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

Our out of hours service is operated through the A&E Dept so you have less urgent and urgent in together- total lack of GP apps so we have to use out of hours when things get worse usually over a weekend. The staff know who is there for out of hours apps to see Dr and who is attending as A&E emergency cases but patients in waiting room don't.

The only time I've ever been to A&E, I was on a business trip and came down with an absolutely splitting earache. I had just started having these - I knew what I needed, antibiotic earspray, but was far from home. I called 111 and they tried to get me a local GP appointment, but failed. There was no minor injuries, so they told me to go to A&E. I felt seriously weird about it, but the place was nearly empty, so at least I wasn't using up precious space. Not long after my GP gave me a prescription to carry around for the earspray and put it on repeat at the local chemists. No clue what was going on there. had them for a few years and then they stopped (thankfully, they really hurt) - went to ENT specialists and no one found anything.

That’s why it would go through a form filling systems, similar to what you have to do when you ring 111! That’s not the same as people with no medical training ‘effectively triaging’ patients!! My relative when with a stomach bug two weeks ago! They put other people in a&e at risk (and who knows how vulnerable some of them may have been!).

We’ve had that system for several years - it works really well for us, but we’re retired so can take phone calls at any time. Our GPs do always phone us back within the specified time.
However I think it could be quite embarrassing to discuss some issues while you’re at work!

We see all manner of weird and wonderful though ED.
Our ED set up has very recently had an overhaul. So those sat in our waiting room most likely do need the service.
Everyone is basically triaged at the door and sent off to urgent care/minor injuries/GP etc. It's not a perfect system and you do get a lot of kick back telling someone they'll be seen by the GP services but it works for the most part.

Previously, those genuinely needing a/e were taken through to a separate monitoring area. So the waiting area would seem to never move forward to those sat out there. It always made me eye roll when you had to announce a longer than average time only for numerous people to get up and leave!
That and those who would have their takeaway delivered to the waiting room, for the whole family...

I was told by 111 to go to A&E after my son had been vomiting for a number of days because it was suspected that he was dehydrated (which was correct) so he needed some fluids.

Also, sometimes a stomach bug isn't actually a stomach bug which turned out to be the case with my son.

Whenever at A&E I have found myself alone at the triage desk. No-one listening in. Or does everyone shout these days?
The NHS has problems - and one problem is self-diagnosis, another is lack of funding by a government that had members who preferred the US health care for profit model. Mind, a headache could be meningitis or a heart attack and only a trained health professional would know (heart attacks in women often get missed as the symptoms are quite different from men's) and migraines (which often start as a headache) are debilitating enough to want something to stop it quickly - not that there is anything afaik.

Tbh a sudden headache can be a symptom of a medical emergency. I was in A&E with my youngest at the weekend with tonsillitis and a fast spreading petechial rash. He was running around happy as larry while the other kids were clearly unwell. Their parents were probably judging me wondering what the hell we were doing in A&E.

Nevertheless he was one of the first to be seen and had a blood test. They nearly admitted him for IV antibiotics. He’s been admitted before for them and on the outside, looked and acted like his usual self.

I’ve also been in A&E with a ruptured cyst. I looked fine on the outside and was rushed in for surgery a few hours later.

You can’t judge without being a medical professional and knowing their medical history. However, the NHS worker was a CF trying to skip the queue.

Sometimes you can be an accidental time waster. When my eldest was a toddler he suddenly fell down and couldn't get up. We tried to stand him up and he just kept, folding is the only way I can describe it. We could not get him to stand. He is autistic and was non verbal at that time.

We rushed to a&e and were waiting to be seen and when they called us the tiny twat stood up and started running around.

I wanted the ground to swallow me whole. We apologised profusely.

I think you are being unreasonable about the toe potentially (however years ago when I had a bone practically sticking out my arm and someone with a suspected broken toe who came in after me and got seen before me I was enraged 😂) a few years ago I went to a walk in with a suspected broken finger and got sent to A&E and I was mortified I had to go as I knew I would be judged and felt like a dick for going

Short answer to your question… Healthcare Provision in the UK is going down the pan. The necessary professional medical expertise and skill is certainly in there somewhere… but it’s smothered by political game playing, unnecessary ‘management’, administrative bureaucracy and poorly thought out ‘centralisation’ of patient service. All compounded by a society which thinks it’s OUR NHS and so it should be available 24/7 for anything and everything. And it ain’t gonna heal itself …

Last time I was in A&E I didn’t see anything other than people who were extremely unwell or injured. I had been blue lighted in with extreme abdominal pain (maxed out on morphine), was moved to A&E and there was a 2-3 hour wait. It was a horrible experience as A&E was packed with very unwell people, people throwing up, people crying in pain, people bleeding and people led on the floor. It was a very different experience to past visits where there were people with minor problems.

That happens in our A&E too. It’s because they are straightforward and can be quickly x rayed and treated by a nurse practitioner. If you’ve got a displaced fracture then you need an ortho doctor.

Yes, both the times I've been to A&E recently I've been seen and dealt with within an hour. Both times I had an x-ray. One broken elbow, given a sling and details on physio. One thankfully not broken knee (after a hard fall). I'm guessing as they were both simple checks - no bones sticking out etc, that I was able to be in and out quickly. Very thankful that it was all dealt with so fast.

An out of hours doctor (during Covid) told me that I wouldn't be able to walk and talk if I had a kidney stone. He eventually saw me at the Out of Hours clinic on the outskirts of the hospital and did a couple of tests. "Oh, it looks like you might have a kidney stone after all..."

I couldn't get a scan because of lockdown, I was told. At least I got decent painkillers, however. I drove myself there and back again.

Over the phone, I queried whether I should be driving. "Why ever would you not?"

En route to the hospital, I had to pull in to vomit at the side of the road.

Agree. We dont have a minor injuries here. Never heard of such a place.

The only way to improve A&E is to start with making it easier to see a GP or attend a minor injuries/walk in centre. No one wants to sit around in A&E for six hours, especially when they’re not feeling well, but I can understand why people feel that they have no choice.

I saw my GP last week as I suspected an abscess on my thigh. He said not, and sent me away with a precautionary course of antibiotics as I have a compromised immune system. It got steadily worse and on Saturday I tried 111 and was told to see my GP, and being the bank holiday weekend it meant waiting until Tuesday.

I felt like a time waster going to A&E but went and it’s a good thing that I did. I was triaged within an hour and sent straight through for an ECG, bloods, and had a cannula fitted for fluids and IV antibiotics. An infection marker was picked up in my blood when the results came through. Later that night I was transferred by ambulance to another hospital and had emergency surgery early Sunday to drain what was a large abscess.
Had I thought I was overreacting by going to A&E then it might’ve been a different story and sepsis could’ve become an issue.

I went to A&E with a fractured elbow at about 5pm on the day of the Euro24 final that England were playing in. I mean it wasn’t totally empty but I was assessed, X-Rayed, seen by a Dr, referred to the fracture clinic and was home by 6:30pm… On my very limited experience big international football matches definitely impact the number of people in A&E!

We had one at a small local hospital until Covid but it closed and never reopened. There was an out of hours GP based there too so it was really useful and a facility like that would take a lot of pressure off a main A&E.

I took DD for 'sore eyes'.

She has medical condition that includes sore eyes as an indicator of potentially serious side effects, and i was told to take her to A&E if she has sore eyes.

Thankfully it was just sore eyes, probably from staying up too late.

But what does that tell you about GP’s workload? Doesn’t sound very leisurely to me, still working through appointments at 7:50pm.

Even so, a sore bloody toe can wait.

It was absolutely eye opening during covid. DP had to attend due to chest pain (thankfully nothing to worry about) and it was pretty much empty. Everyone got a seat and everyone was seen quickly. People weren't attending unless it was a GENUINE emergency due to covid. People generally weren't allowed anyone with them, though I was allowed to sit with DP due to his symptoms as he needed keeping an eye on. It was exactly as the NHS intended it to be. It was excellent.

Everyone who goes to A&E should have to pay if it turns out not to have been necessary. The number of people who take their kids because they've got a runny nose is unreal and yes, I am being serious (family member works as an A&E nurse).

Same here. GP surgery is a nightmare, so when we have a problem with OH who is on chemotherapy, our only option is A&E. Even when we call the specialist cancer nurse "hot line" (only open office hours!), they tell us to go to A&E and put a marker on the file that A&E need to phone oncology once he's been booked in and triaged! It's bonkers that he can't just go straight to the oncology ward.

We have no minor injuries unit. Last year, MIL fell and broke her wrist, and after phoning the GP and 111 for advice, were told to take her to A&E!

We have one, which services a large area. It’s only open between 12pm and 5pm and half an hour before it opens every day there is a queue stretching all the way back down the road. They only allow so many in at a time and after a certain time of day they turn you away. It’s a joke.

I had this after recent cancer treatment. During radiotherapy and for two weeks after, l had access to the specialist oncology department if there were any problems. I had two bad skin reactions - one of which turned out to be cellulitis. Both were outside the time I could access the clinic. On both occasions I was referred to the local walk in centre, and on both occasions I was told they didn’t have the resources I needed. Both times I ended up back at the oncology clinic.