to think something has got to be done about a&e waiting times

[McHappyPants2012]

in the last few days i have been to the hospital with my DD (aged 2) tuesday night was 5 hours and last night close to 6 hours.

sirzy but apparently a minor cut is a case for a&e because gp's and walk in centres don't deal with it other than to send to a&e...

I walked into a and e with an 8 week old Ds and left 2 weeks later after a hdu stay. In hindsight an ambulance would have been the wise move but I didn't want to seem like I was over reacting!

Surely a minor cut you treat at home anyway? Something more serious the walk in centre here certainly would treat that's what they are there for!

penguin ds was run over. I got to A&E under my own steam. I ran in, I think the only words I said were "help me, he's been run over" and the whirlwind took place.

I agree you know when it's really serious.

I once fell awkwardly and thought I may have broken my foot. Could walk, but needed painkillers and walked a bit funny. I went to my GP and got referred for radiology. Took a couple of days to organise with work and that, got the result back (no break) in a week. All very normal and boring.
But the number of people who were shocked I hadn't taken myself up to A&E because I would be "seen quicker"! It had never occurred to me but they were really insistent I should have gone up there.

my example, dc fell and cut his ear. a deep cut a few milimeters in. because I didn't know if it requires stitches I went to the gp (right next door) during surgery time. gp sent us to a&e because he 'doesn't do stitches'.
so instead of having a simple procedure done in a short time frame during surgery opening time I spent half an hour travelling to the nearest a&e, waiting for three hours there to see the dr and having the ear cleaned and stiched in 5 min. what a waste of time and recources.

btw. the treatment at a&e was fine, triage happened quickly and of course cases that need to be seen quicker had priority.

and no, the walk in centre (5 min walk away) doesn't do stitches either.

Good grief Mouse, what a silly waste of everybody's time! It does make you wonder which lectures your GP slept through!

This was the thing I liked about my Dutch GP. When DH accidentally sliced the end off DS' finger if it had been less serious then either the receptionist (who was a nurse) would have simply dressed the wound or the doctor would have stitched it. It was only because the wound was so serious that DH was sent off to the children's hospital.

Try working in A and E on a friday night we are understaffed and underpaid.A and E waiting times suck.
If I could I wouldn't treat the drunks or druggies but we have too.

I think the triage system makes sense in most cases.

DD has a blood-clotting disorder and now has direct access to children's triage but still has to wait depending on the severity of the bleed.

Before she was dx and at the age of two we were in general A&E for hours waiting while a two-inch-wide river of blood ran down from her scalp soaking everything and it was the other patients who kicked up a fuss demanding that they all wait with their minor injuries because it was a disgrace that someone hadn't seen the baby.

Several refused to go in ahead of us and sure enough, what the triage nurses assumed would have stopped in time or would respond to a compress or even a stitch or two was suddenly acknowledged due to DD's blue lips and lethargy as something which had life-threatening consequences because we had been politely waiting.

It isn't always simple.

One of the biggest problems is the amount of people who get steaming fucking drunk and take up valuable A&E time

That is terrible winteriscoming didn't they know from the medical
Notes or indeed didn't they listen to you about the blood clotting?! How awful for you x

I have to say I've never had an issue in A&E, but the two times that I've been in with one of the children (DS2 at 2, DD at 17 months, both head cuts) we were ambulanced in so bypassed the waiting room. I don't know if that makes a difference? Both times someone came and saw us quickly, identified what they were going to do and arranged to have it done, we were in and out within an hour at most.

Even the two times I went myself and was driven by work colleagues (both accidents at work, I am accident prone!), I was triaged and treated quickly.

Maybe we should get rid of GPs for acute problems and just have and go to A&E?

Mya, really? You wouldn't treat the 'drunks' or 'druggies'? Even the ones who'd die/become seriously ill if you didn't? Are you a nurse?

Walk-in clinics don't do stitching as they are nurse-led and most nurses don't do stitching as it's an extended skill - I do, but only simple wounds, anything even vaguely complex I let the docs do it! I would imagine GPs don't do it as they are primarily an appointment-based service and if a wound needs stitching it generally needs stitching now!

I've been in a+e quite a lot over the years.

When DS1 was knocked over a few years ago and we were blue lighted there it was amazing, not only was his life saved but the care they (and the police) showed to me and DP was amazing.

3 weeks after that we were back with DD2 and a broken wrist (we're an accident prone family!), we had to wait a few hours but I knew that there were really 'serious' issues being dealt with, and quite right too.

DP went through a phase a while ago where his lungs kept collapsing, when he had his first full collapse there was no waiting at all.

DS2 had bronchiolitis at 8 weeks - we were seen straight away.

DD1 with a 'thing' stuck up her nostril when she was 18 months- we had a bit of a wait

A few months ago my grandfather (who at that time was being assessed in a geriatric unit) was transferred to A+E with a dislocated shoulder. I waited with him and was touched by the compassion/care shown to a very old man who was confused and in pain -and how they worked their asses off to get him seen/sent out asap.

A+E is a wonderful thing IMHO when you have a real A+E to be dealt with. I take my hat off to all A+E staff, without them I probably wouldn't have my DS1 or my DP.

Feather - that's why I think our local walk in centre is great. They also have a walk in gp service there so you see dr and/or nurse who can treat accordingly.

The sheer volume of patients doesn't help. Our ambulance service takes around 1400 calls - in 24hrs. NYE it was 2243 in 5 hours. I know they don't all go to a&e but it shows how many people ring 999 for an ambulance in a day

That's a great idea sirzy, I'm sure having all WICs staffed that way would ease the pressure on A&E departments. we did once trial having a 'see and treat' GP in our department for a couple of months, he was given a room and access to a nurse should he need one, and he was another option for the triage nurse when considering where to send patients. For one reason or another, he kept sending patients back to triage to be seen by one of our docs, or by a nurse practitioner. The trial was discontinued when it was concluded that he was actually increasing our workload, as once he referred a patient back to us we had to deal with them, whereas some of these patients would've been sent to their own GP by the triage nurse if the 'see and treat' hadn't been there.