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

I do agree @Pigeonqueen but there has to be an answer because whilst yes of course people with health anxiety do need treatment and help, unfortunately people are dying in A&E with serious conditions due to the sheer volume of patients, many who don’t need to be there.

I am appalled at the state of the NHS and in no way think that all it’s woes are due to anxious patients but it’s certainly not helping and is clearly increasing.

Isn't it the case that a&e is having to take the strain because other services have been cut back so much that they've fallen apart?

Health anxiety, for example. I'm sure people with health anxiety have visited their GPs many times before they resort to a&e, so isn't their anxiety something that should have been picked up via a GP? The GP ought to be able to refer to mental health services/counselling, except that these services have been cut to the bone so are overwhelmed, and the GP is probably overwhelmed too so doesn't have time to probe deeper into the patients reasons for visiting to uncover the issues with health anxiety.

I was in a&e a few weeks ago - accompanying a friend who'd been assaulted at work. I was chatting to the woman next to me who had gone there with an eye infection she'd had for several days. Surely she should be seeing her GP for that? Except she hadn't been able to get a GP appointment. Yet I read that there are GPs who are unable to get jobs.

Useless GPs and some hypochondriacs are a lethal combination. 🙄

We need more GPs. Without this there is no hope of change in the rest of the system. Yes I agree people with health anxiety do clog up the system, as do people with chronic conditions that perhaps should be able to do better self care. However a good functional health care system that wasn't massively stretched to breaking point in other ways, would not be overwhelmed by comparatively tiny numbers of people who had conditions that meant they sometimes used services unnecessarily. Heck maybe a good system would actually pinpoint and treat the health anxiety for some people, but that isn't happening because the system is so broken and underfunded.

I understand. I am one of the people who has really complex health issues (lupus, Addisons, asthma, all sorts) and I’m likely to end up in A and E appearing as one of those who people assume doesn’t need to be there - despite that not being the case at all. I really do think a lot of it starts with better access to GPs and better and quicker access to mental health support too.

Of course not. It is those that have no under lying conditions that have 2 runny episodes in a matter of hours and arrive at A&E that need fining, those who's first thought when a bit poorly have to see a Doctor instead of taking an over the counter medication.

Tbf the NHS doesn’t help the anxiety with its “oooooh maybe that little pain is in fact cancer!!! Best go to the GP just in case!!” adverts

people have no ability despite having access to more information than ever to evaluate health risk. Is it likely this upset stomach is just something you ate or is it something much worse???

So of course people are anxious about their health, what we need is a better way to manage that except we don’t have the workforce to do so

She should be seeing the Pharmacist, every Hugh street has one.

"It's people when a bit poorly want to see a doctor"

Well, yes, because that's what they're there for? I'm probably one of those you'd think is a burden - I went to the doctor last week because I had pressure in my sinuses and staved off a sinus infection by pushing for antibiotics because I know my own body.

I just don't think that sick people are the problem. Maybe they've been failed by the NHS repeatedly and don't have any trust? Perhaps the ones we should blame are those that voted for successive governments who stripped the NHS to its bones.

I don't normally comment on stuff like this but the generalisation around anxiety really grinds my gears.

Ive had anxiety for 20 years, been on and off medication, I've tried everything I can, CBT, hypnosis, the list is very long.

There are no "mental health services". Unless you pay privately, which is crippling, if you have poor mental health, tough.

So, I'm really happy for those of you who have never had the misfortune of having anxiety or any other mental health problem, slamming those of us that do, or giving your helpful suggestions of "go for a walk" because you have. no. idea. And be bloody thankful you don't! Because it's hell and we're not treated, just medication thrown at us.

And before anyone jumps on me, I dont go to A&E because I'm worried about my health, I absolutely hate hospitals and would rather be anywhere else. So, if I'm ever in A&E it's because I'll have been dragged there!

I just couldn't scroll by all of the mindless generalising comments about people who have anxiety, once again being bad mouthed by people who are lucky enough not to understand it.

I used to be very scathing of people who unnecessarily clog up A&E for things that are neither accidents or emergencies, using it like a 24 hour walk-in GP centre. These days I am much less judgemental because I know how bloody hard it is to actually see a GP. And once you've eventually seen a GP, how long you then have to wait for a referral for something that is grinding you down and ruining your quality of life and making you incredibly anxious that it could potentially be serious. And if it was serious, it wouldn't be picked up in time.

People in constant pain get frightened and desperate and just DO NOT KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO.

That’s not the same. Having an autoimmune illness and needing prompt treatment in A&E is very different to somebody who is highly anxious with symptoms that aren’t an emergency, and yes of course these patients need to be seen and helped but A&E is not the place.

The pandemic must have increased health anxiety severalfold. Who knew that bombarding people with frightening ads every day might make people anxious? It made me have a constant level of anxiety and stress and I'm normally relaxed and levelheaded.

A lot of posters on this thread are declaring that if people could access their GP, they wouldn't need to go to A&E but isn't that exactly the issue here?

A&E is not a walk in clinic.

If you have an issue that can be dealt with by a GP, you have no business in A&E.

You may be anxious about your own health but your behaviour could very well lead to someone else's death.

You go back to the GP and tell the staff you've done as they asked, but have been sent back by the pharmacy because of your history.

Honestly, the lack of critical thinking skills in MN never fails to astonish me.

Get help for your anxiety, surely? So see your GP. Don't go to A&E.

@PaintDecisions and then they refuse to see you.

They literally shut you out until you're incredibly unwell.

Maybe you're just lucky because you've never had your quality of life impacted by a chronic illness.

It's even the most basic of things like diagnoses being sent via post and not having any way for people to discuss what that actually means.

Also, not forgetting there are some people who go to the GPs or A&E simply because they're lonely or bored/anxious.

Clearly he's someone with medical advice he is following.

Most people with diarrhoea need not be anywhere near A&E nor a public place.

People with chronic illnesses should be able to access their specialist teams a lot easier . I've several myself and If my gp hasn't a clue then I'd have no choice but to go to a n e . I'd become seriously unwell waiting months to see my consultant

@ERthree Most people don't need to see their GP for a cold. But if you have a particularly bad cold, have felt like shite for days on end, aren't eating properly and are elderly, alone and / or vulnerable, you might be concerned enough to want to see a Dr. If you can't access a GP, then many would turn up at A&E as they've got themselves into such a state and have nowhere else to turn. Of course they shouldn't / don't need to be there but it's not always that simple.

Even if you accept your point that people with health anxiety are clogging up A and E (and I dont), I think you need to address what's caused the anxiety in the first place? Probably systemic issues like poverty, lack of control, the impact of covid (death counters on the news everyday) lack of family support etc. Add to that the lack of access to a GP (I can remember having a family doctor who knew all out names including from my extended family) and stupid government advice and that's the people to blame.
I went to a local pharmacy with abdominal pain trying not to clog up the GP, and the pharmacist gave me some windeze. Hours later I was septic with appendicitis. I had no examination and she didn't take a history. If it wasn't for a colleague insisting she took me to A and E then I would be dead.

@Theeyeballsinthesky

Tbf the NHS doesn’t help the anxiety with its “oooooh maybe that little pain is in fact cancer!!! Best go to the GP just in case!!” adverts

Exactly! I hate those PIFs, for that reason.

My GP took a similar attitude and refused to look at never mind treat my septic throat claiming that I was wasting his time. His refusal resulted in my getting sepsis and spending time in critical care trying not to die. So sometimes symptoms which might appear to be not serious can become so quite quickly.

These are the same A&E doctors sending home kids with paracetamol who then die of sepsis. These are the same A&E doctors sending home adults with instructions to take Imodium who then find out too late they have pancreatic or bowel cancer and die. These are the same A&E doctors dismissing a nurse with a headache and then finding her dead body on the floor of the A&E 30hrs layer because it was a brain hemorrage. These are the same A&E doctors sending people home saying their back ache is old age, who then find out they had a spine fracture due to bone cancer and they die. These are the same A&E doctors dismissing a child with a sore throat who then dies of streptococcus caused organ failure. These are the same A&E doctors sending home women bleeding profusely and in excruciating pain with iron tablets and tamoxifen saying “no one likes their period” and these women later almost dying of blood loss as they have tennis ball size fibroids.

Need I go on? This article is meant to divert the public from the fact that almost all people in A&E do have reasonable cause to be there. Yes some end up not being gravely ill, but without being doctors or access to tests and scans they have no idea of their symptoms are life threatening or not. We have at least 250 people dying in A&E every week whose deaths are preventable
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-68707883

and most of these people, it’s not their first visit! If they’d been properly cared for the first visit instead of dismissed as “anxious about health” with leaflets recommending OTC medications and warm baths then A&E wouldn’t be clogged up with increasingly desperate and dying people trying to be listened to.