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

A neighbour who had to go into A&E last week reports being asked very firmly at check-in 'Have you had an accident? Is this an emergency?' and being able to say yes to both (he'd almost cut his finger off while doing some woodwork). But apparently most of the people arriving said no to both and were turned away — as Toe Woman should have been.

Not all a&e’s are like this- took my daughter in last week (SE hospital) with stomach pain and she was triaged within 20 mins. Had a longer wait to see a doctor but that was sped up a bit when she was sick on the floor and fainted. As a doctor within 3/4 hours and it was appendicitis and needed emergency surgery.

And even more humiluating when it's posted on social media

The abuse of the ambulance service gets me. Calling an ambulance when there’s two cars parked on the drive and money in the bank for a taxi ?
and an ambulance is not for pain relief !!
oh and people turning up to A&E when they do not make any attempt to eat well and exercise, then wonder why their tummy is in so much pain

My friend is an a and e consultant, she was delighted in the pandemic as people were afraid of going to hospital with a headache, earache, a limp, a hangover… she saw people who genuinely needed to be seen.

We need to put a £25 fee on an and e admission, as a start.

its quicker for OOH doctors here to go to a&e - they triage you and then send you down the corridor to the OOH doctors. So you might look like you don’t need a&e but you’re actually going to be triaged to the OOH

i could ring 111 but as i am neutropenic they tend to start panicking and trying to send an ambulance for anything

now i feel like i dont go enough wow .I once did something awful to my back ,i was stuck on the floor. I was on my own and couldn't get up i had weakness in my legs. I heard people sometimes get stuck on their backs but stayed flat until it healed .so i didnt do anything but struggled to take care of my self

I generally thought you didn't go unless you were at deaths door =p

Once we went in because ds finger was a teeny tiny bit swollen. All else was fine otherwise. Walking around and happy as normal. You would have probably thought we were time wasters...BUT we were told by our GP the day before to go to A&E if his finger swells at all (he had a minor punction from a dog bite). We were not aware of how serious these can become. Anyway, we were seen quite quickly and were told he would be admitted straight away and taken for an xray....they ended up keeping him for 48 hours and were talking about potentially having to do a surgery on his finger to clean deep down to his bone....thankfully the IV antibiotics kicked in and the swelling reduced and we were eventually allowed to go home.....

DH even thought I was crazy for going in for such a minor swelling of the finger (even though I explained what the GP said). He argued with me about it and I refused to listen to him. So I had to call him from the hospital to tell him he better come fast because ds is being admitted and he will be the one to sleep there with him (I am terrible in hospital settings and get super anxious).

Anyway, the point is, many will go in for nothing. But many go in and you won't know what they are going in for and they need to be treated urgently.

I don't think you can always look at someone and assume there is nothing much wrong with them. Who in their right mind wants to sit in A&E for 5 hours for no reason

It's the result of an accident though - the A in A&E and if there's no Minor Injuries locally then A&E is where you would go to get an X-ray to find out if it's broken, needs to be strapped up, for how long etc

A headache needs to be assessed by a medical professional if it is sudden, extremely painful, or follows a head injury, is accompanied by symptoms like vision loss, confusion, drowsiness, high fever and stiff neck, difficulty speaking, vomiting or facial paralysis. Are you sure none of these symptoms was present? If so, why were you listening to private and confidential details? If not, are you prepared to take responsibility when someone reads your comment and is discouraged from going to A&E with what turns out to be a serious condition?

To be fair, I do think NHS Staff should be fast-tracked on all their care.

That would go some way to helping our workforce problem. Then making our waiting times more reasonable for all.

Plus people can't get GP appointments

Duplicate

What do you mean youve had another chap come in, are you the triage nurse? It's nothing to do with you why people are there.

When I worked in A and E a girl called an ambulance for a sore finger as she had locked her car away for the night. She was treated, discharged then had no way home. Not our problem. People can be so selfish.

Most Type 1 A&E (Emergency Departments) are co-located with a Type 3 A&E (Urgent Treatment Centres, but used to be MIU but these are being phased out).

Problem is with the opening hours of the Type 3, but if a decent triage system is in place then low acuity patients should be sent to the T3. So anyone turning up at “A&E” should end up in the right place

Not here to bash (I’ve spent too many days in A&E this summer-DD’s been really unwell following a CSF leak- I can’t summon the energy to complain but yes, I agree, it’s unbelievable at times. They need more urgent care clinics- but that’s a whole other story). Hope your mum’s chest pains aren’t sinister, OP. Is she getting worse? Does she take aspirin by any chance? After my heart attack several years ago, I was on aspirin which gave me a heartburn that really mimicked angina type pains.

Oh stop being so pedantic lol, you know what I mean.its a turn of phrase

and it’s my opinion / no one else’s and I’m entitled to it.

@Stressedout150 People coming in with minor ailments should be filtered out by the triage system though, to ensure attention is directed towards people with serious symptoms like your mum.

I don't think the issue is people coming in thinking that minor issues are more serious than what they are. The issue is that A and E is under-resourced, understaffed, and there is a lack of alternatives.

I was in about 4 weeks ago with a 15mm gallstone lodged in my bile duct, I was agony, passing in and out of consciousness and wasn’t offered any pain relief a man opposite me was crying and shouting that his finger hurt, the nurses were all over him. I think I passed out.

There were people laughing, joking, families like an evening out, eating, drinking, chatting.

it was so hard to see any obvious injuries or pain. Luckily for me a lovely lady who was in with her daughter went to get a nurse on my behalf as I was vomiting and said “I think this lady is seriously in need or urgent care” she was an ex-nurse and I was seen within 3 hours. I was admitted and in for 3 days but my god even in my state I could see the utter time wasting that was going on and it was awful as I knew I was quite seriously sick.

Also had to be driven to A&E as we are told an ambulance would be 2.5 hours and we are fairly central not remote.

OP I hope your mum is OK

I’m very sad sitting here actually, it’s clear the NHS needs a lot of sorting out- don’t think anyone should be waiting 5 plus hours for chest pain and issues breathing.

im sorry to say I don’t think everyone here really needs to be here- judge me for that if you want, but I don’t.

everyone can come and bash me for that view- but I’m sure you’d have something else to say if your mums ambulance didn’t come and she had a heart attack, whilst they were being called out for fucking broken fingers

The NHS is collapsing and people are blaming sick and injured people who pay through taxes for the NHS and want to use the service they pay for.

Only in England are people encouraged to suffer and not seek medical attention unless their (non-medically educated) minds deem their illness or injury serious enough.

Sorry, no.

Medical services should be able to be accessed by those who need them. Be angry with the government for not fixing the NHS, not sick and injured people who need help.

Injured toes can be extremely painful and stop people being able to work or travel to/from work or take care of young kids. Certain head pains can be a sign of something fatal.

How dare you say that these people aren't deserving of medical evaluation and treatment?