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

Well the Tories closed our local a and e department, you can now only have a minor injury (the replacement for the 24h much needed a and e) 9-4 Mon- Fri. Otherwise, you need to travel about an hour to the nearest a and e. Nothing surprises me anymore.

Oh yes, the original.building has been sold off for flats that no one wants, fabulous.

It's the day after a bank holiday and no one can get in at the GP. Classic A&E scenario.

Our minor injuries only opens three days a week.

@Stressedout150

No such thing as minor injuries where I live.

Clearly, we are the lucky ones then.

Then I would say 111 and an out of hours gp registrar at a hospital - it’s not an emergency

My colleague booked a GP appointment about her knee pain. Not sudden and severe, and she hadn’t injured it so no suggestion there was any bone breaks, but gradually getting worse to the point walking was very painful as the knee was stiff.

They only did a phone appointment, and based on that sent her to A&E. She thought this was ridiculous, but what else could she do? The GP wasn’t going to even physically look at her, let alone do anything actually helpful. But she’d have seemed like a time waster to anyone else sitting in the waiting room.

Streaming in the A&E I work at carries on until 8pm. The patients waiting for minor injuries/urgent care centre wait in the same waiting room as those waiting for "proper" A&E but are seen by different clinicians. No other patients waiting would know if the others are streamed to be seen in a different area.

It is wild!

I took my baby daughter to A&E screaming in pain (turned out to be an ear infection and perforated ear drum 😫) and I was the only person there.

When I remarked on it the triage nurse laughed and told me it was the first weekend of school half term week. Apparently it follows a pattern. I was bemused by this - why are people more likely to go to A&E in term time?

Someone I know someone goes for ridiculous things, she used to be a good friend but we have huge differences. One of them being her an and e trips which are for absolute nonsense. I call her out on it every single time

I went in recently for heartburn i couldn't shift. My doctor wouldnt/couldnt see me

Piss taking time waster im sure everyone including me thought

it was a heart attack..😂

If you go back a few years you may have seen je checking in for vaginal pain - what you wouldn’t have known was that I was accompanied by a letter from my GP and then within 24 hours a consultant in her 50’s was marvelling at that largest Barholins cyst she had Sen in her career - which she’d just removed from me.

what you hear at the reception desk in A&E might not have MYCH bearingbon the reality of the health condition of the people you’re listening to.

Last time I was in, a couple were waiting with a toddler because the mum had slightly caught the side of her finger with clippers when trimming her nails. It wasn’t bleeding and the child was asleep. They waited 6 hours.
I understand being anxious, especially as a first time parent, but honestly I just could not be bothered.

I had to take my dad to A&E 18 months ago and it was mad then. He was sent by his GP as he had a huge clot that had travelled up to his lungs and was likely to kill him instantly. He was walking still (I got him there quicker than an ambulance) and the receptionist failed to check him in, despite GP calling them to say he was on his way (took me pushing hard and he was triaged imnediately into resus).

I don't blame reception, though it was poor, more the treatment of A&E as some sort of general any ailment will do service. I really think the government and NHS needs to get to grip with this misuse. Maybe give staff more power to turn people away or give them warning cards for misuse.

Surely a and e can send you in the right direction if they think that's more appropriate and you're already at the hospital?

I have no problem at all with most people here-

however I’ve had another chap come in to get some physio rehab. He was told this is an emergency department. He then said he would really like to see someone about his rehab- so has just been triaged

I can’t cope

This is soooo true - A&E also empty in lovely weather, for royal weddings, etc. Lots of people don’t need to be there - and don’t get me started on the families that come in with Auntie, Uncle and all in tow like it’s a fucking family outing 🙄.

Thankfully I was treated in the UTC attached to A&E by a lovely nurse who said I’d done the right thing going. (It was a few years ago before gp registrars had been dreamt of.)

Totally agree I went by ambulance on xmas day with a suspected stroke
the place was deserted more staff than patients
surely it genuine the numbers wouldn’t really drop off that significantly

You do get lots of time waster (I used to work for a GP and we’d get them too). You can see from threads on here that some people can’t just use their common sense and take pain relief and go to bed which often cures a whole host of things!

but the hospitals don’t help themselves by insisting on everyone going through A&E. For example when my dads cancer consultant wanted him a sited (after an appointment ) he had to go and wait and go through A&E. Completely ridiculous that he couldn’t just be sent to a ward (even if he had to wait for a bed there) when the consultant has made the decision. It could be much more efficiently managed.

I went to a&e for a bruise, that hurt in the shower when the water touched it. It had been like it for a week or so by the time my partner insisted I saw someone. GP not available. Pharmacist recommended minor injuries (why I thought as I wasn't aware of an injury!). Minor injuries sent me to a&e with no examination. Felt like a right twat rocking up to A&E with a bruise and the nurse visibly rolled her eyes (which I wasn't in the least bit offended by). Turned out to be a blood clot.

You'd hate someone like me, OP.

I once rocked up to A and E with a sore ear. I had mastoiditis. Definitely not your common or garden ear infection and horrifically painful as well. Got admitted for that and despite the IV antibiotics I have no hearing whatsoever in my left ear.

Judge not lest ye be judged.

Maybe I’m being judgey to be fair, I’m tired and cranky.

what city are you in?
In Manchester, they would mostly be nursing open wounds while being pushed in wheelchairs by police officers. Both parties swigging from a bottle.
In Oxford, they mostly have those little papier mache sick bowls and are either pregnant or 98+, bless them.

These are not cliches. This is observation.

Thats the issue, most of these walk ins are hardly life threatening! Obvs Chest pain is an emergency 🚨 Hope your mum gets seen soon .