So I’m currently sitting in A & E and it’s been eye opening

[Stressedout150]

I’m sitting with my mother who is in here for chest pains. The wait to be triaged is 2 hours and 5 hours overall to be seen.

Here’s a few things I’ve noticed:

1. it’s sitting on the floor room only, and i happen to be sitting next to check in. So here’s what I’ve seen so far.

2. a lady coming in checking in for pain in her toe

3. a lady who was told it’s a 5 hour wait, and after been told that/ was then asked if the wait still applied to NHS staff- as she works for a hospital. She was told yes of course. The cheek of it

4. a chap who checked in his girlfriend due to a headache.

it goes on and on/ I’ve never seen anything like the cheek of some people and also the ridiculous shit people are here for. And even when told it’s a 5 hour waits, they seem quite happy to wait 5 hours for their toe to be assessed.

What the fuck is going on

To be honest I think a lot of people end up at A&E because they can’t get in with their GPs or in some cases, GPs send people to A&E when it’s not totally necessary.

I totally get the way some of the reasons people are there can make you roll your eyes - at my local hospital I’ve sat by the front desk many times thinking ‘why the fuck are you here?’

However, I was there once with my partner, 12 weeks pregnant and bleeding profusely. Maternity couldn’t help as I was barely 12 weeks, EPU shut until morning and 111 told me to go to A&E. I wasn’t in pain, had bled through my clothes but once I had some pads etc. I was laughing, smiling, trying to ease the anxiety and hide how terrified I was. I’m sure to someone watching from across the room I looked like I certainly should not have been there! Since then I try to be more understanding, frustrating as it can be hours into the wait.

Had similar when I was younger too, there with chest pain but trying to not worry my parents to death and probably being an obnoxious 17 year old on my phone in the waiting area. Probably looked fine. Hospital sent me home writing it off as anxiety. Was blue lighted back the same day and turned out to be a pulmonary embolism 😬

The OOH doctor service at that hospital is really not great and we don’t have a minor injuries unit anywhere close. So you’re kind of stuck if you need to be seen but your GP can’t help.

Hope your mum is okay. Can’t see why anyone would want to be in A&E unless absolutely necessary!

I think there's a distinct lack of access to primary care these days:

If you're not on the econsult service bang on 8am you can't get an appt and have to ring 111 if you need to be seen that day.

There's no such thing as booking a GP appt for another day anymore (which I suspect has its benefits) but it's pretty annoying when you need to see/speak to a GP about something non urgent but have to try econsult at 8am for days on end to get an appt/callback or it ends up becoming urgent because you couldn't get seen in a timely manner.

When it's OOH and you call 111 and it takes them 7/8 hrs to ring you back they become a bit pointless. If you could wait that long you probably wouldn't be ringing them in the first place but waiting for GP to open/going to the walk in MI unit.....oh, except our MIUs are no longer walk in so you need 111 to make you an appt there too.

Our a&e triages and either keeps you in a&e or sends you across the car park to the ooh GP or Minor injuries. So actually attending a&e is sometimes the most efficient and quickest way of getting seen these days round here.

GP registrars are doctors training to be GPs. They’ve been around for at least the last 40+ years (but probably longer).
just for info, it takes 5 years med school, 2 years foundation, then 3 years of specialist GP training as an absolute minimum to become a GP. Many of us do other training along the way, so it can take many many more years.

and yes, there’s some stuff that is defo A&E, not GP (coz we aren’t an emergency service).

Perhaps that more to do with everyone being at home, rather than out & about? I mean I know most injuries happen in the home but that usually whilst going about your daily business: gardening, DIY etc. Xmas day, everyone is sat down eating

OP you going to stress yourself into needing to be checked in yourself if you don’t mind your business and stop trying to diagnose patients based on snippets you’ve heard from eavesdropping.

It’s collapsing because of the entitled wastrels our population has become. Fat, lazy, entitled and benefit dependent.

Whatever happened to a bit of backbone and self reliance!

Being in A&E is really shit and takes so much longer than you could ever think possible. It's not surprising that you're frustrated and miserable but I have always assumed that because of the awfulness, the only reason anyone would go to A&E is that they are genuinely in agony or feeling very, very ill.

Have to say I do agree

If your mother is able to wait minimum 5 hours for chest pain I’d hazard a guess she probably doesn’t need to be in a&e either ….

I hope you and your mother are wearing tightly fitting masks. Amongst the sore tore and headaches will be covid and you really don't want to be bringing that home.

It's a scandal that nothing is being done to address hospital acquired infections.

OMG, did you make a full recovery? I had cauda equina but thankfully operated on quickly (not in the UK).

'We are just trying to find out whose most likely to die first and working backwards”

Did she really say that? It isn't receptions place to pass comment on triage. My husband's that would be reportable if reception said something to that affect.i highly doubt the reception did say it to be honest, they are very used fo fielding impatient people.

As for sitting listening to why people are attending a and e, highly inappropriate why aren't you keeping your mum company rather than listening to others.

It’s much easier to blame the people than it is to blame the politicians that have caused this.

My friend’s back ache was terminal cancer.
i think you should ask for this thread to be deleted.

its quite spiteful

I was sent to A&E by my GP. Chest pains and very high blood pressure.
I discharged myself after 8 hours of waiting..
I was never going to get seen as despite being ‘urgent’ every 90 something year old from the old people’s homes were of course more urgent.
I realised that I wasn’t going to be seen as each time (after 8 hours of waiting in the ‘treatment room’), another elderly person arrived by ambulance and was more needy than me.
I understood and respected that but also as a 43 year old with three young children, I felt scared - that I would only be treated if I went into cardiac arrest.
I suggested that maybe I should go home and take some aspirin. They were too busy (understandably) to give me any / do the paperwork for this.

The receptionist told me that one local nursing home alone, had called three ambulances at the same time, as ‘it’s easier for them to send them to A&E’, to wait on trolleys.. despite the fortune each week that they charge.

I’m American, which means that almost 2/3 people are paying some kind of copay - usually $100, sometimes more - to go to the Emergency Room with private insurance (the other 1/3 are on government insurance, which typically has lower or no copays for the ER - I won’t get into the 8% who don’t have insurance because that’s a whole separate set of issues). People here absolutely go to the ER for ridiculous things, so I’m not sure how well that would actually work.

Urgent Cares are a dime a dozen in the US, at least in the three states I’ve lived in, and usually open 7am - 7pm including weekends. People still go to the ER for things that UC could absolutely handle, usually faster and cheaper. I’ll never understand why.

Also, some populations are sent to the ER for everything - I’m guessing that may be similar in the UK? I’m currently 35 weeks pregnant and have been sent to the ER three times for things that would never have warranted an ER visit if I wasn’t pregnant. Where I live we have a dedicated maternity ER, but in places without that resource I would imagine that would contribute to long waits as well, regardless of cost.

The sad truth about the NHS is it is chronically misused by the public. Other services failing doesn’t help, but the entitlement to help for things they could treat themselves is unbelievable. Someone in my life is a paramedic & says people often try to treat it like a taxi service. The public needs a full scale reeducation, and the NHS should be able to fine people for misuse.

Totally relate to the headache situation, assuming it's not just a standard headache.
I've had some terrifying migraines in the past.
Severe headaches are not something to mess around with, particularly if they different from typical headaches.

I’m sure you can appreciate that your friends situation is in the minority. And the chances are, if they’re turning up at A&E it’s a long standing issue they’ve not been able to get treated through other means which has worsened / or serious sudden injury which consequently revealed their diagnose. Both perfectly valid reasons to seek emergency care.

Absolutely right !
And now this ever-bountiful Labour government wants to bring dozens of Gazan children here for surgery when UK citizens (including children) are on waiting lists a mile long.

We have a national Health Service not an International Health Service.

Well, doctors appointments are ridiculously hard to get and some people can not take time off work so attenting an A&E all night is their only choice.
Terrible that privacy is not possible..

Yes, although these numbers are tiny compared to all the disabled people on benefits.

No judgement, just stating a fact.

Surely it would be better to implore the Israeli government to stop maiming and killing innocent civilians? Treating a few children (whilst supplying Israel with arms to blow them up..) doesn’t really make sense..

Maybe it helps Keir to sleep better at night..

Your Mum would be triaged faster if she was an actual emergency.
So the people with headaches and sore toes, that you judge.. in the same way, they are probably looking at you both as time wasters too.

@bingewatchingnetflix "Yes, although these numbers are tiny compared to all the disabled people on benefits."

So are you saying those disabled people shouldn't have benefits?

And nursing and meds staff scribbling notes on bits of paper that then get lost at 8pm handover time