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.

Was just talking about this to DP and he told me that when I had suspected meningitis I spent 28 hours on a trolley in a side room in A&E before they found me a bed. I was so ill I didn't even notice or care - it's all very hazy

Its one of the poorest funded state health care systems in Europe. Stop spreading miss infornation. I live in spain with a well funded state healthcare. Basically a walk in facility .

We called an ambulance a few weeks ago. It was 10 mins. Treatment was quick and lifesaving. Im so glad i live here.
You are triaged immediately on arrival at a&e then sent to the relevant department with excellent care. Ps Spain has more immigration than the UK. It has nothing to do with immigration. Everyone smokes and drinks here. (Nor binge drinkers like the UK I admit) also, obesity is far far less.

@Abeona The OP was even looked at for many hours, so how on earth would they know her physical parameters were within normal??

I went to the Royal Berks double up in pain, despite a very busy AE, i was seen immediately and diagnosed with acute appendicitis, operated on next day.

No one just left me there and said "oh another junky"

This was over 30 years ago when, even under Thatcher, the NHS wasn't as bad as it is now.

Our standards have slipped so low.

@Maddy70 Totally agree, i 'm currently looking into getting dental treatment in Spain, its available and considerably cheaper than the UK.

The UK is falling to bits, nothing works anymore, unless you ve the money to pay for it.

I don't understand your point.

The Op says 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

So she had observations (pulse, temperature, blood pressure) taken and was triaged as non-emergency as a result. Remember, this is a department for accident and emergency cases. They'd ruled out an emergency. So OP was issued with some painkillers once a senior nurse or doctor had seen the notes and then they waited — because sometimes painkillers help sort the problem out. Sometimes pain goes away on its own. Read the research article I posted. It's really interesting. Basically it says that in the US (and probably here too) patients expect to be given pain relief that leaves them almost completely pain free in emergency departments and explains why that doesn't happen.

On what planet do you think it is acceptable that a nurse ignores what a patient says to them? She didn't even acknowledge I had spoken to her. I may as well have talked to the wall.

I don't know why you are persisting in trying to rationalise the way I was dealt with nor why you keep making excuses for leaving someone in pain for such a long period of time.

The op replied to you earlier with : no one physically examined me until around 5.30pm, by which time I had been there 6.5 hours. I wasn't lying about the pain. I wasn't, nor am I, a druggie after a fix of morphine

Thats the point, 6.5hrs before anyone examined her..... plus the nurse is not a Dr, so should, absolutely, take on board what the patient is saying and in this case, suffering.

Quite often in AE, the first person looking at you may well be a HCA, not a staff nurse.

The article @Abeona linked to is focused on the under treatment of pain in emergency departments.

It states, "ED patients have very high expectations for pain relief, much higher than those with postoperative pain do". A simple explanation is that post-operatively, patients know the cause of their pain is likely to have been the operation they've just had. In A&E it's highly likely the cause of pain has not yet been diagnosed. Pain tells you something is wrong, it is traumatic, it raises your blood pressure for a start, and not knowing the cause adds to this. Put fear of something potentially catastrophic/life-changing into the mix and it's no wonder patients would like the medics to do something to reduce their pain.

I'm still sore, but thank goodness my GP is taking it seriously and looking to diagnose the issue.

I think we all agree A&E is barbaric.

I dont believe the narrative that ts due to time wasters, most people are genuinely worried, cant access their gp or other services.

A very small proportion of people are happy to sit for hours and hours with a papercut and thats what the government would like you to believe, not that they have infact fucked up the system

Well said . You sum it up perfectly.

i was in A&E a few months back and it took 7 hours get through it and get my bed on the ward i was admitted to.

Besides the obvious issues about underfunding, there is also a lack of clarity of what A&E should be for. 111 forever send people there when it's neither an accident or an emergency, their script just routes you there so much. Which adds to the strain. But there were a lot of people in the waiting room who were saying "yeah i couldn't see my GP so i came here"? Its crap for them to not be able to get an appointment and its crap that then A&E have to deal with things that aren't meant for their department which increases wait times for everyone.

I never understood why 111 doesn't only send to walk in clinics if they are worried but not 100% sure of something major. I got seen within 3hrs at our walk in, who then sent me to A&E to be dismissed with an embolism already proven in the walk in so it was much quicker to get seen and determine issues.

Risk ratio is my assumption, safer for them to send most to A&E if not appropriate incase of any that end up with bad outcomes and stopping them from potentially suing their service for not directing them there?

It can be really hard when you're in A&E and people are in there for stuff not for A&E, but then again that can't change until our NHS is better funded and working better than it has been these last 14 years. I counted myself 'lucky' to only wait 7 hours for a bed on the ward to be available for me and when i voiced this, my consultant was gobsmacked like no that's not lucky that's POOR.

That rather depends on whether there is one where you live. Where I am there isn't unless it's after 6pm when an OOH service operates. 111 thought that was too long to wait to be seen. Given the situation in A&E, had I waited and gone to OOH I'd have joined the A&E queue around 8pm and not been dealt with until the early hours.

I am feeling sore and I'm a bit concerned that the pain is worse than on Tuesday or Wednesday, though still nowhere near as bad as it was on Monday.

My GP, bless him, has sent me a message via the practice text system that the bowel cancer test he ordered has come back negative.

I'm feeling a lot better than I was earlier in the week.

Congratulations! What a relief and in time for a sunny weekend!

Thank you. Still a couple of other things to go through, but that's a big one ticked off.

lolly792, well said. Time for people to start taking responsibility for their own health. The drunks etc should be billed.

But how far do you take that, and it opens up a minefield of who should and shouldn’t be billed. People who play sport and get injured it’s their choice to participate in a sport so they should they be billed? Some people being drunk may be an illness in itself that they need treatment for, other people may only have one drink and accidentally trip and injure themselves, the drink making no difference, does the fact they’ve had one drink mean they are classed as a drunk and have to pay? Where is the cut off