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.

That's ridiculous I think I am blessed with good GPs

Actually you need to call round and find a gps with a specific asthma clinic. Not all gps have a clinics (no time or money) you would be better if you can with one that does.

Amboman keeps me and DH sane. Lets us know we're not the only ones! [hgrin]

Years ago DP walked into a+e with chest pain (on advice of ooh doc) We thought it was a badly pulled muscle - turned out his right lung had fully collapsed. On triage it was picked up and he was seen/had a big needle stuck in his chest/chest drain immediately.

I think wrt the OP when we have a sudden/unexpected pain we panic. She didn't rock up at a+e thinking 'I've got a trapped nerve - treat me now' she didn't know what it was.

Op, so you had a pain in your neck ?

Well I suspect you were a severe PAIN IN THE ARSE to those poor doctors and nurses.

Just who do you think you are complaining because you had to wait ? So what !

Grow up for fucks sake

They have an asthma nurse, but because he is consultant led and is on a lot of medication for his age they are always dubious to do anything. As he has seen most of the GPs from the area in the OOH service over time I don't think moving would change much either.

Thankfully A and E are fantastic with him and know him well!

I don't know how expensive it would be, and whether it would work, because I haven't got any evidence. It might work out cheaper in the medium term, and it might work better, I just don't know. Have there been any studies done?

We should always ask apparently daft questions, IMO, to challenge conventional wisdom and make sure we are doing the right thing. Nothing wrong with a daft question from where I am sitting, as long as it's well meant.

When I was 12 I broke my collar bone and waited 4 hours to be seen and then another 2 hours for an x ray. By that time it was 2 am. That was 15 years ago. So the fact it's still taking 4 hours to be seen in a&e 15 years later is good going.

One of my A&E jobs one of the Consultants was ace - he sat at the triage area and if someone with an 'inappropriate' clinical problem pitched up he would phone the GP and tell them to give the patient an appointment! If the patient claimed they had phoned the GP and been sent to A&E he would phone up and check and send them back! If it was out of hours he would ring round to the GP centre and get them seen there. It was always a great shift when he was on duty as you knew you were only going to have to deal with patients that really needed you.

I think the op is away but had she phoned me I would have fitted her in straight away, she should have called her GP and explained what was happening.

I was very ill this time last year and phoned NHS24, who sent a doctor to the house, followed immediately by a paramedic unit, then an ambulance. I was taken to the local A and E, but by-passed the normal route and went straight into acute admissions. I obviously used a lot of resources and other people had to wait for me to be attended to before their minor ailments were looked at.

My problem was breathing difficulties due to the pulmonary oedema which I suffer from.This can be life-threatening so therefore I was prioritised. It's just life. Or in some cases life or death.

I am so grateful for our NHS. I don't know what I would have done if I'd had to pay for all the tests I've undergone. I appreciate that we pay taxes for it, but you know what I mean - free at source.

YABU. You should have taken painkillers and either waited in A and E until they were able to see you - or made an appointment to see your GP.

Softly I actually went out into the corridor to fetch her water while we were in the bay waiting to be seen by the doctor and felt sorry for those in resus.

It didn't trouble us at all to wait for hours in the bay. Others were obviously in need of more prompt treatment.

Looking back and hearing the experiences of other parents of those in onco, I guess I'm naive.

When the registrar was examining DD1, she kept saying, 'She has a lot of bruises', and it didn't even occur to me that she might have blood cancer or blood disorder. I just said, 'Well, she's dyspraxic,' which she was.

But later on, I met the mother of a boy with leukaemia who was a baby when it was diagnosed and also came in covered in bruises. She said they were in A&E, at another hospital, and were told 'You'll need to come to a room with us,' and her first thought was to tell her partner, 'They're going to think we're hitting him. There will probably be police and social there. Brace yourself. We'll probably get arrested.'

Hit them like a thunderbolt when there were no police but two doctors, one of whom told them their son had leukaemia.

OP your a&e sounds well shit! You should try North Tyneside general I walked into a&e and in less than a minute I was in resus without even having to see a triage nurse. I was an inpatient within 3 hours (took that long to stabalise me) and I totally got my NHS money's worth with a two month stay and 12 months outpatients after that.

To get better service either try another a&e with your sore neck to see if that gets you anywhere or perhaps try being fucking ill at your usual place.

[hhmm] Where is the OP?

oh expat,it's not right it's not fair
hope you are getting adequate support?
do take care,you've all had a dreadful time

OP, how did you get there? I do hope you didn't drive to A&E thinking you were having a stroke? With a 2yo in the car?

DH has been in resus a couple of times with blood sugar off the scale due to infections causing his diabetes to spiral out of control.

He was also blue lighted in once with chest pain - suspected pulmonary oedema.

Another time he lost the feeling in his legs, turned out to be extremely serious and he ended up in ITU but he spent a long time in A&E and then on a general ward as it took him a week to go from being unable to walk to being life threateningly ill.

Having spent many, many hours in A&E with him I hope I can see the difference between poorly/in pain and being seriously unwell and in need of urgent medical attention. Having read some of the stories on here I do hope that you can as well.

And as for the "saints" comment, well we have waited for hours to be seen at times and grumbled about it under our breath etc etc but I would never once even consider complaining publicly about having to wait.

The treatment that DH has had would have cost hundreds of thousands had we had to pay for it. When he had his ITU stay I read a couple of books written by Americans who had been struck down by the same illness as him - there was a definite undercurrent of "how the fuck are we going to pay for this when the insurance stops coughing up" and having to choose substandard care due to cost - this was never an issue for us and that is something for which we will always be grateful.

To say that having to wait four hours for a non emergency is a pisstake just beggars belief really. I was going to say that words fail me but given the length of this post I don't think that's actually true

pulmonary embolism, not oedema

not that it matters

I've just given him a precis of the thread and he's gobsmacked but unsurprised, he's seen his fair share of arseholes in A&E whilst being treated for his genuine medical emergencies

Sirzy - I go to A&E because I need treatment that A&E can give, or a referral to a department that needs to come via A&E. I have a file in A&E for this reason :)

Like someone else said - many people who go to A&E are walking wounded, and are in the right place.

I am so sorry for all those who have had to go to A&E for such sad reasons.

My dh was admitted 2 weeks ago via A&E due to an infection in his leg.
In the cubicle next to us was a lady who had been throwing up and going to the loo since 2pm that afternoon. It was 9pm.
She was convinced it was food poisoning because on the previous Tuesday (5 days ago) she and her husband had eaten Burger King and they had had different burgers and he wasn't ill.
They gave her diarolyte which she kept down and sent her home.
How they kept their manners I do not know.

Actually Sirzy it sounds like your DS has asthma so severe that A&E is a very good idea...

No wonder your OH panics - I know a dad like that but he is getting better at spotting what he needs more like mum

Expat. life is so unfair. Im so sorry for you and your family. I wish i had a magic wand. I saw a picture of your daughter, so beautiful! Wonderful smile!

Yes, im definately a very entitled person, going to A&E

Oh good. Glad you've realised that now.

DH took DS1 to A&E on Sunday because he broke some bones in his hand. He was in, xrayed, dressed and out in about 3 hours which was excellent. But this teenage girl came in with her mother, and they were told the wait was about 4 hours. DH said the mothers at on her phone and must have rang every one in her contacts list moaning that her DD had a suspected broken foot, and she was at A&E, was going to have to wait for 4 hours and they were going to have to have oven chips for tea!

This afternoon I took DS1 back to fracture clinic. They were running on time and very efficient. In walks 'oven chips woman' who sits down next to us and gets out her phone, rings someone to start moaning that she was back at hospital again, they better not keep her waiting because she doesn't want oven chips again! She had been there 30 seconds! We were called in, and DS1 said "oh, thank god for that, I don't think I could face listening to her whinging about oven chips for 2 hours again today!"

Last time I had to go to A&E was because my fingers swelled up and my rings were digging in and one of my fingers was going blue. I was called straight in because they were worried about it, and the whole waiting room sat up like meerkats and started whinging and moaning loudly. It was quite strange really because they all looked on deaths door and were doing pitiful little groans 5 minutes before! Half of them regained the strength, then, to go outside for a fag!

I think some people just like moaning for the sake of it!

I'm so thankful for Open Access to our local childrens ward! I avoid A&E and we get our own room.

DH has been blue lighted a few times due to heart attacks, and it's heart wrenchingly terrifying. I'd much rather be waiting for a few hours in A&E knowing that the outcome would be less scary and more treatable (most of the time that is).

The only three times I've been to a and e are when ds, when he was one, had pneumonia and the doctor had been to our house to see him and called the hospital to get him admitted, then, when ds, (then 11) broke his arm playing football and it was ever so slightly obvious! and when I had taken dd6 to the out of hours doc earlier this year with breathing problems and, again they told us to go. I would never never never dream of going there unless i had been advised to, or actually thought one of my family was seriously ill! Surely common sense prevails???