A&E experience 8 hours wait

[marshmallowmix]

Not been to A&E in a very long time....I am gobsmacked at what I saw. Liked we were into a war zone....

We waited 8 hours and gave up and went home at 5am as we had had no sleep and couldn't handle the wait time, we were sent after we saw the out of hours doctor at the hospital.

No update, so many people everywhere, place was not clean and had being patrolled by two security guards that looked like they had come form the Russian army...

Not a nice place to wait, so many people like it is madness....people sleeping on seats when did it get this bad.

We keep building little box flats near me 5 new developments which will add thousands to the area but the one hospital on its knees as is every other service but we keep building and no new hospitals/dentists/doctors/schools...

I despair at the utter state of the country... I knew it was bad but what I saw last night was horrific and eye opening....we are in serious decline much worse than I thought...the A&E visit just brought it all in to sharp focus...

I've since looked up the reviews of my A&E and they are terrible really terrible...it is very frightening to think when you are ill and vulnerable the standard of care and what is out there...🙁

People are complaining that OP shouldn't be there if they can leave, but sadly OOH clinics and 111 are sending more and more people to A&E because GP surgeries are impossible to gain an appointment from
I've had ongoing neck issues for 3 years. 3 years! In that time I have had a grudging phone call from a GP who said he couldn't do anything over the phone and I needed to be assessed. When I said, can you make me an appointment then, he said no, I would have to call at 8am. Which is how I got a grudging phone call. After a fortnight trying I was again, after complaining, given an appointment. Was told for a GP. It was with a nurse, who couldn't prescribe anything or refer me onwards to physio.
Asked her if she could recommend me to see a GP- no. Ring at 8am

I have since tried every few months, last time was told not urgent so make a non-urgent appointment. Tried this, to be told none available for next two months, try again a month from then.

Was then told to go to A&E as they would then refer me. However, non-emergencies at our local A&E mean what they term a sit and wait procedure where they hope you will give up. Friend was there for 15 hours a few weeks back with a queried broken bone in her foot. 15 hours!

It's not patients at fault it's our shit GP "service" and those who police it on the desk.

I was at A&E last week for chest pain (I have a heart condition)
I was there 12 hours. It took an hour to get an ECG and 2 hours for bloods. X Ray at 7hour. Finally saw a doctor at 9 hours. No one had asked my history and it was only at this point they realised my history including a clotting disorder! So had to wait another 3 hours for further bloods. All this time was in a chair. No sleep at all.
it was rammed, there was a lot of people there who definitely needed to be there. A man in massive amounts of pain with a blocked bowel, a woman in a gallbladder flare up and a 17 year old who couldn’t stop being sick after having her tonsils out. We all waited in chairs for more than 12 hours.
the NHS is broken and from what the nurses were telling us, there was no beds to move anyone to a ward in the whole hospital. There wasn’t enough doctors on shift and it’s the only service for broken bones after 11pm here

In April I took my sister to a&e no feeling in her back and legs. This was at 3.30pm.
4.15pm BP and pulse was taken. Told she needs a MRI scan.
10.15pm repeat of BP and pulse.
1.45am saw an actual doctor who says you need an MRI but as it's after midnight
they are closed. We will call you and give you an appointment soon.
Come back to a&e if you can't pass urine or have a bowel movement.
Next day at 11am I took her back as she couldn't feel pooing and was wetting herself
no sensation.
Finally they admitted her to a ward.
While we were waiting the first time there was a gentleman who was bleeding heavily on his face after a fall. One of the other patients partner cleaned him up.
Even though he had been seen for BP etc.
A lady had a cannula fitted in the waiting room as no bays were available.
One man was still there from the first time and when we returned.
This area was classed as majors and in my opinion they needed to be seen.

Thanks for the supportive messages it is staggering on here the people that say why were you there....not for laughs I can tell you!

We were not the only ones who voted with out feet as the wait time was incredible and people were in bad way us included...

😢

Bollocks to “you shouldn’t have been there” and bollocks to you not having to wait long if it’s a genuine emergency. My almost 90 year old DMIL waited FORTY-EIGHT HOURS on a trolley with two broken hips. Should she not have been there?

My DD waited 14 hours with a ruptured ovarian cyst. She was eventually admitted and had surgery. They wouldn’t have admitted her or treated her or kept her in for a few days if it hadn’t been an emergency.

A&E is shocking. Stop victim-blaming the patients.

Well clearly they did need to be there. And if she waited on a trolley for 48 hours she had been admitted but there was no bed for her.

8 hours is quick compared to my local A&E. Last time I visited I waited 14 hours with preeclampsia.

absolutely this at @Notreallyme27 !!👋

I did a 28 hour wait in A & E this time last year with DH who needed emergency dialysis.

This country is fucked.

Well bully for you!!!

We did not choose to go to A&E! we had 2 calls with 111 and they booked us in with the OOH doctor at the hospital...said doctor didn't know what to do and said go to A&E...he was googling basically...

So we were sent to A&E and it was a shocking experience....the hospital rang us this morning and GP we needed to be seen ...

My partner had to sign a form saying he was leaving and the nurse actually said I don't blame you and that was at 5.30 am...they can see it is not okay...it was carnage...

It is not a race to the bottom ....😕

Those talking about a third world country.

I have received medical care in a third world country and I waited no time at all. I saw a doctor almost immediately and was on a drip and bloodstream taken shortly after that.

Treatment being administered at the same time.

We need to do something about the state of A and E but I don’t know what.

A) often this statement is bollocks . B) Then they need to triage properly, in the waiting room, with someone medical doing it.
OP- I agree. It’s appalling. I don’t actually think there’s a country in the west even a quarter as bad. There is really no excuse for how bad it is. The processes they use don’t work.
Complain to PALS, and anyone else you can think of.

It’s obviously crap, albeit definitely not a surprise given the coverage. What solutions do we want to put forward?

Is everyone happy to pay more tax? I am if it’s tied to sensible reforms. That said, it could easily reach a point where the tax burden is far too high if we just keep throwing cash at it.

What about moving to an insurance model? That makes me queasy but learning more about the models in Europe where the state provides a safety net, I am more open to it.

Should we be kicking out the drunks and the time wasters, or trying to charge them for their care? Controversial.

Could we open the doors to working age immigration? More workers per head of the population, almost always net contributors, fill jobs in health service and social care? Makes lots of sense but the current discourse around immigration means it’s unlikely.

My point is that it’s all well and good complaining but if we want it to improve we should be accepting the trade offs and getting serious about change.

I was in recently and ready to be discharged around 11am, I was in a side room
they said I needed blood thinners so I had to wait for the pharmacy to send them up, which would be around 6pm
I ended up getting the prescription and walking down to the pharmacy because I said I’m bed blocking for 7hrs otherwise and what a waste of a side room!

surely slow discharges aren’t helping with bed shortages

That’s what happened to me too. Spending my Saturday night in A&E was the last thing I wanted to do but the out of hours doctor really frightened me and was very insistent that I had to go to the hospital immediately. Having waited for 9 hours there was no way I would have gone home until I had been seen. I was warned that the wait would be between 8-12 hours when I arrived, which was no surprise given how much publicity the length of hospital waiting times gets constantly, but there really wasn’t any alternative. I agree that it’s dreadful and that treatment is much much better in many other countries but we are stuck with the system we’ve got at the moment.

I waited 38 hours with my uncle It was insane. Trollies everywhere. Madness.

I have waited 9 hours with a very sick 2 year old before. She got admitted.

If you’re sick or someone you love is sick you just have to wait.

I had to go to A&E a couple of weeks ago, I was really lucky in that I was seen as a priority and in and out in 3 hours. Whilst my experience was good there were still elements of shocking around though, mainly the mental health patients being discharged with no where to go and coming back screaming and kicking off (not their fault but where are they meant to go? It makes you think of the situation that happened in Nottingham and how easily that could happen again) the homeless asleep all over the chairs and people who seem to bring their entire family for a day out and clog up all the space.

MN always scoff at people abusing medical systems. I'm sure a proportion of people do but often people are following instructions or reasonably using the facility that is best suited to them but the system is broken.

My DH work colleague fell and split his head open - which was obviously bleeding profusely - and when they called an ambulance, they said go in a taxi (everyone commutes by train, tube or bus yo London so not private car available) When I mentioned on here I was told well obviously he didn't need an ambulance. At the time the NHS website said call an ambulance for a head injury or heavy bleeding! (I notice the page has changed now and is much more limited)

I took DS to A and E earlier this year, because he had D and V and had been passing blood every half an hour. I called 111 and they suggested it, and said to take him straight away, and I took him again when it didn't improve. We were lucky it was paediatric A and E, we were only there for 4 or 5 hours each time.

It’s not just about money. It’s the whole way the system is run. And for some reason the most awful nurses/HCA get put in A&E (and ante natal).
Last time I was in A&E (accompanying someone) I saw HCA step over a women who was lying on the filthy floor, crying in pain and vomiting into a cardboard bowl. They had time to then go and gossip with the porters (I listened to this for about half an hour) but not to actually help anyone.
And you just don’t see a doctor, not for hours, so “ triage” is a HCA doing oxygen, blood pressure and temperature after about 2 hours. Then that’s it, for an unforeseen length of time.
There WAS no triage, because the same group of people were shuffled into the next stage waiting room pretty much at the same time. I saw some horrendous things. I had to yell at someone eventually to get the person I was with pain relief of any kind ( 3 hours in).
There was 1 toilet for the whole waiting room. One. Filthy. The whole vibe is just that they are (literally) past caring. I don’t know about war zone, but maybe the army should run it, because the NHS sure as shit can’t.

Oh also why do I have to go to 3 receptions to check in? What is that about??

I am very sorry for so many people having bad experiences. I recently had to go to A & E on a Friday evening and was seen, treated and home in about 3 hours - doctor admitted I was "bumped up the list" because my condition likely didn't require further tests/scans. When I left, at midnight, the waiting area was busy but not overcrowded. (Maybe my area of Glasgow is lucky.)

Well then you have very low standards- that is not a virtue

Yep this!! It is like they are past caring that sums it up very well..

One young girl was crying with MH problems, a few people were oozing blood from head cuts and wounds...

The triage was totally woeful...

The 2 out of the 3 toilets were out of order, drinks machine empty...unfriendly vibe from a few of the staff stomping about and 2 burly security guards dressed ready for a riot...I could have wept!!

People were treated as an inconvenience I've seen better treatment of dogs at the vets...

No wonder they need so many posters up on the walls about abuse to staff and being banned as so many people at their limits going through a terrible time when unwell and sick...I can see why some people get angry as it becomes intolerable...there is no empathy whatsoever...

In our local hospital, you would not have needed to wait in A&E, you would have been seen straight in the labour ward / assessment unit (depending on the time of day and night), even if it was post partum. Which is a win for everyone because you wouldn't have had such a long wait and also you would have freed up a space in A&E by being seen in the maternity wing. I wonder how many other examples there are of people who could be diverted to other hospital based services and so ease some of the A&E pressures.