Page 11 | a&e bad experience

Original poster

cucumberpeach · 23/01/2026 12:10

I'm sorry to say it but as well as lacking empathy, many of the the nurses last night just weren't all that bright. They weren't trying to be nasty, they just had bad people skills and didn't realise they were needlessly antagonising and escalating situations. I mean, the lovely woman who stroked my hair when I was on the floor and went up to the desk to ask for help for me ended up in an actual shouting match with the nurse, when she clearly wasn't the type to be aggressive or make trouble at all.

OP posts:

Original poster

cucumberpeach · 23/01/2026 12:14

CelticSilver · 23/01/2026 11:57

How did you get downstairs and into the ambulance, OP? Stretcher, chair or walk?

It's not actually any of your business

OP posts:

DameM · 23/01/2026 12:17

'GPs don’t have X-Ray vision. They can’t tell what needs a scan, or further tests that they cannot provide. The GP advice to go to A&E was absolutely correct'

No they don't have xray vision they do however train for years and have or allegedly have clinical skills.

This was all done via the phone, an elderly tired dm trying to explain the problem, the op didn't even see the gp. The Dr should have examined the patient, checked temp pulse etc and then decided if a dash to A&E was required. Meanwhile the op waited hours for an amb when she could have been to her gps and home in half the time.

Gps need to stop sending everyone to a&e.

DameM · 23/01/2026 12:17

'I’m sure someone would have have ridiculed me for going to a&e in an Ambulance due to a sharp pain in the leg and feeling dizzy if it had not turned out to be serious'

No because a sudden sharp pain in the calf with redness and swelling is indicative of a dvt. Mind, again I'd expect a GP to see you, start you on anti coags and send you to an assessment unit to have a scan and further treatment.
Gps seem to be using A&E as their own personal overflow facility.

'You’ve never been in agony have you?'

Yes. I've never laid on the dirty floor in a busy A&E though.

Holymess · 23/01/2026 12:18

Resilience · 23/01/2026 11:42

The last time I was in A&E it was with a friend of mine who’d accidentally overdosed on pain killers taken for an abscess in her tooth. It wasn’t a substantial overdose and too late for charcoal so I thought we’d be advised for watchful waiting at home and was prepared to stay at my friend’s house, but no, 111 insisted we go to A&E.

It was certainly an experience. We were there 6 hours. In that time I heard a lot of conversations and would say that at least 1/3rd of people there didn’t need to be. Some couldn’t get a GP appointment so decided to take shortcut, others (like us) had been told to go by 111, some just hadn’t really considered that their issue wasn’t an emergency at all! There was one entire family there that was treating the whole thing as a family day out as if it was the most fun they’d had in years!

One man was downright aggressive with lne of the nurses and several patients were just plain rude.

However, standards were also scary. The nurse we saw could not calculate the amount of drugs my friend had taken. I told I’m how many tablets over how many hours and three times he used the same information to come up with three completely different answers, all of which were wrong. In the end, I did it for him. Then we were told to go home and watchfully wait. Could have avoided the entire episode and saved an A&E nurse’s time.

I feel sorry for the staff and patients alike. The system is broken. A&E are picking up the pieces for years of underinvestment in our GP infrastructure and 111 personnel being mostly non-medically qualified.

True slot are not properly qualified and mistakes are being made they should be able to charge time wasters and it should be logged on their records that they have abused NHS, but I also think we should only see asylum seekers in migrant which are illegal if they pay that would deter them cos ming to England and expats who have made their 🏡 me elsewhere but find that the country their in even Spain do not get treatment all free like England's NHS, expats who have moved abroad also abuse system badly I know they think because they're British they can live abroad and when they can't get their medical treatment free abroad they can just pop over to England show their British passport and their ready to go, I think our immigration system should pull up how long a person has been out of a country and this should be flagged up on all NHS systems and God, and councils so they know they now have to pay, because if you move out of England to live elsewhere you put into that country or should do you don't have a legal right to use our NHS you signed your rights away once you moved

DameM · 23/01/2026 12:22

'the nurses last night just weren't all that bright. They weren't trying to be nasty, they just had bad people skills and didn't realise they were needlessly antagonising and escalating situations.'

Oh dear. They weren't very bright now? They knew you were a gp walk in and were probably focused on other patients. If you were home within a short time of being seen you were OK so just focus on that and maybe put your feet up foe a day or so.

Original poster

cucumberpeach · 23/01/2026 12:25

DameM · 23/01/2026 11:03

'OP explained that she was lying on the floor unable to move. How the hell is an elderly woman going to carry her downstairs?'

She was home hours later on oral painkillers. So that is a swift <but obviously good> turnaround.

Look, I'm not suggesting people shouldn't seek appropriate health care but the reason a&e is backed up and under pressure is because of the masses of those with minor illnesses who use the service as a walk in service. Yes I get the hopeless gp told her to go, I'd be directing any complaints to them they should obviously have seen and examined the patient rather than going on what info her dm was telling them over the phone.

You have no idea what you are talking about.

OP posts:

Original poster

cucumberpeach · 23/01/2026 12:27

DameM · 23/01/2026 12:22

'the nurses last night just weren't all that bright. They weren't trying to be nasty, they just had bad people skills and didn't realise they were needlessly antagonising and escalating situations.'

Oh dear. They weren't very bright now? They knew you were a gp walk in and were probably focused on other patients. If you were home within a short time of being seen you were OK so just focus on that and maybe put your feet up foe a day or so.

You are just embarrassing yourself now

OP posts:

Babyboomtastic · 23/01/2026 12:27

Decoart · 23/01/2026 06:44

Glad you are OK OP.

When my daughter was having chemo and at risk of sepsis we were told she had to have antibiotics within the hour. And it was best to drive ourselves rather than an ambulance as it would be quicker.

The worst incident was 7pm mid week. Temp spike so to A&E - queues outside in the cold to be checked in it was January. Daughter could barely stand. The admin person ran out of paper for the wrist band machine strolled across the room stopped for a chat and to get another roll then strolled back. The clock was ticking, we didn't push to the front as everyone else was at deaths door too.

Finally saw a nurse only 5 mins left in the golden hour she had to call the on call consultant covering to find out which antibiotics to give her and then couldn't use her picc line. We were in a tiny non sterile office as no bays.

We were then put in a room with 10 other people for 6 hours as no beds some of whom were vomiting her bloods indicated zero neutrophils so no defence against infection. I thought at one ppint the old lady next to me died and called a nurse.

When my daughter needed the toilet it was covered in vomit I asked if there were any cleaners on site and they just laughed at me. So I said we are going home I've had enough, they were really shocked, then they said oh there's a bed sorry it was ready an hour ago on a general ward. I left her and drove home at 3.30am.

My daughter was then seriously ill for several days. We were lucky and got moved to a Teenage Cancer Trust Ward. I will never forget her screaming in agony every time the morphine wore off. The nurses on the Teenage Cancer Trust were incredible.

A and E reminded me of the pictures you see in war torn field hospitals. The lack of basic humanity and care from the A and E staff was dreadful. We found out by accident later she was also given the wrong antibiotics and shes contracted a hospital acquired superbug which will affect her for life.

This was a major hospital which was recently showing off on Stand up to Cancer. I couldn't watch it.

I would just say her Oncology team and Teenage Cancer Staff are incredible. A real credit.

That's crazy. In my hospital she'd have had open access, so you just phone up the ward and you come straight in, you don't go to A&E at all.

DameM · 23/01/2026 12:32

cucumberpeach · 23/01/2026 12:27

You are just embarrassing yourself now

Show quote history

I'm embarrassing myself? You said the nurses weren't 'very bright' which is very unpleasant, you waited hours for an ambulance when your mum drove there i presume actually following the ambulance, you were then seen and sent home with oral painkillers. Great that you are ok but I think you need to focus on that not what happened in an overstretched a&e.

BunfightBetty · 23/01/2026 12:33

DameM · 23/01/2026 12:17

'I’m sure someone would have have ridiculed me for going to a&e in an Ambulance due to a sharp pain in the leg and feeling dizzy if it had not turned out to be serious'

No because a sudden sharp pain in the calf with redness and swelling is indicative of a dvt. Mind, again I'd expect a GP to see you, start you on anti coags and send you to an assessment unit to have a scan and further treatment.
Gps seem to be using A&E as their own personal overflow facility.

'You’ve never been in agony have you?'

Yes. I've never laid on the dirty floor in a busy A&E though.

Yes. I've never laid on the dirty floor in a busy A&E though.

You should be grateful you've never been that much in agony that you've had to.

Lifecircle · 23/01/2026 12:33

cucumberpeach · 23/01/2026 12:27

You are just embarrassing yourself now

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Do you really need to be so nasty?
There is only one poster embarrassing her/himself and it's not the op.

Original poster

cucumberpeach · 23/01/2026 12:36

Lifecircle · 23/01/2026 12:33

Do you really need to be so nasty?
There is only one poster embarrassing her/himself and it's not the op.

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I am the op!

OP posts:

Original poster

cucumberpeach · 23/01/2026 12:38

DameM · 23/01/2026 12:32

I'm embarrassing myself? You said the nurses weren't 'very bright' which is very unpleasant, you waited hours for an ambulance when your mum drove there i presume actually following the ambulance, you were then seen and sent home with oral painkillers. Great that you are ok but I think you need to focus on that not what happened in an overstretched a&e.

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It isn't unpleasant, it's the truth.

OP posts:

Original poster

cucumberpeach · 23/01/2026 12:41

Timeforeastereggs · 23/01/2026 10:34

honestly some clearly haven’t bothered to read your initial post properly let alone all your updates. Or they have read it and are deliberately disregarding your point just to be goady. Who knows but yeah don’t give them any more attention.

I’m sure someone would have have ridiculed me for going to a&e in an Ambulance due to a sharp pain in the leg and feeling dizzy if it had not turned out to be serious.

You did the right thing by going to A&E because the thing is you don’t know it’s “nothing” or “not serious” until you do know.

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You're right, they aren't worth acknowledging. And thank you ❤

OP posts:

KittyWilkinson · 23/01/2026 12:43

DameM · 23/01/2026 11:03

'OP explained that she was lying on the floor unable to move. How the hell is an elderly woman going to carry her downstairs?'

She was home hours later on oral painkillers. So that is a swift <but obviously good> turnaround.

Look, I'm not suggesting people shouldn't seek appropriate health care but the reason a&e is backed up and under pressure is because of the masses of those with minor illnesses who use the service as a walk in service. Yes I get the hopeless gp told her to go, I'd be directing any complaints to them they should obviously have seen and examined the patient rather than going on what info her dm was telling them over the phone.

You seem to spend your time endlessly watching 24 Hours in A+E (spoiler alert - it's edited) and following the OP on her thread each time she posts. You've been scolding her for several days now, and trying to diagnose her with anxiety and belittle her and her mother. It's veering on obsessive. She has neither time wasted, nor abused, the system.

You've also ignored the many terrible stories on here which are heartbreaking to read, as they seemingly don't fit whatever your agenda is regarding the OP.

Stop defending the indefensible in poor nursing in A and E. She followed real medical advice, in real life, as opposed to your imagined version. I've seen great advice on MN to people who are on their own, unwell and scared. Including from caring medics on here, who help support on the forum in their own time.

Then there are those like yourself, looking to finger point without the full facts. We all know about timewasters, health and safety, overstretched staff, grubby floors, pressure on the NHS, pay and conditions. Start your own thread on that topic. Stop hounding and lecturing a sick woman about it, and suggesting she did something wrong. She didn't.

If you are so keen to defend decent nurses trying to do their job in difficult circumstances, get off your sanctimonious sounding backside and go and speak up for the likes of the Darlington Nurses, Nurse Jennifer Melle, and many others who are treated appallingly by their management. It is possible to support good people, whilst calling out the bad. I don't see you posting endlessly on those threads. I wonder why that is?

DameM · 23/01/2026 12:45

cucumberpeach · 23/01/2026 12:41

You're right, they aren't worth acknowledging. And thank you ❤

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Well if this is your reaction to my very polite posts patiently explaining the problem is your gp really, not the overstretched accident and emergency department then it is clear why you are so scathing of the 'not very bright nurses' in a&e.

KittyWilkinson · 23/01/2026 12:47

DameM · 23/01/2026 12:45

Well if this is your reaction to my very polite posts patiently explaining the problem is your gp really, not the overstretched accident and emergency department then it is clear why you are so scathing of the 'not very bright nurses' in a&e.

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Are you just identifying as a medic or are you real one?
Or do you just want to endlessly follow the OP on the board? You've made the same points over and over again. Endlessly it seems. Go and have a cup of tea.

DameM · 23/01/2026 12:48

'You've been scolding her for several days now'

I first posted on this thread yesterday.

KittyWilkinson · 23/01/2026 12:49

DameM · 23/01/2026 12:48

'You've been scolding her for several days now'

I first posted on this thread yesterday.

Ha ha. Two days then.

YourLoyalPlumOP · 23/01/2026 12:49

cucumberpeach · 21/01/2026 23:57

Just having a little moan as feeling a bit sorry for myself. I know people go through worse things.

I woke up with agonising abdominal pain which worsened all day, vomiting and everything and not keeping anything down. DM called the GP for me and they sent for an ambulance which took several hours to come (not complaining, it's not their fault, obvs there will have been more serious cases to attend to).

Eventually they came and I've now been in the hospital for hours in agony. They didn't give me pain relief, had to beg for it several times. It helped but then wore off and they ignored my polite requests for more. They actually shouted at me when I tried to lie on the floor as it brought relief. They told off a kind lady who went to ask if I could be seen as I was in a lot of pain for misleading them as they thought she was asking for her own mother and asking on behalf of someone else is apparently 'against the rules'.

After asking at the desk four times over the course of an hour they gave me a codeine pill but I'm dreading it wearing off.

Just a bad experience and still haven't seen the dr. Upside is seeing how kind the patients are to eachother, we're all sticking up for eachother! One women was stroking my hair as I lay on the floor in pain.

I realise nurses and medics have a really hard job btw. Just quite miserable at this point.

I’ve had two horrific experiences the same

one I went in with severe higher back pain. It hurt to breathe and it was like a really severe ache. The dr came in quickly and told me it was a panic attack. They hooked me up to the machine and as they did that the pain became unbearable I went blue. The nurse ran to get the dr but he just reiterated the same thing. He said I was playing it up because I wanted attention. That I was to leave as he wouldn’t play my game.

I left and as I left I collapsed. The consultant had come to find me to say he thought I had blood clots

he was right. I had huge massive bilateral PE. Had he of not come to find me I’d of gone home and died…….i was so humiliated at the time.

the other one was the day I had my second premature tiny baby and she was big enough to come home. Whilst at home I had a huge bleed. (I’d suffered from eclampsia with her) told to go to the hospital and I remember having the most horrific headache I’ve ever had in my life and I felt really unwell

They triaged me and found that my blood pressure was 260/160 and kept telling me that unless they can get my blood pressure down I was gonna die
They managed to get my blood pressure down, but unfortunately it went too low and I suffered from necrotic pituitary gland which has life sustaining injuries. However, what made it really bad was I had left my new baby at home with my husband because of course I’m not gonna bring a baby into the hospital. They said to me that that was not allowed and I must bring my baby into hospital and then it turned out. I had a bleed on the brain and I remember feeling like I was dying whilst looking after a newborn in a hospital and it was like hell earth

Lifecircle · 23/01/2026 12:58

cucumberpeach · 23/01/2026 12:36

I am the op!

Show quote history

Apologies for my confusion it wasn't aimed at you.
I'm an ex nurse and am horrified at your treatment. Before I took early retirement I was aghast at the lack of empathy that SOME newly qualified nurses showed.
I'm sorry you experienced this episode.

DameM · 23/01/2026 12:58

KittyWilkinson · 23/01/2026 12:43

You seem to spend your time endlessly watching 24 Hours in A+E (spoiler alert - it's edited) and following the OP on her thread each time she posts. You've been scolding her for several days now, and trying to diagnose her with anxiety and belittle her and her mother. It's veering on obsessive. She has neither time wasted, nor abused, the system.

You've also ignored the many terrible stories on here which are heartbreaking to read, as they seemingly don't fit whatever your agenda is regarding the OP.

Stop defending the indefensible in poor nursing in A and E. She followed real medical advice, in real life, as opposed to your imagined version. I've seen great advice on MN to people who are on their own, unwell and scared. Including from caring medics on here, who help support on the forum in their own time.

Then there are those like yourself, looking to finger point without the full facts. We all know about timewasters, health and safety, overstretched staff, grubby floors, pressure on the NHS, pay and conditions. Start your own thread on that topic. Stop hounding and lecturing a sick woman about it, and suggesting she did something wrong. She didn't.

If you are so keen to defend decent nurses trying to do their job in difficult circumstances, get off your sanctimonious sounding backside and go and speak up for the likes of the Darlington Nurses, Nurse Jennifer Melle, and many others who are treated appallingly by their management. It is possible to support good people, whilst calling out the bad. I don't see you posting endlessly on those threads. I wonder why that is?

Edited

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I'm not quite sure where to start with this. I'm not 'obsessive', I'm not following the op I'm 'on' this thread so when someone posts it comes up.

The genuine horror stories about a&e are awful but calling nurses not very bright is just not on. Some might not be, some will just be very busy with ill patients. I of course support the Darlington nurses but fail to see the relevance here?

I'm not into just slating a busy A&E department when clearly the GP was the one who failed the op in the first place not even clapping eyes on her.

KittyWilkinson · 23/01/2026 13:03

@YourLoyalPlumOP that's so awful, I'm so sorry. That must still affect you thinking about it, so traumatic for you.
I remember also thinking about leaving my children behind as I headed for a nine hour op for a tumour removal. Apparently, I had "health anxiety" until a woman doctor realised what was probably wrong.

BunfightBetty · 23/01/2026 13:08

DameM · 23/01/2026 12:58

I'm not quite sure where to start with this. I'm not 'obsessive', I'm not following the op I'm 'on' this thread so when someone posts it comes up.

The genuine horror stories about a&e are awful but calling nurses not very bright is just not on. Some might not be, some will just be very busy with ill patients. I of course support the Darlington nurses but fail to see the relevance here?

I'm not into just slating a busy A&E department when clearly the GP was the one who failed the op in the first place not even clapping eyes on her.

Show quote history

You do seem to be overly invested in telling OP what her experience was, when you weren't there and don't actually know what happened at all. You've posted multiple times, telling her she's wrong, and you know best, and you seem to be very keen to jump to defend A&E without any actual knowledge of the facts.

You may not be intending this, but It comes over as dismissive of the OP's experience and a bit aggressive, as you are continuing to push your view without showing much evidence that you've taken on board OP's updates.