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

Great idea.

Has anyone ever had useful advice from a pharmacist?

I have, I'm fortunate to have a very good one.

Why are ACPs part of the problem? They are highly trained!!

Exactly this.

People know that we have a failing health system and it is making them anxious. Completely understandably in most cases!

Totally agree. You only need to read this forum to see everyone is instructed to go to A&E for every aliment.

On here it's the norm to be told not to go to A&E unless you are dead.

I'd blame Tony Blair who bizarrely changed GP contracts so they could opt out of 'out of hours' care. Yes 20yrs ago but still, once your own surgery cba to see you on weekends and evenings it does mean that pressure is put on all other services.

As pp's have said there is a lot of scaremongering in the media. Everyday something else causes cancer.

Yes this, Im sick of seeing the posters or hearing people say at work 'why dont you go to the pharmacist'

They wont see you if you have a history of problems or are ongoing with something.

Lmao at the idea that we would have out of hours care at this point if not for Tony Blair.

Come off it.

But how are people to judge whether it's health anxiety or an issue that should be treated at A&E?

Just over a year ago if you had heard my DD in A&E who seemed well while we were there, and then heard what the consultant said when they decided to discharge her, you would have rolled your eyes and thought we didn't need to be there. We were sent away and if I hadn't had the will to take her back the next day she most likely wouldn't be here. Parents with kids with the same condition have been sent home to then have their child die because they'd been told they were fine and the parents probably didn't have the medical knowledge and the experience to realise doctors can get it wrong and that it's ok to get a second opinion.

There's a balance when trying to keep people away from A&E as some people are so unwilling to go feeling they will be judged if there's nothing serious wrong and that they will be 'time wasters'.

Sometimes it's hard to make a judgement call.
My 25yo DD had a severe debilitating headache that spread down the back of her neck that wasn't responding to pain killers, on second day managed to get appt with GP who sent her to A and E for further investigations, turns out thankfully nothing seriously wrong, tbh meningitis did cross my mind! so I insisted she went to GP who was concerned enough to send her to A and E but to obverser it may have been just a headache /health anxiety.
However I'm pleased she went to get it checked out.
Sadly people do die from ignoring symptoms so as I say it is a tough one.

Advice so far (not all on the same thing):

1. go to A&E

2. you need to get a prescription for X (for which you need a non existent GP appointment)

3. 'if you've already been doing x, then you need to go to GP. And if y deteriorates while you're waiting for an appointment, go to A&E'.

However, the specialist travel pharmacies are pretty good.

I was ill recently.

I was offered a phone call with a nurse a week later.

I am not surprised people end up in A+E.

It simply is not good enough. I have very little faith in the NHS and am considering private healthcare.

I didn't say you shouldn't go to a& or deserve to be treated. And people who womble in looking the picture of health but just need to have some reassurance that they are ok because they've had a cough for one day also deserve to have someone look at them. But just not at a&e.
There should be a minor aliments unit or something.

But in which case there should be government input to build up the short staffed and crap funded mental health services.

People are let down in regards to their MH from a young age g age if they need it. CAMHS are not fit for purpose and direct funds into poorly thought out and unhelpful resources, those growing up with their “support” have no chance! A suicidal adult I know rang crisis team and it took 8 months to get a face to face appointment.

Most people I know would happily pay to see a gp (like Ireland do I believe?) if it meant we saw improvements in services, but as it is increased mental illness is surely a predictable side effect of the shit show we’ve endured.

In recent years there has been an explosion of alleged" mental health problems". Most of it is shit life syndrome. I find this really alarming for the people who genuinely have mhp.

We must read different threads. Everyone is going septic on mumsnet, it's an epidemic. I do not want to trivialise serious illnesses but A&E is not the first port of call unless it's an emergency. Someone had a bad back a couple of days ago, a long term chronic problem. I'm not sure what they thought A&E could offer that their own HCPs hadn't but they were told to get there stat anyway, just in case.

Sinus issues are neither an accident or an emergency. Uncomfortable and sometimes painful but not life threatening. Unfortunately you need to wait out a GP appointment or get advice from 111

@Bringiton999 I absolutely agree with all that you say, and if you saw one of my earlier posts I state that it’s far from the only reason that A&E is in the state it is. The chronic underfunding in the whole of the NHS IS the problem and I didn’t start this thread because I thought I had the answers but interested in how others view it too.

From the other side of this, I have a health condition that requires me at times to attend A&E and I do everything in my power to not go. I find the whole experience so traumatic that it takes me weeks to get over but I don’t have the choice.

I mean, going and sitting in A&E for hours on end isn’t exactly fun is it? Most people if they had the option would avoid it. Unfortunately it isn’t that simple, people are scared, nearly everyday there is a story in a newspaper about someone who’s got terminal cancer/has died after being fobbed off by their GP.

Also - I think the situation with A+E is going to get worse.

All GPs are now ping to using an online triage rather than receptionists. My GP receptionists can’t book ANY appointments (!).

So there is no nuance. AI thinks it’s unimportant? No appointment for you, and certainly nothing within the day.

It’s an added frustration because it also feels like you will not even be listened to about what the problem is.

See op that’s easy to say, we brought my son to an and e this year (Ireland) after the gp referred him. I was shocked and kind of argued it because I thought it was ott and ridiculous. We ended up in hospital for ten days on ivs. In Ireland we’ve a horrific overcrowding problem but I’ve always been proud that ads say basically you think you have a problem you’re better off being seen (in hospitals or by your gp). I find mn and as a result the uk surreal for its ‘no god don’t bring your fake problems to the hospital!’ policy (I always have to add my uncle was in the pharmacy and they called an ambulance for him even though he was saying he was fine and just came over a bit strange. He was having a heart attack and had an emergency triple bypass that evening).

111 say GP

GP says pharmacy

Pharmacy says "no, we can't treat you"

I've ended up in A&E twice. Both times with a blinding headache and 40+ degree fever. Because nobody would see me. OOH GP said "not urgent enough". The second time I couldn't keep any fluids down and nearly passed out.

I ask again, where are people supposed to go when nobody can be bothered to treat you?

We must read different threads.

Clearly.

I do not want to trivialise serious illnesses but A&E is not the first port of call unless it's an emergency.

The average person doesn't always know if the way they feel is an emergency or not. That's the point.

The problem is, how many of these patients are just anxious and how many are the drs telling (mainly women) it's anxiety because they've missed the actual problem. I got sent home from a&e with chest pain and breathlessness as it was just "anxiety" then I got home collapsed and nearly died because it was a pulmonary embolism that they had completely missed. When drs and the government place the blame on the patient it's to take the heat of the actual problem. I would say most people (women) on this site have been dismissed by drs for being anxious, menopausal, a woman etc and it's turned out to be something they've missed the problem is the actual medical condition isn't discovered until much later on so it's on record as just another anxious patient.