Nine hours in A&E

[MotherOfGodWeeFella]

I recently spent nine hours in A&E and it was horrific. I was in agony - advised to go there by 111. There was no pain relief that worked for four and a half hours. I was doubled up in pain in the waiting room. I told a nurse doing observations: she didn't even respond to me. It was really busy and for at least three hours after I was triaged there didn't seem to be many staff on shift so I didn't advocate for myself as well as I could have. It was such an awful experience. I wouldn't go there again unless I was taken in an ambulance.

In the end they didn't really know what had caused my pain but as it eventually subsided I was sent home. The experience has really affected me. I'm almost traumatised by it. Nine hours in the packed waiting room, in hideous pain for much of it with no communication other than announcements about how many hours it was taking to see a doctor. It was the same for everyone else waiting. Anyone with suspected broken bones got seen first. The more acute cases I'm guessing were in the cubicles further in. I don't really know why I'm posting.

Years of under funding is the real issue, as i pointed out early, this creates the out of control demand we now have.

Migrants tend to be younger and need less healthcare, i live in Cornwall, there is very little overseas migration here but we have had a huge influx of retirees and others seeking a better lifestyle... yet we have exactly the same number of district hospitals as 40 years ago ..... ONE.

Governments can set the tax and laws to encourage healthy lifestyles, they ve not done this nor planned for an elderly population.

Dental care is also non existent, so people are using nhs AE and Emergency care instead, this is a huge cost to the tax payer, whilst not treating overall dental care, these services treat only the problem tooth... nothing preventative.

Of course it's true but some people don't want to face facts. Mass immigration will have an effect on the resources in this country. Our diets and lifestyle choices play a big part in our health.

All people can do now is use their vote wisely on July 7th.

Personally I would happily pay higher rates of NI to avoid this kind of scenario. The Tories have been obsessed with the lowest possible level of taxation. But it doesn't work as a model. There's simply not enough money in the system to fund public services adequately atm.

@Lola2024 After 2 years of working in A&E, the majority of people over 65+ that I have seen are suffering from the effects of lifestyle choices rather than just old age. Sorry but it's the truth.

My father is well into his 70s and hasn't a single health issue yet. He still works and is the same weight as he was at 20. He's never smoked, drank rarely and eats a 95% whole foods diet. He now does Pilates type exercises and stretches daily to maintain his mobility. He's made those choices, but seems to find it easy to do. It's how he wants to live.

He is lucky that he was raised before processed food was introduced and the habits of his childhood have stuck. I am completely compassionate to anyone who struggles to maintain their health in the way he has. I've had my own battles with alcohol and processed food, so I get it. It doesn't mean I can't be honest.

I’m sorry you had a long wait, but you also had a situation that resolved itself without treatment so didn’t actually need A&E, therefore arguably were triaged correctly in this case.

@impossiblesituations and @Nannyfannybanny I think you are being judged harshly for your comments by some but you are or have been at the coal face as such. I managed six years in the NHS when I left school, which was a long time ago. It was just such a hard job even back then and just so many frustrating decisions made I decided to retrain. I do agree with your sentiments and it wasn’t as bad back then.

@lolly792 My friends DS is a police officer and spends hours in A&E handcuffed to people waiting to be seen. It’s a huge time waster but like you write its protocol. I know the police are the most despised public service but having heard what this young lad has to go through I really think hardly anyone could manage that role.

Yes blaming people for their own ill health .Well done reminds me of a dr telling me my anxiety/ depression was a lifestyle choice when I had not long lost my dad and was dealing with my Mums dementia and the menopause. Ended up suicidal and sectioned.

I have several heart problems. On holiday in Wales had chest pain, rang 111, had call from ambulance control to say they would be 3 to 6 hours. Further call from them and a taxi was sent.

Arrived in A&E, waited 3 hours to be triaged, another hour for ecg and bloods. Further hours of waiting for results. Further ecg and bloods needed ...... and so on.
Whilst there the care was awful ... no-one seemed to care. A young man with an adrenal crisis came in and crawled across the floor because he was so weak ... no help was offered by anyone ... he dragged himself onto a bench to await consultation.

A nurse made a mess of taking my bloods ... she had the wrong kit and went off to find stuff leaving me with needle hanging out and blood dripping onto floor. When I returned to the cubicle several hours later for more bloods it was still there on the floor.

A receptionist was wandering about coughing and sneezing... I now have covid.

Whilst there my phone went off in my pocket ... it was one of the A&E doctors who could not find me in all the chaos. He had already rung my DD 100 miles away!

I was discharged ... no heart attack thank goodness ... after spending 12 + hours sitting on a bench overnight.

The worst thing was the total absence of care and concern from most of the staff.

It is all so sad.

They used to laugh at me at work,in a good natured way, called me Mrs good life, veggie diet, weights, running, badminton, growing my own fruit and veg, never smoked,no recreational drugs. I said no one would be able to point a finger at me, and say I brought my ill health on myself. I didn't get back pain in my 60s, like my colleagues in their 30s, and I Trained in the early 70s, the beds didn't move,we lifted patients in and out! I got Covid last September first time ever,was so ill, breathless, couldn't even walk across the room. Ended up 6 weeks later, chest pain, ECG, bloods, cardiac echo, CT. , I have some gut issues related to previous surgeries (gall bladder and appendix early 20s) but no visceral fat round organs, and apparently the heart of a 25 year old,no issues whatsoever, and I am almost 74.

Actually when I worked in AE pain relief was most definitely one of the priorities! People have such a low bar for what is acceptable care these days !

Exactly this.

It is only going to get worse regardless of which party wins the election. Just look at what is happening in Wales.

It's an election year. Use your vote wisely.

As an A&E doctor can I say that the current state of affairs is atrocious. Even if there was nothing wrong with you that wait would be unacceptable. But there was something wrong with you and you needed assessment and treatment.
Back in about 2008 that would be all done in less than 4 hours. That’s acceptable (obviously much less for the initial interventions if someone is about to die)

OP, I'm so sorry this happened and being in severe, acute pain you can't get on top of is absolutely a reason to visit A & E. I see the usual brigade of 'your arm is hanging off but A & E is only for the imminently dying' types are out in force on this thread. Ignore them.

Evidence is irrefutable that we spend less on healthcare as a % of GDP than many of our peers in the developed world. The NHS is too centralised and has its issues but it desperately needs more money and staffing - that's a harder issue to fix as it requires better pay and working conditions.

The people who have been voting Conservative for years doing a shocked Pikachu face at the fact they've destroyed our healthcare system need to take a long hard look at themselves and what they've brought on us. There's a reason the Tories were often known as the nasty party.

What a fair few posters have touched on is the lack of preventative healthcare, compounded by cuts to things like SureStart, social care and proper mental health support. This has also led to the crisis we're facing. Many people can't be seen in a timely fashion in either primary care or as an outpatient, so the issue becomes acute and they have to visit A & E. If Labour get in I would love them to fund lots of preventative health programs - this saves so much money in the long run as you prevent people needing acute care later.

I recently spent a night asleep on a bench in A&E with a heart problem. I nearly went home but the doctor advised me not to in case I had a cardiac arrest. I'm pretty sure that had I arrested in the waiting room no one would have noticed. The following morning I gave up and went home and booked a private cardiology appointment after they told me they had no idea how long I would have to wait to be seen by a cardiologist. The NHS is terrifying.

We had a similar experience last week. 111 were really good, took lots of information from us, said they'd let A&E know and we should make our way in immediately.
Got triaged pretty much straight away but the triage nurse was in a bad mood, sullen and very rude to my elderly parent.
There were people handcuffed to police officers getting better treatment than we did!
They seemed really annoyed that we'd gone in even after we told them that it was 111 who advised us to do so.
"8 hour wait to see doc, can't give you any advice, that's not my job, go home and call your GP in the morning!"
I can't even say they'd been up all night as an excuse because the night shift started just as we got there, they were very cheerful and loud and noisy between themselves, just not with the patients.

We need to sort out "entry level" healthcare so general health is taken care of before it becomes a major problem, yes, including lifestyle issues.

A very small, but ridiculous example. DS had an infected ingrown toenail. GP can't arrange podiatry for him, that's "only available on the NHS for diabetics". Antibiotics prescribed in the full knowledge that this would recurr forever and he'd be regularly needing a GP appointment and antibiotics, at what cost?

I got it fixed privately for him, at the huge cost of £40, so to "save" £40, they would have paid for repeated GP appointments and prescriptions.

Oh and GP never even suggested I take him to a podiatrist, just prescribed the antibiotics.

A&e don't operate with a first come first served list. They will see first the people who have the worst cases.....and if people come in after you showing worse symptoms then they will be seen before you. Even if you were brought in by ambulance you will still have to wait if your symptoms arnt as urgent as someone in the waiting room. The fact that you've waited 9 hours suggests to me that they felt your case wasn't really an a&e matter and it cleared up and you went hone so they were right. See your gp and they can refer for ultrasound etc. Also bare in mind .....there's many people turning up to a&e with a sore throat and silly thijgs so if peopoe do this....waiting tikes will be long. The scary part for me is trying to call an ambulance and finding there's nine available for 9 hours.

I was recently taken to A&E by ambulance with chest pain, I'd called 111 for advice and they insisted on sending it. I knew and the ambulance crew knew there was nothing much wrong with me, but once I was in the system, no one wanted to take the risk. It seems to me you're more likely to be over treated than undertreated, which obviously takes time away from other patients.

Triage was very brusque, with no kindly bedside manner at all, but I guess also efficiently getting people through quickly. Then I had a long wait because there was nothing wrong with me but when I was seen by doctors they were very thorough.

Last year my GP told me to go to A&E when next having a galllbladder attack. I really didn’t want to but after having one three days in a row and being jaundiced I did.

It was awful, I spent 4 hours lying on the floor as I just couldn’t sit, I was given IV paracetamol and had to share the drip stand with another patient. After 4 hours and much begging I was finally given some morphine which helped.
Eventually I was told to go home and get some sleep and come back the next day to be scanned at which point I was admitted. I was in a bay with two young women who had had appendicitis, they’d both burst as they had had to wait so long to be treated.

I called my GP and had to beg for painkillers as I didn’t want to suffer in A&E again - I had to promise I would go to A&E when in pain but the GP understood that the wait was awful.

I had this experience sort of the other day. I have a very depressed sister, and she had taken an overdose of over 80 co-codamol tablets. Called an ambulance and while on the phone she started fitting, they told me it would be a minimum of 6-8 hours and recommended calling a taxi while keeping her airways open!

In the end I got her in my car and took her but I did think at the time, how many depressed people would call an ambulance be told it’s 6-8 hours and just decide to not seek help at all?

Why did the GP think A&E was the appropriate place to get pain relief?

This sort of thing worries me a lot, since I've been widowed. DH's care was not good (not A&E) but it would have been much worse without me advocating for him.

My own recent A&E experience was managable on my own, but it's really scary to think what might have happened if I was ill enough not to be able to speak up for myself.

Unless there is some magic tree with an abundance of doctors and nurses growing there I am not sure it will. THe NHS as it is, is unsustainable. Too many people. Unfortunately for it to thrive we need to be like other countries and ask for a small monetary contribution for some things.