What has been the longest you have waited in A&E?

[Dreamingofnarrowboatlife]

I have been with my elderly mum in A&E since 1pm this afternoon.

We have been left in a corridor and little progress appears to have been made, it's very frustrating.

Mum had been running a temperature since Thursday, I called the GP surgery yesterday and because mum is in advanced Alzheimer's and housebound they decided to assess her over the phone and diagnosed a UTI, prescribed antibiotics and that was that.

She still had a high temperature this morning and was quite lethargic so I called 111 for advice, they said mum needed an ambulance. Paramedics came and thought mum's knee looked swollen and suspected a blood clot.

Blood clot dismissed at a&e assessment and they said they suspected arthritic sepsis. Mum had an x-ray hours ago and then an aspiration of the fluid in her knee. Orthopaedics then transferred her back to medical assessment and since 7pm we've been waiting and waiting. I've asked the only nurse who seems to be on this corridor and he appears to know very little and there seems to be no one else to ask, I've not seen a doctor in this corridor for hours, I've walked into the main area and no one seems to be able to help.

Mum's been in a&e a few times but this has definitely been the longest wait so far, coming up for 12 hours. Mum's slept the whole time but it's going to be a long night for my dad and I.

Just rung for another update and spoke to someone different.

Mum has now been waiting on that trolley for 22 hours. The nurse says there is one patient ahead of mum who has been waiting for 24 hours and once they get a bed it will be mum next so............

Once I feel well enough (the stress has flared up one of my chronic health issues, bloody typical) I will be going over to her.

Not true. 87 year old grandparent broke their hip Christmas eve, operated on Christmas day. Spent at least a week in bed but partly due to making a remarkable recovery/ being booted out by the NHS is now back at home, on their own aside from carer popping in, pottering around at home.

Oh love, it’s just awful.

I everyone forgets, that if they are fortunate, they will live into old age.

I honestly think people think they will be young and invincible forever.

74 hours for me last year. That did include 6 hours where I went home (was told to, as there was zero capability to do the test I needed until the morning so they made me “an appointment” for 7.30am the next day which then turned into another 14 hour stint sitting on a chair)

In case anyone thinks I didn’t need to be there with a wait that long - I was very ill and hallucinating, was sent there by my own doctor after disastrous test results, admitted for six days eventually, and took months to recover.

I was on my own the whole time, had a bed on a corridor for the first six hours then got a plastic chair in a corridor for the rest of the time. Did occasionally lose my chair if I had to go to the toilet. Food didn’t feature.

They are under staffed due to funding cuts (too many managers too few workers). They prioritise in order of need so there are others that have more urgent need, not ideal but until they employ more workers and cut
managerial roles things won’t change.

Bloody hell, that's horrendous, you poor thing.

22 hours on a section 136. It's not just horrendous for someone severely unwell but 2 police officers have to stay with you the whole time so uses up a huge amount of their time.
There's been days where the entire response police team for the area is tied up on constants at the local a&e.

It was the same when I worked for the NHS 20 years ago, nothing had changed back then and it is still the same. Way too many managers who all seemed to spend their time in meetings yet achieving very little. The dead wood needs to be cut out of the NHS but that would financially finish the NHS so it just drags along not fit for purpose.

I’m sorry Op I just answered your question because it was raw and i shouldn’t have, I should have recognised that it wasn’t about the actual answer and more about your understandable frustration and your poor Mum.

I hope she is getting the care she needs very soon and makes a swift recovery. It is a really horrible time and so hard to access care. Fingers crossed for you all. She has you to advocate for her so that is good.

There were two sets of police officers there last night with patients and paramedics standing with theirs, and for some time too.

The system just isn't working, we all know it, many of us are experiencing it, the poor NHS staff are in the depths of it yet out government continue to appear to do sod all to drag it into something more adequate.

Absolutely no need to apologise, you had been through an awful time.

I hope you are on the mend now

I was stuck in a&e and on a short stay supposed to move off as just for a&e ward for over a week in June they couldn’t decide what was wrong with me I’m 43 and riddled with rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis so suffer with pain I was stuck on a trolley for most of the week they wouldn’t move me to a bed but they kept putting all the older people in a bed it was horrendous turned out I had pneumonia,a bad uti plus a massive ra flare I refuse to go into hospital now I was treated awfully .Also they wouldn’t give me any of the painkillers I have been prescribed for years .

Longest wait was overnight from about 11pm to 6am next morning.

That is truly disgraceful, what a horrendous time for you.

Longest was 10.5 hours without being seen. I discharged myself as I was in agony and there were only plastic bucket chairs to sit on, when I needed to be lying down.

Same length of time when DS had an accident when he fainted. He was seen, ebut the conclusion, after 10.5 hours was: Your son fainted and had an accident. Wow - thanks for your superior knowledge.

These days I just assume NHS is not fit for purpose. Every single practitioner, including my once lovely GP, seems to have compassion fatigue and is snarky and dismissive. I just treat myself with OTC drugs and healthy food.

I have heard this about A&E and painkillers. Just paracetamol. It's pathetic.

Longest was 6 hours. I have cancer so sometimes get sent to A&E for things if it’s overnight and they can’t take me on the ward. I think because I have cancer though, I’m treated with a bit of priority because things can go wrong very quickly. I refuse to go in for minor things though.

Shortest was 20 minutes, when dd broke her arm. It was quite an obvious and complex fracture, so receptionist took one look over the partition at the desk and was like, ooh, okay, right! 😳 We were off to x-ray and then into a bed within minutes even with a full waiting room (albeit of ‘poorly’ children who seemed to be mostly eating McDonald’s and cartwheeling around 🙄).

It's horrific if you think about it that we are still using police for the most unwell & vulnerable people (those who have attempted suicide or are in a mental health crisis eg psychosis). These patients will always be the last to be offered a cubicle (or even a chair)

Suicide was decriminalized in the 1960s yet the NHS has somehow failed to move on.

The majority of time you see police with someone in a&e it will be a section 136 but some will be people under arrest & detained in custody that will have been sent to a&e for an illness or simply to be 'checked' if they have an underlying health condition.

Mostly in and out in 6 hours. Quicker in children’s a&e.
Longest maybe 9 hours. But we had X-rays, arm reset and cast in that time. Then back in the following day for surgery which was faultless from start to finish.
Cancer care has also been faultless

9.5 hours with my then 15 year old Daughter, who as eventually diagnosed with Pertussis.

After a recent (27 hour wait in a&e, chair for 24 hours till eventually a trolley in corridor until moved to a ward)

Everything is blocked, there is no where for anyone to go that actually needed to be admitted.

People coming in vomiting bug, had a section in a&e all on drips for rehydration then they discharged (why some couldn’t have done that at home with appropriate medication from chemist & not stepping foot in a&e to spread the bug) Also a separate areas to support issues with asthma - that was hard as people genuinely struggling to breath but once they got the support most could leave - but they needed to be seen asap to get that breathing support.

At 11pm, the nurse stood up and informed that there
was no beds in the hospital, no capacity and looking at least 4 hours to see a doctor and probably looking at an 8 hour wait - they then said if you wanted you could leave but please tell them so they didn’t waste time chasing. 70% of the room emptied - i said to my husband self discharge me (I had been there for 14hours at that point) , they recommended I didn’t due to my condition- they don’t just let everyone leave without checking. But it does show how many people actually needed to be there.

The staff so apologetic to me they couldn’t do more or even offer a bed - I could see how bloody hard it was for them, ambulance staff and as it was also a Saturday night the 6 police needed to deal with a drunk person and the 2 police /custody bringing in someone in handcuffs. The public services are being stretched - but how may people could help by just making better choices or helping themselves.

the environment may not be pleasant but it sounds like she’s received all the appropriate care, she is not still waiting.

27 hours last year. Horrific for me and I wasn’t even the patient so it was double for my mum.

26 and 27 hours. It’s a rite of passage at our hospital. If you pack it in before the 24 hour mark, well you just aren’t sick enough.

7hrs which felt like ages at the time but compared to some replies I realise I was actually quite lucky!