Health Anxiety clogging up A&E

[Influencerofcrap]

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

https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/insight-and-analysis/data-and-charts/NHS-activity-nutshell

Most health contacts in the UK are still with GPs.

@xRobin I followed the care plan agreed by my consultant and GP. I am not a part of the problem for seeking the healthcare I need.

Neither was I part of the problem when I went to A&E with a 40° temperature.

The problem is people being made to feel like the NHS is a finite resource that should be protected. The problem is people shaming those who seek healthcare, and tell them that they're the reason the NHS is crumbling.

The NHS is failing because the Tory party systematically weakened it with the goal of privatising it, to make money for their pals. See the PPE scandal in Covid.

The NHS is failing because while the tories did that, they weakened controls on immigration and refused to do anything about it. So there were more and more people trying to use a resource they have weakened.

People seeking the healthcare they need are NOT the problem. I'm sorry you've fallen for the brainwashing of the Tory party and believe that the NHS isn't there to be used.

Massive generalisation about men v women. It is women, who do the majority of care, who tend to put off seeking medical attention, eg dismissing heart attacks as indigestion, a breast lump as a cyst etc because they are busy caring for other people and worry what will happen to them or are simply juggling too much. Sometimes they do end up in A and E because they left things too long and it becomes an emergency.

I can't edit on the app but I also definitely didn't have a cold - green discharge, sinus pressure, ear, face and tooth pain, post-nasal drip. Everything but the fever.

But of course, I'm the problem. A 5 minute appointment and a prescription I paid for.

I have family in the NHS and their experience is that many ppl in A&E really dont need to be there. What are A&E going to do that your GP isnt ? M,ost hospitals have a same day emergency care unit which can be accessed relatively easily without the need to go to A&E. Plus the chances are that if its not an emergency the hospital will simply refer you to your GP. Attending a GP's surgery and asking for an appointment is a damn sight easier than waiting 2 or 3 hours in A&E.

I have a relatively rare and completely debilitating gynaecological issue that started Jan last year. I’ve been in A&E 9 times since Jan last year each time resulting in emergency surgery (yes 9 surgeries on my vag in a year! How fun) and I’ve seen kids with paper cuts (not joking) sat next to me in the waiting room while I’m being pumped full of morphine to offer me some relief before being taken to theatre. It’s infuriating

Same here
Had a UTI earlier this week, couldn't get through to the Doctor for a call back but a recorded message whilst you hold said a pharmacist can help.
He prescribed me antibiotics which is all I needed to clear it up

@xRobin seeing as I was immediately put on IV antibiotics and fluids because I was incredibly unwell, I'm going to assume you're on the wind up.

And yes I did treat it at home. 111 directed me to A&E.

Completely agree. I think there needs to be a much more comprehensive triage system at the front door, but then I guess that opens up possibilities of turning people away who genuinely do need help. I had a 13 hour wait recently in A&E (ruptured ovarian cyst - I have endometriosis so I'm used to pain but I knew this was something more urgent) and so many people came and went without being seen because they couldn't be bothered to wait....and that's without the teenagers brought in by ambulance who told the staff one of them had been spiked yet then very loudly phoned a friend to say they were just drunk - they took a few selfies for Snapchat and then ordered a taxi to go home (bearing in mind they were also brought in by ambulance)

Do you actually think that people have actually nothing better to do than go to A&E? Stop blaming the tax payer for wanting the best for their health? Goodness gracious blame the inapt government and its predecessors for the mess we’re in not the tax paying immigrants, not the British tax payers who just want the best for their health.

All symptoms of a cold but okay.
Do you sneeze twice and assume that’s a cold?
But if you have a blocked nose, a chesty cough and an earache you take yourself to a medical professional?
I bet they see you walking in and think “oh ffs, she’s back…”

If you had my medical history I dread to think how much time you’d have wasted in A&E.

I’m pregnant and had a temperature over Christmas at just over 40.2 for 5 days. All I can take while pregnant is paracetamol.
There is NOTHING A&E could have done for me.
And look what happened… I got better… the baby is still fine… fucking miracle isn’t it.

Incredibly unwell 😂 what a hypochondriac.

@xRobin you seem incredibly angry that you chose not to access healthcare (an insane choice when pregnant), but someone else did?

I did what 111 told me to. I will continue to do what my consultant and GP tell me to do.

But I'm somehow in the wrong?

Thanks for taking the time to explain. I have read the IAPT handbook and am aware of the stepped care model, but you explained it clearly from the perspective of someone in the role.

In a previous job I worked closely with CAMHS for years. All the mental health clinicians I’ve met were great at their jobs WHEN the patient reached the top of the waiting list. I would far rather a young person see a CAMHS professional in a quiet clinic than wait for 12 hours in a noisy A&E environment under bright lights, often seeing patients with serious injuries having their obs taken in the main waiting room and being interviewed by police etc. I have, though, been that senior teacher who has made an urgent referral for a severely depressed child (under 16) and been told it would be 2 weeks before first contact. Most of the time these teenagers had already been seen by their GPs.

What do schools do in that situation? Parents complain about school because they’re terrified for their child, so inevitably a member of the senior leadership team will advise parents to take the child to A&E to have them seen more quickly.

I am not blaming NHS managers either. The problem lies with systematic and reckless underfunding over 14 years.

We have one too. It’s rammed from the minute iIt opens to when it closes. I mean people sat on floor and even outside. Leaning against reception desks, everywhere.

A and E is ALWAYS rammed in a similar way.

We also have a minor injuries unit which is also always packed to bursting.

How do you expect a person who thinks they are ill to know they are not ill? You know people with health anxiety can actually get ill right? Unfortunately they don't have your superior ability to tell the difference. They need someone with more knowledge to tell them that their chest pain isn't a heart attack, or that their headache isn't a hemorrhage, or that the pulled muscle in their leg isn't a blood clot. They aren't trying to waste people's time. They aren't trying to bring the NHS to its knees.

It's great that you and A&E can look at people from a distance and say they are fine though.

And then the people who think they know better than actual doctors...

I did. I asked a pharmacist. He advised I monitor it and if I felt x, y or z symptoms got worse then to escalate it.
Like I said, what would A&E have done? Nothing.

But your theory is “why should I sit at home and practice patience and self-care when I have THE RIGHT to go to an ACCIDENT AND EMERGENCY department and take up a bed and make them put me on IV antibiotics and fluids because I can’t handle a fucking cold”.

I’m angry because people like you are wasting medical professionals’ time and you have convinced yourself that you’re not so you continue to do so and spew some bullshit about “I continue to follow my consultant”.

@xRobin I did self care at home. I did it for four days. It was a weekend. I called 111 and they directed me to A&E, because the pharmacies weren't open.

Should I have waited another two days just in case?

It's people like you who are the issue. You tell everyone that the NHS is only to be used if you're on death's door, and you let the government get away with stripping it further and further.

Do you actually think that people have actually nothing better to do than go to A&E?

Are you really so naive that you believe that everyone in A&E is that seriously ill that they need to be there? Have you visited A&E recently? There are far too many people that go not only because of health anxiety but also because they can’t be bothered to go through the channels to find the correct treatment.

At 2am whilst still waiting to be admitted, I listened to a patient in triage explain that they had attended because they felt like they had water in their ear, no pain but just annoying… Obviously triage checked their ears, no prescription was offered and they were told to visit their GP. What excuse would you make for that patient? Is that the governments fault or the NHS?

I’m 18 months into being housebound with a long ‘cold’ then….

I have been having a return of a lot of MH issues recently. I filled in the online form for the doctors that we have to do recently, got a telephone appointment for 2 weeks later, then they cancelled it and didn't even tell me 🤷‍♀️ people can't access GP appointments, and when they do they are often brushed off and not taken seriously. No I wouldn't go to a&e, it's my idea of he'll on earth, but I can understand why people do

Have I said that?
Show me where I said that.
I think what I said was people like you are pathetic for going to an ACCIDENT AND EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT for a cold OR EVEN a sinus infection if you are convinced that’s what it was.
It is for ACCIDENTS (broken bones, piece of work equipment flew off into eye etc.)
AND EMERGENCIES (strokes, heart attacks etc.)
Yes, A&E is essentially for those on death’s door.
You need to stand outside your GP’s door before it opens and wait for an appointment day after day if that’s what it takes. You should not take yourself off to A&E because you can’t be arsed to get out of bed and get to your GP’s for opening time.