
I would much prefer to take food and drink if possible since otherwise the patient has to be left alone and it can be hard to get back in because the doors are often not able to be opened by the public.
I am hearing impaired and that caused quite a few difficulties. I annoyed one member of staff because I couldn't hear them, so take a thick skin and cool head with you.

If you ring up my GP with chest pain I can promise you they won’t see you even if they have appts. You are told to go to a&e. I don’t think a GP is the right place for chest pain, they can’t do the bloods and an ecg that are needed to rule out cardiac issues in a ten min slot.

It's not just a funding issue, it's a staffing issue too.

Some staff are incompetent and/or uncaring and/or lazy, this can be due to burn out or stress, or that they're not being properly managed but the result is their colleagues and patients families having to take up the slack.

I spent a lot of time in hospital with my elderly dad and some of the staff were great, some were awful, and in the same hospital, totally different approaches on wards, which seemed to be wholey dependent on the attitude, and visibility of ward management.

Our GP surgery quite routinely sends people to A&E because they have only 3 GPs (all of whom see patients only 3 mornings a week - literally- their schedule is on the entrance door). DH had a very minor issue and got told to go to A&E. He declined because he thought that was too ridiculous and struggled through. But when DS1 was about 8 he had a chest infection (he also has asthma and an immune condition so needed to be assessed by someone as part of his ongoing care) and I was told to take him to A&E for antibiotics rather than get it prescribed via the GP. I was enormously embarrassed about it and kept apologising to the staff in A&E and they just rolled their eyes and were pretty blunt about their assessment of the GP surgery.

@Chitterchatterchoo

I'm so sorry you were treated that way.

It's terrifying to read your story and actually not be surprised that this can happen.

I hope you have managed to get over that awfu, awful experience.x

Ridiculous. DH was sent to the walk in centre by his GP with a suspected DVT as he wanted him to collect a blood thinning injection from the pharmacy and have it administered at the walk in centre. We couldn't get the dose he needed and no one would see him so I asked the receptionist was there anywhere else we could go and she looked at me and asked me what I expected her to do! I said in that case we'd be going to A&E and she laughed and told me we'd be wasting their time. I complained about her but it put me off going there again.