Piss take waiting in A&E for an very very long time,

[SubwayAllTheWay]

I had a very sore neck, couldnt move it and was getting shooting pains every 5 mins. As I was near the hospital, I went in at 11am today. I was seen at 3pm. So i had to wait for nearly four hours with shooting pains to the point I had to leave the A&E reception to shout out my pain.

AIBU that this time takes the mick? I know ambulances have priority but If it takes that long, I would have phoned for an ambulance because then atleast i would get seen early.

It took the piss because there were people who seemed to be happy, able to walk but a sore wrist and they got seen after an hour of being there.

I didnt go to the doctors as i was in so much pain i thought i might faint and A&E seemed better idea as they could do a scan and find out the cause.

did you see triage on your arrival at A&E?

Did they find out what was wrong?

I think you would BU for calling an ambulance for a sore neck. Unless you had fallen off a ladder, or a horse, or a cliff, resulting in a sore neck.

4 hours is pretty standard waiting time in A&E, in my experience.

I used to think like you and get annoyed at the waiting time but having been on the other side of the resus room last year now I am so glad I was treated before the person with the sore neck else I would not be here now. I have always been impatient but will always now try and see the flip side of the situation

Its not free care, we pay for it by being heavily taxed

It was emergency. I was having shooting pains in my neck and had to go out of reception to shout it out as everyone was lookiing at me. I would put that as an emergency. I couldnt move my neck. I couldnt even drink a glass of water all that time as i couldnt handle the pain from moving my neck

YABU.
I've been rushed in more than once, with life threatening asthma.
If your neck had been treated first I'd be dead.

well you could have seen your gp or taken pain killers

after 4 hours did they diagnose a broken neck or just advise you to rest and take pain killers

seriously 4 hours is about right unless the pain was caused by a 7" knife blade

YABU. They see people in order of priority so what makes you think you're injury is more sever than anyone else's.

Yes waiting in reception like that you don't see the scurrying around "backstage" at A&E when ambulances come in & trolley patients get priority over walking wounded.

Bloody annoying true but although you were in pain it wasn't an A&E priority sorry, at other times you might have been lucky if the ambulance bay was quiet.

Hope it eases.

I also understand that there are other life threating emergencies and accidents coming through. But four hours is a very long time, especially as others who come in with a "suspected" sprain come in, sit for an hour and then get seen.

It was a horrible experience for you and yes you were in a lot of pain and I fully agree that we pay towards the care with out taxes but you were seen and at the end of the day how would you feel if a & e operated a "first come first served" policy and in the time it took to see you sombody passed away

What did they diagnose your problem as then?

Tbh it sounds as though YABU - presumably you went through triage and were seen at the appropriate time.

An emergency? Hardly.

Sorry you're in pain but that doesn't sound excessive to me.

I had a haemorrhage a few weeks ago and was in A&E for 4 hours, then another 4 hours in a gynae waiting room. It's normal, sadly. I didn't drop in as I was passing though, the GP did a 999 jobie. I'd rather have had a sore neck, I'd have gone to the chiropractor.

they can't have felt it was as urgent or serious as you think it was then - did you take anything for the pain?

He said it was a trapped nerve and that they would organise a scan but it would be a 2 to 3 hour wait for that. I just took my medicines and left. I couldnt face waiting around for that time having waited for 4 hours before.

The "suspected sprain" probably don't need an xray which presumably you had, therefore reducing their waiting time.

YABU, like others have said, 4 hours is about right. Also, ambulance patients aren't given priority just because they come in via ambo, they are still triaged. Chest pains are the highest priority AFAIK?

Anyway, hope your neck feels better soon.

You don't get in quicker by arriving via ambulance BTW. They are triaged same as everyone else unless its emergency.
You should have gone to GP, if you could sit there for four hours it wasn't that urgent.
I have say there for hours before in pain after falling down the stairs, yes painful but not urgent but did require X-ray.

However after major car accident, dd2 with breathing problems, me with heart problems and dh with neutropia they were very quick.

Moral of story is, if its emergency you WILL be seen quickly, if not you wait, it's called proprieties

So what was it?

A trapped nerve is not, by any definition, an emergency.

YABU

Sorry posted my last reply as you did, so, you were there with an emergency, in agony, were offered a scan which you did not take, YABU now clearly not an emergency or else you would have waited however long

The thing is, as you say, it was an emergency, otherwise it would have been wrong of you to be there, but the reason you were waiting four hours was because there was four hours of other emergencies that needed to be seen before you. People will be triaged according to need, children get priority, those with breathing difficulties get priority (although id imagine they would be 999 and in majors), people will have also been referred by their GPs so already in the system. It can seem very unfair when waiting at A&E during a busy period as people appear to go in before you etc, its frustrating, but hey, what can you do.

You have my sympathy, absoluate pants to have to wait that long - piss take? YABU sorry.