To the people saying there should be a waiting/holding/triage area where ambulances drop off patients so they can get back on the road and be available for the next person; this is what happened in this situation from a patient’s point of view.
Had a GP appointment as, despite 3+ weeks of treatment from our surgery, I was still clearly unwell - wheezy, unable to talk in sentences due to shortness of breath, coughing; had been told over the previous weeks that it was a viral infection, a chest infection, exacerbation of asthma and all 3 at the same time; I was treated with antibiotics, steroids and increased use of inhalers. GP that saw me on that particular day decided that I needed nebulisers instead of inhalers, needed an X-ray and possibly needed admission to hospital. They called for an ambulance (I said I would drive myself but was told I was clearly too unwell and needed the care a paramedic team could provide for the 1 hour journey to our nearest A&E) and it took almost 4 hours for one to get to the surgery - during that time I was not left alone at any point, either a GP, once of the surgery paramedics or their advanced nurse practitioners was with me all the time monitoring me, giving more medication and making sure I didn’t deteriorate.
Once at A&E, I was one of the “lucky” ones allocated to go to the “ambulatory care area” - instead of waiting in the ambulance in the car park - literally a waiting room that was designed for 45 people but already had approximately 75 people in there all waiting for triage, investigations, care and potentially admission. Some people had been there 12+ hours waiting for scan or blood test results. Many people were on the floor as there were not enough chairs and nowhere else for them to sit; as soon as 1 patient was taken through to another area for an X-ray or blood test, the chair was filled with the nearest person able to get up from the floor - or a relative of someone waiting to be seen. There were many people coming in to A&E under their own steam and being told it would be better to wait until 8am and go to their nearest walk in centre/minor injuries unit as they would be waiting up to 24 hours before they got any treatment if they stayed where they were!!
I was in that area for over 16 hours alternating between a wheelchair, a metal chair bolted to the floor or even the floor itself. Nurses were
doing their best to trriage as many of those people as they could but they simply couldn’t manage the number of people they had to care for, do observations on, administer medications to etc - the nurse who triaged me was glad I had an inhaler and spacer in my bag and told me to simply give myself 10 puffed every 2-3 hours as needed until someone could get to me; I was offered paracetamol but it took 6 hours for anyone to bring them to me! Swabs for flu, RSV and Covid (I had already done a home swab for Covid which was negative), blood tests and initial care all happened in that waiting area apart from going to X-ray and into the next waiting area to be seen by the Dr.
Anyway, I was diagnosed with influenza A and told that really, I needed to be admitted to hospital for care as I was dehydrated and clearly unwell but, as I did not need BiPAP or ITU care, they were discharging me home with instructions “to rest and get well” because they simply did not have any beds to admit me to. I was told to get some dioralyte and more paracetamol and to drink as much as a I could, was given 2 new inhalers and told I could leave.
I had to call a taxi to get home as the only alternative would have been 2 buses that took over 2 hours from the hospital to where we live, plus had been told not to use public transport because of being diagnosed with flu. And then had to retrieve my car from the GP surgery car park before finally arriving home well
over 24 hours after I had left, having had no sleep and little in the way of food or fluids while I was gone. It took me another 5-6 weeks to be back to my usual levels of health.
So, while it’s a grand idea to suggest creating a drop off & triage/holding area for ambulance patients to wait for beds/treatment, it simply becomes yet another overcrowded dumping ground for patients waiting to be seen, diagnosed and treated before being told the hospital simply has nowhere to put you so off you pop home to recover by yourself!! Plus, it was woefully understaffed with just 3 nurses seen from the moment of arrival to when I was given the discharge meds and the basics such as toilets - 2 between 75 people, you can imagine the state they were in despite a housekeeper going round every 4-6 hours with a cart to empty bins and sweep floors 🤮🤮 and seating were also inadequate for how the area was being used!!