Health Anxiety clogging up A&E

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Im really pleased that finally someone within the NHS has come out and said this.

Having been treated myself in A&E, in the corridor (outside triage) due to lack of cubicles, I was genuinely shocked at the amount of patients that attended who shouldn’t have been there. I’m not talking about those that were genuinely ill and couldn’t see the GP and had no other choice but the ones that were clearly anxious about their health and symptoms that didn’t warrant an A&E visit. They were all sent on their way but it still was time that was taken away from those patients that genuinely needed help. I wonder what the answer is to this, because something has to change.

Health anxiety not emergencies clogging-up A&E

Completely understand that. My comment was that someone said they don’t exist, they do.

the whole system is a mess, no question about that. Both physical and mental health services incur huge waits. My cardiology app following the sudden death of my dad due to unknown heart conditions took 18 months despite being urgent. I’ve recently had a procedure where NICE guidelines state maximum time to carry out from the initial surgery is 12 weeks, I’ve waited 67 weeks.
but what undeniably doesn’t help is accident and emergency being clogged with the wrong people which does include health anxiety.

my father in law uses it like a walk in and it’s appalling and their entire family is frustratingly like that.

whilst the waits for mental health support absolutely aren’t ok, the alternative isn’t using a&e (unless for crisis) people do need to still get on the waits to access the support because it is there.

Tbf we don't need GPs, nurses are more than able to assess and prescribe and while you may have to wait for a non urgent gp appointment nurse and ANP appointments are usually available.

When you say 'go back to the GP' - how exactly? My GP now has a locked door and you have to buzz and have an appointment to enter.

You cannot get an appointment.

You can ring and hold for as long as you like, every single day, and it is seemingly impossible to get one. You cannot for eg book ahead for 3 months time, that is not possible appointments are only released on the day. You ring at 8am along with the other millions of people in the same point and you just never get an appointment.

So exactly how do I 'go back to the GP'? I have now not been able to access my GP for over a year. So yes if I became quite unwell I would probably end up forced to report to A&E.

NHS 111 is incredibly risk averse after some misdiagnosis and clinical errors that causes real harm to people.
Unless it's obvious that it is just a cold their advice is.....go to A&E

My Dad had symptoms that would have been dismissed as an anxious person who didn’t need to be seen at A&E, but unfortunately he also didn’t get seen by his GP for months and then they didn’t investigate his symptoms properly either. They turned out to be pancreatic cancer and he’s now dead.

The same thing happened to a friend with bowel cancer - she was literally told her symptoms were anxiety and she was time wasting when she presented at A&E as a last resort because she was desperate to be seen and taken seriously. She is also dead.

Im sure someone eavesdropping on their A&E visit would have declared them time wasters clogging up the system but the real issue here is a completely failing health service and doctors who simply cannot be arsed to treat patients.

especially when the person is young and/or female, or if invisible health condition, they tend to say health anxiety. They also tend to say "anxiety," when they can't arrive at a diagnosis.

god forbid you are ever in such a horrible situation. Being diagnosed with something is bad enough, but what’s more horrifying is Where you suffer and be told it’s all in your head!

'Go for a walk'. These people have no idea. Hope you're well at the moment.

Someone with a respiratory condition such as asthma or COPD could be having a cold that is turning into a dangerous exacerbation. If they simply cannot get an appointment with their GP they will go to A&E. Rightly so in that instance, but could all be avoided if GPs were more accessible.

Last year I had abdominal pain and couldnt get a GP appointment, it got worse and I got to A+E, to be discharged with buscopan back to my GP with a recommendation that I needed a scan, A+E doctor said they cant refer for a scan only my GP can

Eventually saw my GP after complaining abut not being seen when in pain, was told I shouldnt have waited or tried to access GP and should have gone straight to A+E.

When trying to buy more buscopan a week or so later, pharmacist refused to sell it to me for what the A+E doctor had recommended it. (not IBS)

Yep!!!

"You feel so unwell because of anxiety, it's wearing you down"

Oh no, it's actually a bit of bone growing out of your face. That the consultant saw at the appointment and didn't tell you about.

The entire system is broken, but it's not because of the patients

Obviously not, and this is part of the issue.

People try and come up with a solution, and then suddenly everyone pipes with.. BUT, ME.. ME.. ME.. ME!!

If your dad needs to see a doctor due to a medical condition that quite bloody obviously he isn't a time waster, is he.

Blame the government (current and past) not the people. The easiest thing is for us to turn on each other when we witness understaffed and overcrowded A&E’s. Nobody goes there for fun, nobody. Some situations will be more serious that others. That’s what triage is for.

I could write a long post on this but suffice to say, anxiety runs in my family and I’m going through a very bad phase of it currently and not once has anyone in my family gone to a&e because of an anxiety related condition. Last couple of times have been because of a broken bone and pregnancy (visit to the MAU not a&e). It is so easy to demonise anxious people but anxiety is absolutely crippling when you’re in the throes of it. Wider spread issues with access to healthcare are not the fault of people with anxiety, look a little higher up the chain perhaps if you want to find the real culprits.

I’m not sure how much of this has made it in to public knowledge now but we’re in a ridiculous situation at the moment where the public can’t see a GP, and GPs can’t get jobs as the number of vacancies (due to funding) has dried up hugely. It totally beggars belief and I absolutely agree if you funded Primary Care properly (more doctors, and stop with the ridiculous ten minute appointments which don’t benefit anyone) half of this stuff wouldn’t end up in A+E.

We all get anxious when we are unwell. That abdominal pain I have, could it be appendicitis. My stinking migraine and vomiting - I feel unwell enough for it to be mengitis and I am in bed with the lights out.

I talk myself down. I go through a process that involves me trying to consider the situation rationally.

That's what is offered to people who have health anxiety - CBT so that they can change their thoughts to the way most people think - challenging the anxious thoughts and telling themself positive statements such as 'I can cope', 'I'll go to sleep and take painkillers and see how I am in the morning'

Health anxiety is not the problem - not treating health anxiety and allowing yourself to knowingly take up more and more resources in a struggling health service - that I have a problem with.

@Willwetalk I am, thank you 😊 x

It’s not health anxiety, it’s GPs TELLING PEOPLE to go to A&E because they either can’t take responsibility for advice, too lazy or - sometimes - lacking basic route to take quick blood test or an Xray to diagnose

The evidence shows that mental health worsens during the time that someone is on a waiting list for two years. This is what leads to mental health crisis. Knowing you’re on a waiting list doesn’t cure illnesses.

Trouble with using A&E for diagnosing serious conditions is that the doctors on call are not the specialists a GP can refer to you. They need to get through their quota quickly and discharge you quickly so if you don't have an emergency that they can treat at the time - you won't get the help you need. They're emergency doctors after all doing triage for specialists - ridiculous.

I was having a possible miscarriage on Sunday when the GP was closed so had to go to A&E as advised by 111. All they could do that evening was take a urine test and then refer me to the Emergency Pregnancy Unit the next day - because they didn't have a gyne consultant available and it wasn't enough of an emergency to call one. So I still had to wait around, take up A&E time only to use them as a referral service. Colossal waste of time.

Having out of hours GP services would solve this problem or having video/phone calls with HCPs in a call centre type setting (where they can refer you without physically checking you - send a photo of bloody discharge, or skin condition etc). Obv registered patients only so it doesn't attract creeps. I guess that creates a clog in the specialist services, but that's easier to contain by spacing out appointments for non emergencies.

Using AI to diagnose and treat is the future for anything that doesn't require physical examination. Getting antibiotics for a UTI shouldn't need a GP apptmt. If medics trust an OTC pregnancy test to start booking scans and tests - pharmacists can trust OTC UTI tests, ear infections. Or vitamin deficiency tests etc. And AI can help replicate a lot of the non technical stuff a GP or even pharmacist would do. Unless we can train and recruit more GPs and pharmacists, AI is a good companion.

Imagine if we could have personal mini x-rays where you can scan for a broken bone or ankle at home and just head to a specialist clinic for broken bones where you show your scan and get treated. Just like the emergency pregnancy units, but for other conditions. Of course, all this requires money to be free and the UK hasn't had much for many years. We are not a rich country anymore and I don't think anyone realises that the free lunches are running out. We just do not have the industry and economy anymore to support the infrastructure needed.

I also think it's really interesting that it's never men who are discouraged from seeking health care, it's women.

I also think a lot of other departments are so underfunded they refer to A&E. I'm watching a video from a woman who has HG during her pregnancy. Her midwife told her she had to go to A&E for fluids because she was calling at 4:30, and they can only do fluids between 8 & 10am!!! I mean, what is that about

Men dont need discouraging from seeking health care, its a huge problem in society that they dont seek health care when they need it.

Genuinely though what alternative is there if you need to see a doctor and cannot get into a GP

At my GP surgery they release online questionnaires at 8am and it's fastest finger first to fill one in. If you do fill one in they are good at getting you an appointment but if you go online past 8.05am then too late the allotted online forms for the day are all gone

Doctors not listening' is a dangerous pattern that is prominent in too many cancer stories.

just 2 stories:

doctor called her a 'hypochondriac'

s

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/RagQLY6aQyo

plenty people in the comments saying same thing, their loved one told anxiety, then cancer and death.

just a few stories out of so many

Man who had terminal cancer was told to ‘breathe into a paper bag’

A man who died of brain cancer was misdiagnosed with anxiety and told to “breathe into a paper bag”.
Keith Evans was 21 when he collapsed during a suspected panic attack in February 2010.
He later developed painful headaches and was given tools to manage his anxiety.

Woman diagnosed with ‘really bad anxiety’ actually had cancer
Police officer Emma Capper previously beat breast cancer

Doctors dismissed a teacher's worrisome vomiting and stomach pains as anxiety for a year. It turned out to be cancer.

• For nearly a year, Heidi Richard's severe and worsening pain was dismissed as anxiety and mono.
• After demanding a scan, she learned she had advanced cancer and continues to undergo treatment.
• "Medical gaslighting" is when clinicians dismiss symptoms, deny tests, and ultimately misdiagnose patients.

Doctors dismissed a young woman's heart-pounding adrenaline attacks as anxiety. She now has a deadly tumor.

Woman's 'panic attacks' were caused by tumor lurking in her brain
Kim Grau was prescribed Xanax by a psychiatrist who thought her symptoms were due to anxiety and panic disorders. The real cause was much more serious.

Women are more likely to wait longer for a health diagnosis and to be told it’s ‘all in their heads’. That can be lethal: diagnostic errors cause 40,000-80,000 deaths in the US alone.

MY SYMPTOMS WERE MISDIAGNOSED AS ANXIETY: TAMARA’S STORY

I went back to the ER.
The doctor told me to calm down and that I was having an anxiety attack. My husband insisted that this was worse, and demanded answers, and they then did a CT scan and found a clot in my left lung.

You’re missing my point - that there are services just because you weren’t eligible doesn’t mean that they aren’t there

The gender health gap is real. Since Freud decided that a woman’s uterus could wander around the body and cause hysteria, it’s become ingrained in our healthcare system that women can’t be genuinely ill.

Its a sex health gap, not a gender health gap