How long in a chair in a&e?

[ThisMustBeMyDream]

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.

In these situations you have to make do. Make him a bed up on the floor. They’ll soon act, trust me. I’ve always found that when you start taking matters in to your own hands then suddenly the cogs begin to turn.

The OP could go and find a trolley, especially at night there are trolleys parked here, there and everywhere (empty ones) in our local hospital.

Horrific

I'm so sorry

@DeftWaspit does seem, just from this thread, that mismanagement is rife. It needs a huge injection of common sense, clearly.

A&E is just horrific. I spent 30 hours in a chair after I had a post surgery infection. Sat in a chair while they pumped antibiotics , fluids and painkillers into me. I should have been admitted, but no beds. The consultant sent me home as I “seemed sensible” and I went back on the Monday for further treatment.

Sadly all the beds / trolleys had very poorly and disoriented elderly in them.

I’m assuming he has had all the scans that have diagnosed the tear, how they can leave him with bowel perf is beyond me. The risks and the length of a stay needed for sepsis or peritonitis is just stupid.

Id start being the annoyance at this point. I’m glad the anaesthetist confirmed that conservative management was ok, but for this length of time with no timeline it seems utterly wrong.

This is just horrendous. The man needs major surgery.

Not true. I had to lie on floor as there were no seats left and I was in agony with an ovarian cyst. Nurses just stepped over me. It was so degrading.

I am so sorry for all the awful stories here I just don’t want people to be put off going to an and e as a result. I nearly didn’t take my poorly dh but we had first class treatment from everyone in a cubicle within about 20 minutes and on a drip within an hour. Looked after really well on two different wards before receiving a procedure which resolved the problem. He was really poorly and I worried we would just be turned away but everyone was kind competent and efficient. Just an ordinary district hospital.

I hope your husband gets a trolley/bed soon. It's truly horrific. My longest wait for a bed was 72 hours, after 48 hours on a chair I was given a trolley until I got the bed at 72 hours. I was in so much pain, the waiting room chairs are torture and as you say the " IV lounge" of 4 chairs in one bay isn't very comfortable after a few hours.

I think all politicians should have to sit in A&E waiting rooms on a hard chair for at least 36 hours, maybe 48 hours as that's what I had to suffer through. Then imagine doing so while I'll! Maybe then they'd realise the NHS needs proper funding!

Glad you are there to advocate for your DH. It's even scarier when your on your own but no one is coming to check your temp etc as they have no nurses :-( wishing you all the luck with DH surgery and treatment!

Actually 30 years ago, probably a bit more, DH had an operation and was desperate to come home the following morning. I arrived with his stuff and the nurses told us he couldn't be discharged until his meds arrived from pharmacy. I asked why I couldn't come back later four them as they said it would be a two to three hour wait. Oh no, that wasn't possible so dh said he'd didscharge himself. Suddenly they could discharge him and yes I could collect the meds direct from the pharmacy.

As DH got ready we heard them bitching us up and complaining that we had insisted on discharge, because it meant they had to get the bed ready and accept another patient from A&E before shift change.

It's always been badly managed and disorganised. They were just being lazy bastards and couldn't give a fig about anybody waiting in A&E.

@ThisMustBeMyDream as you know the hospital why don't you have a recce and identify some empty beds and then raise merry hell - insist one is brought for him What time did you write to PALs, the CEO and your MP? I'd be fucking incandescent.

Meanwhile, could your dh go and lie down in the car? With you checking into A&E every 30 minutes? Have you asked them to record the fact that he is in agony and being denied a place to lie down whilst waiting for a bed on a ward?

That's awful! Honestly I would rather they changed to an insurance based system at this point if it meant decent care I'd pay for it.
Even for usual prescriptions at our chemist it's like pulling teeth to get anything. It's either not in stock or they'll ask you to come back the next day, I was in a huge queue and everyone in front of me and myself were told it hadn't been put up yet and to come back the next day (despite ordering it a week prior) I really hope myself and family stay healthy this winter, because reading this is terrifying.

This is disgraceful

I asked for the bed manager. DH is known as "the longest wait" when the nurse rang the bed manager. She came within 5 minutes. Apologetic. Said a trolley will become available in majors at some point, not sure when, but tonight, and he would go in there. I said I wasn't happy with the level of care because of delays in obs, pain relief, antibiotics. Said its not the staffs fault, but I didn't feel safe to leave him given the seriousness of the diagnosis and the plan to watch and wait. She apologised and said she understood and said in majors he will have 5-1 care rather than the 40-1 he's having now.
5 minutes later... he was in a bed. He's now settled and once I've made sure his obs are checked, I will feel happy to go home and come back early.
Fuck me. What a shitty 32 hours it has been!!

You’re not that badly hurt and injured if you’d rather just go home (how if you can’t even sit on a chair?) than be seen in A&E.

This is one of my (many) reasons the NHS is going under, too little out of hours resources causes more people to go to A&E.

If the girl from accounts dares to put VAT on private health premiums, I may personally incite a riot and chain myself to the railings of no 11.

And still some worship at the alter of the NHS. Starmer or Streeting wouldn’t have to put up with this rubbish if they or a member of their family was ill.

Look at some EU models. NOW!!

I layed on my coat on the floor in A & E for a few hours when I couldn’t be upright

Mum was an emergency Blue light last year.

We now say how lucky we were

A paramedic was with her and treating and assessing within 30 mins.

He straight away rang for an ambulance - it was with us within an hour - having been diverted from someone who had requested one 12 hrs before hand

Only an hours wait in the ambulance because her stats dropped so badly they had to jump the queue

Corridor trolley but she was being assessed and an eye kept on

8 hrs later the surgical team came to see her and she needed a minor op to get her home to be followed up in OP, there was no where else to perform it other then the corridor. It was non invasive but, seriously, these surgeons came down with fully equipped back packs , and did the minor op , stopping and starting to let other trolleys get by. No curtain, no privacy

I agreed to let them go ahead where we were because I couldn't take mum home in the state she was in , knowing a 999 call would be made again

Five years ago, if that was the standard of care Id have been going bloody mad and creating hell

Now we whilst uncomfortable about how she was managed, are happy that she was seen and treated within 12hrs

Im now on a red flag list for suspected breast cancer, the 14 days target has been and gone by 14 days already and on ringing, Ive at least 10 more weeks to wait unless there is a cancellation. Like the only women cancelling that appointment are those that have died waiting

OP Im so sorry that you and yours are going through this ((((HUGS))))

This is really shocking. Can I ask what area of the country you are in? Also please write to your local MP. Pressure needs to be put on this useless government to at least do something about the state of the NHS.

But meanwhile an A & E doctor wrote an article in the uk press stating that the wastage in his department was horrendous, a charge of £6,000 to paint a single room and a wait of weeks and charges of hundreds to change a lightbulb. I’m sure austerity played a part but the system is totally broken with massive overheads, poor IT and huge wastage across the board.?it’s no longer fit for purpose, it needs total reform, a cross party working group and Total review, look to Europe, excellent healthcare in most European countries. We need to change as the current nhs is failing this country.

My 85 year old mum decided to head for home after a long A&E wait with a distal femur fracture - 10 weeks in bed and it formed a functional but wonky malunion.

She was in agony, but fed up with waiting, when she eventually saw the consultant he was dumbstruck that she endured it and exactly how wonky (but firm) the joint in the bone is.

so glad he has a bed now. hope you manage to get some sleep tonight xx

I'm so pleased to see your DH is settled OP.

I had appendicitis and spent 12 hours on a tub chair in A+E waiting for a bed. That's nothing to some of these stories. 32 hours is appalling.

This is one of my (many) reasons the NHS is going under, too little out of hours resources causes more people to go to A&E.

Exactly - an elderly relative of mine has a number of weak blood vessels in his nose which can bleed copiously. He is also on high doses of blood thinners which means that he could potentially have a life threatening haemorrhage.

In another life time I had mine fixed by the GP in his surgery. Now they no longer offer this. Neither do minor injuries. If we are unable to stop the bleeding we have to go to the city A&E whilst they summon down ENT to apply the silver nitrate.

One memorable incident resulted in us having to do an emergency run from Wales into England as the Welsh hospital didn't have any silver nitrate to treat him.

Husband waited in sweating, shaking agony for a bed.
it was ‘only’ 7 hrs but it felt like 7 days,
He had had a spinal decompression. He needed an emergency operation.
He could walk (just) when I took him in.
Hes now a paraplegic. He cannot stand up unaided.
He paid a fuckimg high price for those 7 hrs.

The NHS is an utter disgrace.
Costs us a fortune, employs 1.2 MILLION people half of whom do fuck all but waste money.
It would be cheaper to pay for private medical insurance for every British citizen.
No body who enters the UK should be allowed to enter without health insurance.
And PALS -don’t make me laugh. Complaining to the NHS about the NHS??
They protect their own, cover up terrible care and mistakes.
Ive never ever understood why the NHS stops for weekends/bank holidays - it’s not like people are not ill on those days is it??
Maybe the backlog for scans etc would be reduced if they had scanners ( machines, not people) working 7 days a week, and from 6am till 9pm.

@ThisMustBeMyDream i desperately hope your poor hubby gets a bed and some care soon. Sending love to you both.