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

Sent by GP to Aand E recently serious thing
i witnessed in my ten hour wait for scan results etc
one person with a child , who was there because the child was sick once that morning
parents then while waiting fed said child a bar of chocolate and a Coke !!!
i overhead the check in no existing health conditions
next was a toddler with a sore throat, no temperature, or health conditions…only apparently from day before.
on it went .
utterly bonkers.
trying to understand why parents turn up with
normal childhood stuff in AAnd E it occurred to me that now people don’t have family around with experience and no education around
common illnesses, complete lack of support etc
years past there was a grandmother an aunt
and wise counsel around now we live in such
isolated communities.
also witnessed small cut on man’s finger which in my day would not even warrant a doctors visit,
there’s a whole generation now or maybe two with no knowledge no support no Peirs
with so much fear and health anxiety, we need to teach the stuff in schools

I think you are so right. I think a lot of people at A+E, maybe especially with young kids or alone, are there because there's so little support elsewhere. Like maybe their young child or even baby is sick. It's their first child, they have no older adults with experience near by, they can't get a GP appointment, they probably don't even have an older friend or another mum/dad on their street they can ask, so they turn up at A&E.

Medication would not generally be advised as a first intervention for anxiety, other than perhaps very short term. It is common for people not to respond well to a first line medication prescribed for anxiety. It is far from ‘very, very rare’.
Normally people are referred to ‘talking therapy’ initially, which is an entirely different conversation.
Significant anxiety can be a complex mental health disorder with complex causes, requiring specialist and longer term support, which nowdays is very difficult to access via the NHS.
Your comment is ridiculous and actually rather ignorant

My dh was called a time waster, and turned from his gp who didn’t take him seriously and then from A and E twice, told to go home and stop worrying, symptoms in his head etc etc

He had stage 4 colon cancer which by the time he eventually was so poorly he finally got seen and given a ct scan it had gone to his liver and he died 6 weeks later.

Maybe if the gps got their act together, saw their patients, the nhs was managed better and had money chucked at it. Why are people continually being blamed for being worried about their health and not the system itself.

makes me angry

Actually quite the opposite if someone has severe anxiety, clinical anxiety talking therapies will not work They need to be brought down to a calmer level through medication then talking therapies can work

Also to add.. someone mentioned a cut finger.

in 2017 I had an accident in work which resulted in the tip of a scalpel blade going into my finger (I had a precision masking job in aerospace) there was a tiny wound, barely any blood but I couldn’t move my finger properly and I had deep nerve pain going up my arm. Gp told me to go to a&e so I did, sat in my local one for hours only for them to say they wouldn’t treat me, nothing they could do, except go to the next city where they might treat me, might not, so I did. I was seen in 40 minutes, doctor took one look at my finger, phoned a consultant and I was booked into emergency surgery under a general the next day.. I’d severed a nerve and a tendon in my finger and could have lost all movement in my hand if I hadn’t got it sorted quickly.

so if you see someone sitting in a and e with nothing apparantly wrong, just a tiny cut finger etc don’t judge because you just don’t know.

I would say about 60% of people who come into my local A&E are triaged into the GP section.

I don’t disgree for somebody with severe clinical anxiety. However, as I explained, your comment about it being ‘very, very rare’ for medication to fail to manage anxiety is just incorrect. It’s actually very common for a first line treatment. It’s not as simple as popping a pill and it’s all sorted.

Very hard to get on the waiting list which can be years.

I agree and goes against what we have been told by several NHS psychs.

They need to stop 111 sending anybody and everybody there then.i called once during a panic attack as i was alone and needed some m/h support, they wanted to call an ambulance saying i was having a heart attack.

I didn't go btw, I told them it wasn't a heart attack and didn't need an ambulance

I totally agree. But it's funny how many posts are adamant that some of the patients are not the problem, even in spite of the examples you listed. The doctors, nurses, GPS, ACPs are...but definitely not the patients 🤔.

It's interesting though, I was triage into the GP section with a broken wrist that needed surgery and a broken back. I waited there for six hours until it closed and then was transferred to the almost empty A&E bit when the GP bit closed. It remains a mystery to me.

Sort of , we can go to pharmacy for a consultation for uncomplicated UTI , sinusitis , minor skin issues , earache , get Estradiol pessaries too .
My friends husband got antibiotics on a weekend from the pharmacy that was open all day Saturday because he’d had a minor skin injury that became red and swollen ( but with advice to head to hospital if the swelling and redness didn’t improve quickly)
But they do say when you’re leaving that if issues persist to make a GP appointment

I think your comment that my post was ignorant was unnecessary. You say that someone should be referred for talking therapy in the first place so if someone’s in crisis with severe clinical anxiety and you want them to wait for two years or more for talking therapy? Luckily, my GP thought differently.

This is so true. I (used to) have a friend like this and every single text message or email refers to "my condition". If I ask him what he's been doing he tells me about his health (and he's not bedbound, housebound or in a wheelchair). He had his gall bladder removed last year and of course it was one of the trickiest cases the consultant had ever dealt with.

He has without doubt turned it into his personality and, while I'm sympathetic, it's the pride that grates.

We had a lady with a cat scratch she had ignored for a week

A child with a grazed knee (who was treated before my child who had swallowed disinfectant)

Suspected chickenpox in A&E with loads of lovely vulnerable people around saw the triage nurse who said yes it looks like chickenpox and then sent them BACK into the waiting area instead of home

I could probably think of more but really what's the point the system isn't working I went to a&e because 111 said I had to while I was there I saw nurses chattering around no they weren't doing handover no they weren't discussing patients they were chatting about the TV then she said its my break soon so I better get on triaged two patients buggered off for her break came back oooh guess what happened more chattering triaged a couple more never said to one person go home we all had to wait for the Dr we were not seen in order of severity there was a screaming child with a suspected broken leg that was left while bumps and bruises went through to see the Dr no pain relief given they told the mum there was a Tesco close by for calpol she could nip and grab her own in the car she had no car so she got a dose and a lecture about resources still the child was left sobbing when it was my turn to see the Dr I asked what was the point in triage if they were just going to see people in order of arrival she had no fucking clue that was how it was going on

I'm done with the NHS just fucking done I was referred to see a specialist in 2019 still no appointment I've had a temporary health condition for over 25 YEARS nothing has been done just take these pills they forget to tell me about long term side effects and now I have those too

My friend was a highly trained specialist nurse she loved her job working with sick babies she was bullied out of her job they knew she was being bullied and did nothing just managed her out

Urgh I give up I'm hiding this thread because no-one listens

I agree that people are massively different and have different levels of resilience and coping skills

1. do you really think people don’t lie to get benefits- absolutely yes it does happen and on a regular basis in MH settings too - and yes people really do claim all sorts.

2. those that don’t cope well do need support BUT they don’t need to be treated for a MH disorder that they do not have

Yes Re work - there are support for chronic work related stress BUT accessing therapy because for example you’ve been sacked for gross misconduct and have been lying to your family about it or you are struggling financially is not a MH disorder - its a a very real problem that if addressed would alleviate the distress

Equally no amount of therapy is going to help people feel better if the main contributing factor is nuisance neighbours or housing problems. Without a doubt these things bring misery - been there myself but cannot be treated as MH disorders…..anyone would be upset in those situations. Some people think any form of distress must mean they have a MH disorder.

No, of course not. Everybody in severe crisis should be ref’d for urgent help. The reality is, often they are not and they are sent to IAPT talking therapy, with mixed results.
It is ignorant and wrong to suggest that it’s very, very rare for anxiety not to respond to medication. It’s far from rare.
If you were referred for urgent help then that’s great, but believe me, you were lucky.

I think it depends what you mean by severe crisis

And if fear makes the person hide it from medics

In MH services when someone refers to being in crises they need urgent care to reduce the risk of them hurting themselves or others. It means the are at imminent risk for being suicidal or violent towards others.

Elsewhere on this thread I have seemingly enlightened people as to what some people, a small minority, claim is wrong with them.

Equally people will very commonly report having bad thoughts, dark thoughts, but they are not suicidal and in crisis. Some people will say flatly they want to end their life and when emergency doctor is sent out they do no want to speak to them and ask to be discharged. A complete waste of several MHCP time and resources. Some people think if you say these things you will be ‘seen’ but it is actually very serious care that is triggered not therapy. Clinicians have to take their word on face value even - literally no subjective interpretation of whether you think they will act in a harmful way. Sadly people will say these things to get help for all sorts of things and their efforts are in vain as services even if fully staff with short waits can’t just magic life circumstances better. It’s also sad and distressing for HCP who are helpless in many situations.

You can be in crisis without being suicidal or violent towards others

This is from the NHS in Suffolk

Experiencing a mental health crisis can look different for different people but it can include:
Being at risk of harm to self or others
Anxiety or panic attacks
Flashbacks or nightmares of past experiences
Feeling suicidal
Feelings of wanting to self-harm, or acting on these feelings
Feeling extremely high, fearing others want to harm you, or hearing voices
Withdrawing from friends and family
Difficulties with communication
Not being able to think about other things
A mental health crisis can occur because of triggers such as bereavement, addiction, relationship breakdown, work related stress, exams - anything that can heighten stress and can feel like a lot to deal with. Someone might have an existing mental health condition and experience a mental health crisis, or it can be something they have never experienced before. It is usually very frightening for the person experiencing the crisis and those around them.