Is A and E where you are actually really efficient?

[Abitorangelooking]

DS fell and hurt his wrist yesterday at school. Ended up in A and E (no minor injuries where we are) wait time 0-1 hour sign up. We were seen, x-rayed, given painkillers, wrist splint fitted and back out the door in an hour and a half. Virtual fracture clinic called and advised follow up care this morning. There was a steady trickle of people coming in so wasn’t really quiet but no one was waiting ages either.

I have to admit I was expecting it to be the 7th circle of hell , given the news of late, but it was totally fine.

Would have been a 4-6 hour wait minimum where I am. West Midlands

My local hospitals adult A&E is a 12 hour wait on average although last time I went I waited 15 hours. Thankfully the childrens A&E is much better, average wait of 2/3 hours, DD was seen within an hour last time

Ours is appalling. Latest figures say only 59.4% of patients were seen in 4 hours and the ambulance handover times are appalling.

I waited 14 hours with my dad in January for a broken arm so yes it is the 7th circle of hell.

Is it a paediatric A&E because ours is very quick and efficient but the main one often has lengthy queues.

Ours is extremely hit and miss. I have 3 young DC and an elderly accident-prone mum so have been to my local A&E more times than I care to count. Sometimes you’re in and out pretty quickly and everything runs smoothly. But other times it’s bloody horrendous. Cant work out what dictates whether the wait will be fine or insane.

My mum has been with broken bones recently. She was seen within a couple of hours, buy not "done" until 18 hours later.

No sleep and on her own no opportunity for food or drink.

An 81 year old friend waited 21 hours, in absolute agony with a back injury, last week. She also got no food or water during that time as she was alone.

St George's, London.

Took my daughter to a&e on monday and was in there for 3 and a half hours. So yours was pretty good, I'm a lone parent and had to take all of my children there so 3 and a half hours felt quite a long wait.

Also had fracture recently. Ambulance staff- superb. Little wait in an and e, but there were people around with more urgent concerns (heart etc). Saw two good doctors, then with in the week, had an op. Have had follow up appointments and physio also.

Depends on the day of the week, time of day, time of year, weather, if you're waiting to be seen by doctor or maybe by emergency nurse practitioner if it's an injury, all sorts of different factors affect the potential wait.

Just got back from there now with my 5yo. It was more precautionary but something we needed to get checked. It was slow compared to previous visits but in and out in about 90m which included a check over by the (excellent) consultant.

Last time it was several hours but that included needing x rays and treatment.

Waited 16hrs for head CT and stitches for my mum after a fall.

Children’s A and E is great where we are. Last time I went we were seen by the doctor within an hour and discharged (went in because LO was sick with blood in it).

Adults A&E is ok, last time I went the whole thing took about 4 hours but that did include an ECG and x ray.

No our A&E is always full and in various “alerts”….Fracture clinic is rammed full of extremely frail elderly people who have fallen and sometimes die while waiting for their appointment.

my son broke his arm late last year and an elderly person died waiting for an X Ray (their trolley was put in the paediatric x ray waiting room as the other two were full of other trolley beds)

and then another elderly person died quietly while waiting in the Fracture Clinic on a trolley. Only noticed by a passing nurse who held her hand under the patients nose to check if she was alive.

It was very sad.

@TheMellowHam bloody hell where's this hellhole then? 😱

Cornwall 😭

Paeds is pretty good but 2-3 hour wait, adult is awful.

In early December we were the only one's in the waiting room of a large London children's A&E.

It was about 11am on a Tuesday. I think it more luck than anything. Other people arrived after us (and it was heaving by the time we left)

As it was breathing related we were in for about 5 hours (they needed to ensure the medication worked etc) but they were quick and efficient. We could have been there double the amount of time if we'd walked into a full waiting room.

I had a suspected brain bleed and was waiting in ambulatory majors for 21 hours before I got a bed. So no I don’t think it’s efficient in the slightest.

The paediatric A&E is quick and efficient but we’ve never needed the main A&E and I expect it’s no different to others with long wait times.

Last year DS(9) was taken by ambulance to the paediatric A&E and the service was brilliant and the staff faultless. However, as he was wheeled down the corridor after leaving the ambulance we passed many elderly ambulance arrivals on trolleys (maybe 15+) and most were alone and one very elderly gentleman had wet himself. It was so heart wrenching that they were so sidelined (no staff in sight, all in a corridor when the ambulances arrive).

A and E in our area would send you away to minor injuries with a suspected broken arm.

It all depends on how busy they already are. I’ve have child ‘done’ within 90 mins including x ray, nurse discussion with consultant, booking in of operation the following day, plaster and re x ray to check plaster was keeping everything in the correct place.

Second time we were told at least 4 hour wait to be triaged. I did ask the nurse if they could give us a sling and when she saw how ill my child looked she did push her up the list, sent her to x ray with an appointment to return in 2 hours for them to review x ray/treat. So 90 mins for triage/ x ray and maybe 20 mins later for discussion and splint.

@TheMellowHam and @Coconutdreamer bloody hell that's so sad.

My mum fell and broke her pelvis, ambulance was quick but we waited in a corridor for 12 hours. I say corridor, we were in the doorway of the sliding doors. Freezing cold in January. My mum was laid flat and started vomiting due to the morphine. Not a soul about and I was shouting for help as I couldn't work out in my panic how to lift the head of the trolley so she didn't choke. God help all the elderly folk on their own.

@pishwetspring how awful :( we have an elderly population here and I worry they’ll still vote Tory because we’ve seen the window posters (something I hadn’t seen since the 2000s!!) and the community FB groups from local people (bowling groups, WI and churches etc) - they’re all big Rishi fans!

I didn’t want to make it political but it also seemed apt to mention it.

It’s all so depressing!

Took my DD for a suspected broken arm, being seen, x-rayed and put in plaster took 4h, slight delay because they needed a second opinion on the x-ray. This was paediatric A&E.
Another time we had to go out of hours for an ear infection, were there a couple of hours including waiting for a prescription for antibiotics and for them to monitor her for half an hour before deciding if she needed to stay overnight or not.
Both times were during the day, the broken arm midweek.
I think the staff did their best and were all lovely and very professional.
There just simply are too many patients to the number of staff.
Adults A&E is way worse for waiting times.