a&e bad experience

[cucumberpeach]

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.

Are you at the Royal OP? It really is the large intestine of hell. We were told the new one would be better, but it’s worse than the old one.

I hope they’ve got you comfy now and you’ve at least got a recliner chair. Just wanted to let you know that if by any chance it turns out to be gynae related, there is also a gynae A&E at the Women’s which is much better, just for future reference.

Spent 11 hours in a packed surgical assessment unit on Sunday waiting for a doctor and a scan for ?appendicitis. Then no one to interpret the scan so sent home with strong painkillers and back for another six hours wait the next day. One man hadn’t moved from the ‘day room’ we were all waiting in (no beds available) in all that time! Staff were great though, but as a nurse myself it made me very fearful of being acutely ill. Some people were in a very bad way and there was just nowhere to put them!

I’ve been to A&E once in my adult life for a broken bone following an accident. I was treated as a complete time waster. Staff were rude to me. I was afraid to ask any questions because everyone who worked there was pissed off. I cannot imagine how awful it must be when you don’t know what is wrong and you are completely reliant on them.

Something has to change. There is thread after thread about this and when I told my friends/family about my experience they all had similar to share.

That was by guess too. Mine ruptured and was like that.

The last time I had to go to a and e they were brilliant but I wasn't able to stand up and was screaming my head off. Kidney stones or a twisted ovary, no one could actually decide. After care was awful. I would be very reluctant to go back to a and e though. So many horror stories.

They use paracetamol IV for cancer sufferers so it’s a very effective pain med.

A+E is dreadful. So sorry you are having a bad experience.

I recall waiting, having had a couple of X-rays, and a woman also waiting gave me one of her own supply of Tramadol because the hospital wouldn’t give me a painkiller. The bone turned out to be badly broken.

OP, I hope you’ve been seen and I’m so sorry for the awful experience you’ve had in A&E. Sadly all too common.

As for them telling you off for lying on the floor when you’re in pain and they’re not providing a bed, I would just lie down and refuse to move, if you’re still there. Just keep saying ‘I can’t, I can’t’ If they tell you to get up. They can decide if they leave you there or get a trolley, at the least. It’s utterly inhumane to leave people in severe pain without anywhere to lie down.

The NHS is not fit for purpose. Sent by 111 for my child. Sat for 12 HOURS!!! Consultant comes out and tells the room that if they feel they are able to go home they should. How are people meant to assess if they are able to go home. ABSOLUTE JOKE I for one cannot wait until the NHS disappears (trust me this is a mathematical certainty that it must within next 10/15 years)

How R u now, @cucumberpeach?

I always find it remarkable how many people go to A&E for non-urgent matters. They’re such awful places to be, generally very bright, very uncomfortable, and horrendously busy / noisy.
Hope you’re feeling better soon OP, and you get some answers.

I hope you're sorted now OP. I was in agony in A&E a few months ago with a back injury. Whn I finally saw a doctor he prescribed morphine whilst I waited my CT scan. The nurse gave me paracetemol and said 'you'll be fine.' When I saw the doctor briefly in the corridor a few hours later and he realised I hadn't been given my morphine he was livid and stood over the nurses until they gave it to me. You can understand delays when they are busy, but ignoring the medication that a doctor has prescribed you and giving you a lesser painkiller suggests someone who thinks they know better which is pretty outrageous in my opinion. I sat there for 9h after I'd had a CT scan and they knew what was wrong with me, but sent me off somewhere else anyway to wait, until the same doctor came back on shift and saw me and immediately saw me and got me out of there. The inefficiency of it all is wild sometimes.

I spent 22 hours in A&E in Doncaster last year with suspected appendicitis which turned out to be diverticulitis. They admitted me for a week and I hung in the balance of needing an op all that time.
There were two Drs in the entire hospital, one doing A&E and the other doing the operations. The one doing the operations told me this. There were strikes on at the time.
There was one actual nurse on each floor and the rest of the staff were kind of nursing assistants. Some were nice and some were just fucking awful. Either way there were way too many of them and they mostly stood around shoving chocolate into themselves at the nurses station and rolling their eyes at anyone who wanted any assistance. My bed was just by the station so I saw it all.
The place was an absolute filthy shit hole.
I was actually nil by mouth but nobody told me that and they kept feeding me.
Considering it was a hospital the food was outrageous. Carb and sugar laden crap (5 courses of it) coca cola, chocolate biscuits, crisps etc. I'd read about Doncaster's obesity epidemic but even though I live nearby I hadn't actually seen it until I went in there. Staff and patients were all absolutely massive and I couldn't help but think that if the food they were serving it was not surprising. It wasn't exactly nourishing food and it must have cost a lot more for the NHS to buy all the shit they kept serving people than just cook some decent healthy food. The staff kept booting people out as soon as they were awake from operations who were in agony, one poor lady opposite was screaming as she was ushered out by staff.
I was utterly terrified of being operated on by the exhausted but really lovely Dr who eventually discharged me and couldn't wait to get out of there.
Patients were vaping on the wards.
I've always championed the NHS and I know there are so many wonderful people working within it but there's a lot of people working in it that are jaded beyond belief and shouldn't be around vulnerable people at all.
They need to get rid of them and bring back Matron.
I found it traumatising and I live in fear of ever having to go back there.

@PatchouliPrincess someone I know was admitted at Doncaster onto a ward but bed was in the corridor of the ward. No curtains, no buzzer, lights on all night. At 3 am one night another patient jumped on top of her in bed and had a wee on her!

Because 111 sends them there!

That does not surprise me with that place. It is absolute chaos in there.
I'm sorry your friend experienced that, it's really scary when you're so vulnerable.

To say my eyes were opened is an understatement. There's so much more I could say about what I saw and experienced in that place but haven't.

I have even considered moving so that I don't have to go there again if I have another flare up. That's how bad it is.

Hope you have had some treatment and more pain relief

I went to a&e with suspected appendicitis last year, thankfully didn’t end up being that, but what shocked me more was seeing the state some poor people were in who clearly were unable to advocate for themselves. I still remember a man with open sores being wheeled in and being left shivering. He couldn’t walk because his feet and legs were covered in them. A lady eventually asked for a blanket for him and the staff said they didn’t have any. I still feel really upset when I think about it. He was there for the duration I was in and was still there when I left. It was incredibly upsetting.

Exactly!! GP’s and 111 routinely send people to a&e. If you’re not a medical professional it is incredibly hard to judge whether you need to go to a&e when you’re being told to go by someone in that field.

For all the people claiming the NHS isn't fit for purpose - my nephew living in the North was very seriously ill last year. An ambulance came within 8 minutes of being called, he was taken into A&E and stabilised, and moved to intensive care where the care was superb. And it cost him nothing.

Problem is where do you go? My local hospital is also awful. 24 hr plus waits in a&e. They missed my daughter’s pulmonary embolism. They’re rude, roll their eyes at you when you’re answering their questions. I think most places are under funded and stretched.

Thank you again for all the kindness. I'm so sorry for everyone who has had bad experiences or seen their loved ones suffer.

I finally got home at about 4am, they've given me codeine and anti sickness meds and said it's probably a viral infection and will clear by itself. Fingers crossed they're right. Codeine is great stuff.

During my last hour there therr was one poor lad was repeatedly crying out 'please help, please help me breath', clutching his chest and getting panicky. No one responded so I, unable to move as hooked up to a drip, had to keep yelling at the top of my voice for someone to come and help him.

Glad you’re home @cucumberpeach

Sounds to me like diverticulitis. My husband gets it. Look it up. If it comes back you need urgent antibiotics.

Not by itself. Paracetamol lays down a base of pain relief and other stronger medications are layered on top if needed. Cancer pain would not be treated with paracetamol alone.