To boggle at remote areas and NHS in general.

[hermionestranger]

Just back from a rubbish holiday. Dh had car accident Monday before we left, he is ok just sore.

First night on holiday me and both DS' cane down with some noro bug or other. Next day we were all ok and eating by lunchtime. No sleep had by us all though do very tired and early to bed. Ds1 spent that night vomiting and by middle of the day was unable to walk, complaining of tummy pains and running a temp.

We took him to the nearest tiny a&e who diagnosed possible appendicitis and said we would have to take him to the nearest surgical unit. 75 miles away! He's actually ok and getting better save for now a word throat/ear ache.

The rest if the weeks weather was shocking and dh was poorly later in the week.

So aibu to wonder how people in remote communities manage when serious conditions arise?

Also aibu to wonder if we are having sinister this year?

Nearest A&E to here is 45 minutes drive, and to visit someone for one hour, is a four hour round trip on public transport.
There are a couple of hospitals easier to get to without a car, so I insist on being taken to one of them when I'm ill.
I don't live in a remote area either.

We go on holiday to Mull. Every year there's a story of a woman giving birth on the lifeboat

Spare a thought for patients on haemodialysis treatment. Some patients travel incredible distances - three times a week.

I live in a not very remote part of Norfolk, and my mum's is in south lincs. In both cases it is is about a 1/2 drive to the nearest A&E. Unusually both houses are within a couple of miles of GP with a dispensing chemist, but most villages around are much further from a GP - probably 15-20 min drive.

You get used to it I guess.

But even living in a City isn't enough to guarantee a local hospital will treat you. I live five minutes away from our hospital. I live twenty minutes away from a very large hospital. But when my son was ill he was transferred to a hospital which is very far away from our home.

I guess people who live in remote areas get used to services such as hospitals being a distance away and deal with that accordingly.

We live in a very remote area, 3 hours from the nearest city. We have a community hospital but all major injuries and those seriously Ill are airlifted out. Depending on how serious the condition is a retrieval team flies here, stabilises the patient and the flies back with them.

Our maternity unit had to deal with an extremely prem labour a couple of years ago (25 weeks) and the baby was born before the team could get here. Our midwives surpassed themselves and the baby is fine.

I was flown out in labour as I was to be sectioned, the flight took 13 minutes.

Our GP's are highly skilled in emergency medicine and just 4 weeks ago had to deal with a major incident in which a family of 5 had to be flown out following a horrific accident. All are now on the mend.

We are an hour from the nearest 'big hospital'. We have a small hospital with a Minor Injuries unit.
3 months after my DS was born I woke in the night in agony. Tried to go to the toilet but couldn't and was in more pain than I had been giving birth (c-section under general, didn't feel a thing). I phoned NHS direct expecting them to tell me to take some laxatives and get on with my life. They got the nearest on call doctor to ring me straight back.
He said I needed help quicker than he could get to me, he was 40 mins drive away, so get to the MIU. Left my then 11 yr old DD in charge of my 15 moDD and my 3 moDS while DP dropped me at the hospital.
I was under the care of a Nurse Consultant. He gave me pain relief, the beloved gas and air and pethadine and called and ambulance. I got rushed to hospital and operated on later that day.
One of the hardest things about being a bit further away is that visiting costs a lot of money and takes a lot of time.

I had no idea i was so lucy to live within 5/6 mins of a large hospital (thats on foot too if you re quick).
Gosh im not sure i could live somewhere rurla id be terrified of anything going wrong.

As others said amazing GPs incredibly skilled in emergency medicine in some cases assisted by local vets too, back up by coastguard helicopter to fly three hundred miles to nearest major hospital.

No, I had a friend aged 50 who was so ill that his wife called an ambulance> The guy said he had a cold and told him to take Lemsip. The next day she called an emergency GP who came (through the snow in 2010) and said he had flu. the next day he died from peritonitis caused by his appendix. They have to cover their backs and they should always err on the side of caution despite the cost.
He didn't need to die and for every Mesenteric Adonitis potential that may be an appendix, big up to them for doing the right thing.

milngavie love the name! Take it you're not there if you're 3 hours away??

Absolutely agree they did he right thing. That's what thy thought it probably was and I would agree as DS is now pain free in his tummy. It just shocked me that being on the mainland could leave you do remote from surgical treatment.

Expat hugs to u, your , dd and family.

I live 45 mins drive from the nearest hospital. DD is in a fairly complicated brace scenario involving surgery and then 6 weekly appointments. THe hospital which specialises in maxilo-facial stuff is an hour and a half away. It is irritating, but then I live in a very beautiful place and couldn't stand living in a city. In any potentially life threatening/limiting situation, the air ambulance comes, so you get where you need to be really fast. It has landed on the school field several times for head/back related accidents. As someone has already said, it can take ages to get to a nearby hospital in a city if the traffic is bad.

Rural Cumbria has ambulances scattered all over waiting for calls as all the hospitals are round the edge. Not all have A&E though. County seems to be increasingly covered by first responders too. Air ambulance is also well used and I can never get over why it's so dependant on fundraising rather than gov funding.

I work on the phones for OOH in Scotland and find the people in remote areas are often very stoical. It's the city dwellers who jump up and down screaming for s drs visit vid they stubbed their toe last Wednesday!

We don't worry too much about the distance to hospital as all the fresh air and rain keeps us so much healthier!

Roughtyping I was born and brought up in Milngavie but haven't lived there for years. We're on the West Coast now.

Rose there was certainly plenty of rain and fresh air last week in SW Scotland! DS2 hasn't had to have his inhaler since last tuesday! His chest is as clear as I have ever heard it! Not a crackle or wheeze to be heard!

Expat - so sorry to hear about your daughter. I hope that her treatment is helping, and that her prognosis is good. Thinking of you (although I don't know you at all - am a relative newbie).

We live in Scotland's 10th largest city/town, and yet we have no A&E. It was closed earlier this year, to be moved about 15 miles away, to a considerably older hospital, in a 'centralisation of services'. Anyway... I have a life-threatening allergy, and when I had a bad reaction a few months ago, and had to be rushed to hospital, it took DP nearly 35 minutes to get me there - and that was very late at night, with quiet roads, and him seemingly attempting to break the land-speed record en route. As other posters say, living in a large urban area doesn't neccessarily afford you good access to healthcare like this.....

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Yes, Hermione, since I left the confines of S London my asthma is virtually gone. Makes you realise why it is on the rise so much with more city dwellers.