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.

I agree.

I mentioned upthread how I had a DVT and pulmonary embolism which is very often fatal.

could I have died? Yes.

Did I write - also, yes.

My first night on the urgent care ward I was writing away in my notes on my phone expressing how I felt, while lying in a bed hooked up to a blood transfusion after I’d had my injections to thin the clot.

Not every serious or potentially fatal illness renders you unable to type or talk etc. imagine if the staff had decided I wasn’t a priority just because they’d seen me tapping away on my phone updating family and friends while in the A&E waiting room 🙄

Glad you are feeling better. Quite scary that the MN medical experts have been dismissing your attendance to AE as time wasting! As an ex AE nurse we always would rather send people home reassured than have to admit seriously ill people.
I do wonder what the stats are for people not going to AE at the risk of being a time waster!

It was the Royal yes.

It doesn't really matter as much for me, as I can advocate for myself, but it was upsetting seeing others suffering, clutching their chest and being ignored. And it does make you think about the future and how things will be when I'm no longer young and healthy.

I didn’t see any other woman alone in a&e.

They all had their partner, siblings or adult children or grandchildren with them for at least a few hours.

The reality is not everyone situations is the same. Some women (and men) are alone but some aren’t.

Even my situation would have been different a few years ago when I lived in a city where I had a lot of close friends that I could have easily asked to come by after work for at least a couple of hours.

Thank you. I was quite mortified about the fuss and bother, but it was different to even the most extreme stomach upsets I've had before - I felt like an animal who needed putting out of its misery.

This! ❤

The police do so much vital work in the community that no one ever thinks about

Glad to hear you are still in the land of the living! @cucumberpeach. 😉
Most of the stories here are so sad and quite shocking. People deserve to be heard and to say what their experiences are.
Take care and I hope that your Mum managed to remember where she parked her car! Probably near Speke by the time she found somewhere! X

This is horrific. I'm so sorry you were treated like that. It's dehumanising. Hope you are doing better now

She had to get a taxi to take her to her car 😀

No NHS is in a mess one because of the ridiculous influx of immigrants which are government ID not stopping coming in, two people from abroad even expats who have moved abroad coming over for free treatment using NHS, three having under qualified doctors from other countries, four face to face none excitant , you cannot diagnose a person properly over the phone, NHS is a shambles because England let's immigrants and free loaders use it, it should be privatised that no asylum seeker, expat who lives abroad pay and show proof not only of address but income, do you know English people who want to move to Gibraltar have to either have a job before they get their, or a pension, or money to show they can support themselves because Gibraltar does not have a British NHS system like UK so nobody takes the piss

Could you just, you know, sod off with these sanctimonious posts? Or at least develop some better reading comprehension skills. I never complained about the waiting time, and never said I should have been a priority.

Very similar happened to me! A&E very dismissive after GP sent me in, they said I couldn’t have an embolism as my leg wasn’t red etc. Said dr was way too cautious. I was heavily pregnant sat waiting in chair for 10 hours. Had to return next day for results another wait, 8 hours, turned out I had a pulmonary embolism 🙄🙄

I'd like you to show me a pharmacy that will give 60mg codeine phosphate over the counter.

We did go to the GP - she said to call an ambulance

OP I’ve been yelled at in the ER before for lying on the floor. I think I was also doing some kind of cat/cow labour like pose. Afterwards I was shocked at them - I was there because I was in too much pain to sit or stand!

You have no idea what you are talking about. And I can tell you haven't been to the Royal 😅

Actually quite hilarious that some posters seem to think that they know better than several ambulance service workers on the phone, the GP, two tough and experienced Scouse paramedics who drove me to the hospital and the doctor, all of whom said it was the right thing to call an ambulance.

Ugh that’s awful! And you were pregnant as well - scary!

Good thing your GP took it seriously.

My GP wouldn’t have at all, so had I been in the UK when it first happened I’d have had to go to battle A&E all by myself to get them to take it seriously. And I’m not sure if they would’ve.

So even though you were pregnant you more or less had to wait 2 days to be diagnosed here. Compare that to my experience abroad where I was diagnosed with the PE within about 4 hours of arriving in a&e.

And for those who struggle to comprehend these things, if something turns out to be viral it doesn't mean it didn't have the potential to be serious. That's the point of the tests.

You can't say what you would have done because you have no idea what someone else's pain is like. The pain was nowhere near my stomach.

The fact you think my mother could have driven me there shows you do not understand this kind of scenario. There was no way she - small woman in her 70s - could have somehow got me - tall and sturdy - off the landing floor, down the stairs and into a car. I couldn't get up, was writhing about in agony and had been for about 12 hours. You do not know better than the paramedics who were there and agreed we were right to get the ambulance.

This is what I mean NHS is not fit for purpose under qualified doctors, too many expats and foreigners abusing system which we can't do in their country, NHS should not be approved for any asylum seeker expat who resides abroad, they all should have to pay and show what is in their bank, that is why they keep coming over in the boats not for family they come for NHS use and abuse it our government allows them, then us the British taxpayer suffers, we can't even get to see a go face to face, I ring my go you have to type through numerous questions before you get a go on the phone and then they don't want to see you, and don't get me on the idiot under qualified ones, my daughter is 31yesrs having her first child has had problems either hips for decades going to hospital for steroid injections had now just been told she would need double hip replacement because some underqualufied doctor did not do her newborn health check properly and should have noticed from birth she should have been in splints IM FUMING

Glad you’re feeling better and out of there OP. I’ve not known misery like my last A&E visit. 39 weeks pregnant and attended at 2am having lost the use of the left side of my face. I fairness thy saw me very quickly for triage, where they decided I hadn’t had a stroke which was a huge relief but then as a lower priority I had to wait another 8hrs on those hideous plastic chairs to be seen properly to discuss treatment for the Bell’s Palsy. Not one member of staff asked if I needed a pillow or blanket to make things more comfortable and I was told off for putting my feet on a chair (my feet were so swollen I was on pre-eclampsia watch). The only shining light was a nice lady with the tea trolley who came around at 7am, since all the vending machines were out of order.

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.