Walked out of A and E after 9 hours and only triage completed !!

[bumblebee1000]

Don't consider myself at all naive but haven't been anywhere near a hospital for any urgent treatment in over 30 years. Rang 111 yesterday due to constant headaches for almost a week, was advised to attend local hospital [london]. Queue out the door, after 7 hours was seen by a doctor for appx 1 minute who said they will want to do blood tests and possibly an mri scan, was told blood tests could be a further 5 hours, a scan possibly a further 7 to 9 hours so in total basically 24 hours. I couldn't wait so told nurse I was leaving and will follow up with GP and a wealthy old friend has offered to pay the £300 for the mri scan which is lovely. I was stunned to see so many people sleeping on floor and who had been there for hours before me. Then a man went beserk and grabbed a fire extinguisher and smashed in the windows of the reception area, coffe machine and a door, police already on site as were with a chap in hancuffs.....awful. I did notice that many names were called and nobody responded so assume they just left without informing anyone, I felt informing them of my departure, was the least I could do so time isn't wasted on no shows etc.

'I replied above to wrong poster, most of the people seemed to be fine, on phones, eating, out for a smoke etc, only saw 2 people with a broken arm, obvious.'

Yeah but behind the curtains there will be people hovering close to death having suffered brain haemorrhages and heart attacks etc. There are plenty of people in A&E who really need it - you just don't really see them.

A&E's are massively backed up due to people like the op using it as a gp sevice. Yes 111 'told her' to go but headaches for a week clearly aren't an accident or an emergency. If she could leave and pop for a private mri clearly she shouldn't have been there in the first place.

Ring your GPs. Do Econsults. Ask to see nurse practitioners. Go to A&E only if you are desperately unwell.

i would ordinarily agree with PP that if you ‘really needed’ help you would have stayed, however I’ve recently had a similar experience and totally emphasise with where you’re coming from. a few weeks ago i visited my gp about a very large lump on my breast and he referred me to A and E in order to get it looked at and possibly drained (my first time ever in A and E or hospital in general). I went at around 6pm, was triaged at about midnight and had a stent put in my arm in case IV was needed, then waited until approximately 5am to be seen by a doctor- when none came, i was in so much pain, hot and sick and very dizzy and exhausted and just wanted to go to bed(not thinking rationally) so I told a nurse i was going home. I waited around ten minutes for her to come and remove the stent, but by chance the doctor arrived at this time and diagnosed me with serious sepsis following a skin infection in my breast and and i was immediately wheeled to a ward to receive life saving treatment. it’s just sheer luck I didn’t go home and if the doctor had been ten minutes later I would have done. absolutely emphasise with you OP, it’s an awful situation to be in, and best wishes for you and your health🩷

But they can be?

my mum was having reoccurring headaches, had them for a few days then in February I got a call that they thought she’d had a stroke at home, 2 and a half hours for an ambulance to reach her and when she got to a&e it was too late. Catastrophic bleed on the brain, icu intervention but to no avail. Died 4 days later at 57.

I’m a registered nurse are prolonged headaches can be a sign of high blood pressure which could be sorted by GP’s if people could access their GP’s and worsening headaches are a red flag for brain bleeds and stroke so you can’t possibly tell people that prolonged headaches aren’t a cause for concern or A&E worthy.

Our GP surgery is staffed almost entirely by nurses, plus a Clinical Pharmacist, and now a Paramedic Practitioner is on board! Where did all the doctors go? Not A&E, that's for sure.

Those 111 algorithms seriously need looking at. A 'headache' for a week should not warrant an A&E visit. Yes it could be a bleed but far more likely to be a virus or even stress They should surely send them to ooh docs for an assessment. If you're upright and talking on the phone no one needs an A&E visit.

You had a cannula, not a stent, which is something completely different.

'I’m a registered nurse are prolonged headaches can be a sign of high blood pressure which could be sorted by GP’s'

True but we don't need to be dashing to A&E, get the hca at the GPs to check your BP!

So much 'A&E is sooooo busy it's disgusting' then next breath folk suggesting go there to get a BP check in case your headache means you're pre stroke.

Do not vote Tory

yes that’s right! apologies sorry, this was my first time having any medical treatment so wasn’t familiar with it and wasn’t really paying attention at the time haha

Update:
I had an eye test booked anyway so went today, optician has arranged an eye and partial head scan for tomw hopefully, will also do the e-consult to see the gp asap for any blood tests etc. I did ring the acute care centre at local hospital where i went, told me the wait is currently 8.5 to 9 hours to see a gp there.

My sister had a blood problem issue, her gp sent her to A and E last week, they told her it was a GP appointment, she said she had been to her gp who told her to go a and e....!! so who is at fault her...myself and my sister both did what we were told.....i wish we could get it right to get seen quicker and not waste resources....jeeeeez....we only followed instructions etc !!

Your sister should have questioned the gp. If they really did say go to A&E with a 'blood problem' why? She either needed a hospital admission to an assessment unit which the gp arranges or the gp manages the blood problem themselves. It does not make sense that she'd be sent to A&E with a blood problem. A referral to Haematology yes. Is it a language issue?

she did question his advice but was told to attend the a and e, no language issues...both retired teachers !

Only you know your own body. 111, gp receptionist ect can give advice but ultimately its your decision on whether you truly think its needed. People who give this advice often aren't medically trained and are very over cautious for eg if you ring 111 and say you have chest pain they will send an ambulance because there's a chance it could be a heart attack however if you know you've been stuffing your face all day and your pretty confident it's just indigestion it would be wrong to allow them to send that ambulance. Whatever your told is advice you are an adult you make the decision. If the headache is severe or your having other neurological symptoms absolutely go to a&e but if its just a standard headache and you have no concerning past medical history and its been a week you should be able to decipher it probably not a life of death emergency. I'm not saying it's nothing and you will possibly need a ct scan and other tests but by going through the correct channels.

Our local hospital no longer has a waiting room. It’s now an ambulatory area. You come in, you register and you sit down. You’re called into a room to discuss your symptoms etc and given painkillers if needed as well as your hospital band. You then go back to the area and wait. You’re then called into another room to have your cannula put in and ecg etc. You then go back to the area. It could be hours but eventually you’re called to the main A&E area to see a doctor. In the ambulatory area, a nurse will come round every couple of hours to take your blood pressure and temperature. They will hook you up to drips etc whilst also in this area which is why it’s now patients only and no visitors. So yes a lot of people will be on their phone. Like I said in a previous post, I was in this area for 18 hours..when I finally got a bed, I was in for 8 days so I needed to be there.

Nobody 'knows their own body,' healthy anxiety is rife.

What you do is use common sense. Use local services for check ups, assessments etc. Yes you'd struggle to get an on the day doc appointment but hcas and nurse practitioners can usually fit you in.

A&E is for serious situations not check ups, mris via fast track, blood problem reviews or similar. That is why they are always rammed. The overly anxious walking well wanting reassurance and a quick scan.

Did you even read my post

My brother went to the doctors with unbearable headaches which he had had for several days, the doctor advised paracetamol or possibly asprin I cannot recall which.
The pain continued and he went to A&E, after over 24 hrs wait he was admitted with a brain bleed and was off work for 6 months.

This happened in Nottigham,, this poor woman went to A and E with a headache:

An investigation has been launched into the death of a mother of two who fell unconscious while waiting in an accident and emergency (A&E) unit.
The woman was found in a chair underneath her coat on 19 January at Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham.
It is understood the 39-year-old, who was triaged on arrival complaining of a headache, waited for more than seven hours to be seen by a doctor.
She died of a brain haemorrhage two days later.
The BBC understands the woman was observed by nurses but had not been seen by a doctor.
It is also understood that she was found by staff when her name was eventually called out to see a doctor and she did not respond. She died while in intensive care.

I wish everyone saying you shouldn't go to A&E with a headache would stop telling people that. You should absolutely go to A&E with persistant headaches, particularly if they wake you in the night with pain or you have them first thing in the morning when you wake up.

Anyway, OP, you were right to follow 111's advice and go to A&E. I'm not surprised by your long wait, but I would have continued to wait. You're extremely lucky to have someone pay for a private MRI...but it would have been safest for you to wait and have bloods and further tests done at the hospital. I hope it all works out ok for you.

God I’d forgotten that, remember now. Horrifying.

Yes, all problems of NHS are because of the people trying to actually use the "service", sure.

Misuse the service, fixed that for you.

The clue's in the name 'Accident and Emergency' not ' When You Can't Get In At Your GPs'.

Everything else aside, I know this person personally. Her last status on Facebook was about having had a headache for a week and couldn’t get a doctors appointment.

She was well enough to have posted on social media a few days into this headache.

For everyone ridiculing the idea of going to A&E with a persistent headache - yes it’s very, very likely to be fine. But there’s a small chance it’s something more sinister and to laugh at her for going when told to, I hope this sobers you up a bit.

And the lady in the article has never recovered.

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/danielle-sheriff-home-gran-canaria-21778642.amp