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Original poster

How long in a chair in a&e?

282 replies

ThisMustBeMyDream · 20/10/2025 01:42

My DH has been diagnosed with a perforated bowel. We've been in urgent care/a&e since 1pm. He doesn't care if they nurse him on a corridor, but he just wants to lie down. He's in a chair and exhausted and in pain. Lying down relieves the symptoms (he discovered when he had an ecg).
There's no sign of a bed for him. I asked about a trolley - no, none of them.
How long is it acceptable to leave someone in a chair? My head's a shed, can't think straight. I've had a hell of a week with my DF after collapsing and having CPR. He's been diagnosed with encephalitis and it's life changing. So having spent Monday night doing a 3 hour dash to my dad, then 3 days down with him. Coming back home and my DH becoming unwell today... I'm an emotional wreck. I just need a sense check on what's normal.

OP posts:
Happy9 · 20/10/2025 01:45

Get him to lay on floor they will soon find a bed I'm telling you 🤣

SockQueen · 20/10/2025 01:47

It's not normal or acceptable. Sadly these days it's also not unusual. The system is just falling apart and it is perfectly possible that there really is no physical bed/trolley for him. I'm not sure what there is that can be done right now, but please do escalate to PALS/Chief exec/your MP when you can.

I hope things get moving along for him soon Flowers

Cinaferna · 20/10/2025 01:47

Hate to say this but I've had to go to A & E twice this year - once for DS, once for myself. On both occasions we were left sitting in chairs, in agony for about 11 hours. You may get lucky and get a bed, but you may have to push for one. My advice is, be polite but be persistent. Keep asking, and ask more than one person, as calmly and politely as you can. And show that you appreciate they are overworked and understaffed.

The NHS is no longer fit for purpose.

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General health
coxesorangepippin · 20/10/2025 01:57

I'm sorry but wtf is this

Tell him to lie on the floor the poor fella

I hope he gets help soon

Original poster
ThisMustBeMyDream · 20/10/2025 02:11

I suggested to him to lie on the floor, but he wouldn't. I have brought 2 pillows from home so I've made him as comfortable as possible. But it's really not good.
Believe it or not, I work here (midwife). But I can't think with my rational head right now. It's awful in a&e.

OP posts:
lovemycbf · 20/10/2025 02:15

I waited 15 hours in a hard plastic chair before being admitted and was given a trolley in a side room
it’s hell waiting In A&E

Original poster
ThisMustBeMyDream · 20/10/2025 03:56

Been told no beds at all until discharges happen tomorrow. Fuck it's going to be a very long night.

OP posts:
Thortour · 20/10/2025 04:04

I'm so sorry to hear this is happening! I was in A&E for 35 hours with my uncle (84) and in the end I went and found him a trolley. I saw two porters with an empty one and I asked for it.
The corridors were littered with people on trolleys - you could barely move. He was seen and admitted eventually. I didn't leave him and ended up supporting a lot of elderly people who were alone.

Thortour · 20/10/2025 04:05

He was admitted in the early hours so don't give up hope.

Deebee90 · 20/10/2025 04:06

I’m a regular thanks to having bowel disease and I think the longest I’ve waited on a chair was 16 hours . That’s because i needed a bed. Honestly was hell. The nhs is horrific currently .

Original poster
ThisMustBeMyDream · 20/10/2025 05:32

Still here, on the chair. He's finally managed to sleep a little. Squished in a cubical that would have always had one trolley in. Now it has 4 chairs in, so everyone is very up close and personal. 😵‍💫

OP posts:
wearyourpinkglove · 20/10/2025 09:10

OMG that sounds horrific for you both and completely unacceptable I'm so sorry. My husband went through similar the pain looks worse than childbirth (we aren't in the UK so can't compare the bed situation). I hope your husband has a bed now 🙏🏻

valianttortoise · 20/10/2025 09:13

My dad was in a chair for two nights (they didn't even triage him properly). This is in Scotland where I do think things are a bit worse but it's clearly a national problem.

You're supposed to add here that the staff were great and did everything they could but I thought they seemed pretty slow and hopeless (to be fair who would do the job now, nobody with choices unless it was a true calling).

EasternStandard · 20/10/2025 09:51

This sounds awful, your poor dh

Anditstartedagain · 20/10/2025 09:51

Happy9 · 20/10/2025 01:45

Get him to lay on floor they will soon find a bed I'm telling you 🤣

That was thinking too!

mugglewump · 20/10/2025 10:04

I hope he got seen eventually and is being treated. I went to A and E with my DH two weeks ago after being sent there by emergency GP. We were told the wait was 9 hours! We left. The next day the GP managed to organise the Xray he needed, in and out. I would encourage people to go home if there is a ridiculous wait and go back in the morning if the GP cannot fast track you.

Namechangemillionandone · 20/10/2025 10:07

ThisMustBeMyDream · 20/10/2025 05:32

Still here, on the chair. He's finally managed to sleep a little. Squished in a cubical that would have always had one trolley in. Now it has 4 chairs in, so everyone is very up close and personal. 😵‍💫

Can you grab one of those little gurney mattresses from somewhere and get him to maybe lay down on that if still waiting? It’s bloody horrific

Keepingittogetherstepbystep · 20/10/2025 10:12

Hope he gets a bed soon it's awful what's going on and has been going on for some time. My dad spent 19 hours ona trolley once in 2017 so not even recent.

Was in urgent care with my mum in August but she got trolley in few hours but I'm convinced the chairs are designed to make you want to leave withouttj being seen.

MoreIcedLattePlease · 20/10/2025 10:13

It's fucking horrendous, OP. I was taken in earlier this week with a serious deterioration in a herniated disc. The pain was worse than labour and I too was put on one of those bloody chairs with 3 other people right there. The lack of dignity was so upsetting - for all of us! Every single bed was occupied by people so old they were obviously end of life. I don't know the solution to the aging population problem, but it's not whatever this is now.

Are private EDs a thing? They should be at this point tbh. The NHS is done.

LIZS · 20/10/2025 10:19

Dh spent most of a night on chairs , got a trolley about 10am and admitted about 8pm into a bed on AMU. When he needed an emergency op he only ever waited on chairs for about 10 hours.

Octavia64 · 20/10/2025 10:20

I’ve put a blanket on the floor and laid down on it.

these days I have a wheelchair

QuickPeachPoet · 20/10/2025 10:25

Poor poor man. How undignified and uncomfortable - and he must be in agony. Something needs to change. I hope you get the right treatment for him soon and I hope someone comes up with the answers as to why a man who probably needs major surgery is reduced to lying on a floor in what is a developed country.

DiscoBob · 20/10/2025 10:31

If it's like my a&e they won't let you lie on the floor. In fact someone with a paralysed leg and nerve damage and broken ankle was refused any kind of 'bed' and made to sit on a chair in SDEC for six hours. Even though the section in ER with beds was empty. That was after six hours on a chair in main a&e. The pain was so bad he ended up leaving before the doctors came round.

I hope he gets to lie down soon. I was brought in an ambulance and was on a trolley then a bed, then surgery then ward. But this was a broken hip so I couldn't sit up. Or maybe it helps if you come in an ambulance?

Cece92 · 20/10/2025 10:35

This just shows how bad the hospitals are and what medical professionals are up against it’s really sad. I hope your husbands okay xx

Istanbol · 20/10/2025 10:36

My sister spent all night on a chair with a broken hip, vomiting from the pain.
Its a national shame the state of the NHS now