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.

Voltarol is available OTC now.

cross post with donut.

Spoting a stoke

The FAST test
The Face-Arm-Speech-Time (FAST) test lists the main symptoms to look out for:

?Face. Has the person's face fallen on one side? Can the person smile? Has their mouth or eye drooped?
?Arms. Can the person raise both arms and keep them there?
?Speech. Is their speech slurred?
?Time. It's time to call 999 if you see one or more of these signs.

Haven't read all of the replies but

a) ambulances don't take priority sick patients do

b) yours was neither and accident nor an emergency so no requirement to be there in the first place

c) I expect those people that went in ahead of you were either a) referred from their GP to the appropriate specialist (unfortunately A and E Dr's are extremely busy with people that come to A and E instead of their GP or before using painkillers which increases wait times) or b) being seen by a nurse for treatments etc

and really you think that calling an ambulance would have been an okay thing to do????? Seriously?? Ambulance are for those people that can't walk or have life threatening conditions. They cost the NHS a fortune and misused all the time. They are not taxi's. People calling them takes them away from the real jobs they should go to so next time you moan because one of your family is having a heart attack or they have fallen and broke their hip and you have to wait longer than you should remember it is because people use them when they shouldn't something you seem to think would be okay!!

So when you arrived and stated your business, 'I think I'm having a stroke', did anyone suggest you weren't? After waiting an hour, did you not conclude that you could not have had a stroke, or that if you had, it was a very minor one?

At either point you could have left. You cannot possibly have believed, for four hours, that you had just experienced a major, life-threatening or incapacitating stroke.

So you should have called your GP or gone to a walk-in centre. Either way, you should have left.

The other problem with saying that people who seemed less ill were seen before you is its sometimes really difficult to tell how ill someone is from what you see in the waiting room.

When DS1 was 7 months old I took him to A&E because I was struggling to get his temperature under control even though there was nothing obviously wrong. They sent us home after a few hours but later that night he had a temp of nearly 40 deg even after paracetamol so we went back. Apart from the temp he didn't seem that ill. Blood tests showed he had a severe infection and he spent 4 nights in hospital, another girl who also seemed reasonably well was admitted at the same time with what turned out to be pnuemonia.

You wouldn't have looked at either child and said these are seriously unwell infants who need immediate hospitalisation but both of them actually were much worse than they looked and would have probably deteriorated very rapidly over a 24-48 hr period without treatment.

Haven't read the thread, but as soon as you described it OP I thought it sounded like a trapped nerve. They hurt like hell, but are not an emergency. A quick call to NHS direct or GP would have sorted that diagnosis out I'd have thought.

FWIW I've only ever waited a maximum of 2 hours in A&E.

I had to persuade my Dad to go to a and e after he collapsed. He drove us there. When we went in the nurse asked why we hadn't seen the gp. I told her I felt he was beyond that, we waited 4 hours, he had a blood test, THEN everything started to happen. 3 days later he was dead.

We were in a & e for 8 hours until he got a bed on a ward.

We found out after he died that he had cancer everywhere.

What possessed you to go there with a small child? At least if you'd have rung nhs direct first you wouldn't have had the wait.

Hypochondria is not life threatening.

And what I'd really like to know is what are going to do about it? With the caveats already expressed, we get what we pay for. So, have you written to your MP demanding that everyone's taxes are put up so we can have more NHS staff and faster treatment?

mummywithnosleep

Can I just ask, is the 'Piss take' in the title a disclaimer or is this a serious thread?

From the part I've read I'm thinking the former.

4 hours is not a very, very long wait for a non emergency
YABU

Its A and E, if bones arn´t broken, if blood is not gushing, and you can say your own name, can breath, speak and are concious.

You didn´t need to be there, simple as!

I don't actually agree with this statement mummywithnosleep. My dad drove himself to hospital alone because it was the weekend and his indigestion was really bad. He was seen immediately and then rushed to the cardiac hospital across town because he was having a heart attack. He never understood what all the fuss was about and was embarrassed about wasting their time

OP - I really recommend NHS direct. They are there to tell you if you need A&E or not.

And yes if it had been a real emergency you would have waited for the scan, because not waiting wouldn't have occurred to you.

I have no idea how long I was in A&E the only time I went for myself (on referral from OOH GP because I hadn't been sure) because I was so out of it.

Fuckadoodlepoopoo. love the name! I´m alive and breathing (most of the time anyway) Also have a terrible sence of humour think it is too much time round doctors :-) The ICU nurses at the Royal Surey are still on my Christmas Card list although I left the uk several years ago and they left there jobs / change rotation.

A and E staff have my total admiration, they do a bloody difficult job, when they are understaffed, under funded (alot of the time) and people sit in the reception when they could be seen else where. I´ve seen them threaten, spat at, screamed at, punched, covered in vomit and they still keep treating people that need them. Most of them are on little pay and work long shifts. Its a hard slog for them, just cause you can´t see much out the front in reception does not mean they are not fitting like made in resus to save someone.

I know one day I won´t keep breathing / won´t stop fitting but untill then God bless the NHS and the equvilent here.

Also worth remembering that A&E sometimes give out appointments for people to return to be checked which can sometimes account for those going ahead. This happened to me following my sprained ankle. The doctor wanted to see me again in 3 days, I arrived 5 mins before the appointment time and was called in on time. My daughter had to return every day for 2 weeks following a burn on her arm to have the dressing changed and so they could keep an eye on it.

this is AIBU, if you didn't want to run the risk of a MN kicking, try 'general health' or chat

I think this is a piss take. I certainly hope no-one would be stupid enough to call an ambulance for a very sore neck

Jamie, I can believe people would be that stupid. Some people don't seem to realise that 999 isn't the phone number for taxis to a and e

Every time I've been to A&E, in London, Surrey, Glasgow, for own problems or DCs it's always a 4 hour wait, even when DS1 age 3 had a thorn embedded in his eye. Somehow that seems to be the magic number of hours you have to wait to be seen. As others have said, if the wait saves lives, that's all good.

My DD re-broke her foot.

We arrived in A&E just after the childrens A&E closed so we had to wait with the adults. After two hours DD was finally called through to see the nurse (had already been seen by triage). Just as the nurse was about to write the x-ray referal a small baby was carried in by a very worried looking local gp with his parents wailing behind her, of course we had to go back to the waiting area as the baby needed everyones attention.
The waiting room was quiet, the main area was a frenzy of activity as the staff were desperatly trying to save the babys life. I wouldn't have known had I not been there and seen the baby. Dd was called again about 90 mins later and had her x-ray and her foot replastered. I don't resent the waiting time as I know that if it was life threatening DD would have been a priority.
Yes it's frustrating to wait so long but good to know they are there for you when it really is an emergency.

Flamming, your poor dad, the trouble is for everyone of your dad there are atleast as many with just simple indigestion.

But where is the line drawn?

I have taken my DD for febrial convulsions, but then that is the only sulotion here over night, plus you are triage befor you get into A and E, you don´t meat the critical point you don´t get into the waiting room! Then you are triage again by a docotor and then wait your turn, but it does cut down waiting times!

But then I have seen people in AandE for ingorwin toe nails, Bubble Gum in Hair and all sorts.

I don´t know the soloution but I do now that something will have to change other wise the waiting times will get longer and longer as more people go to A and E with no need (which was for clarification definately NOT the case with your dad) but by the same note I doubt your Dad would have been complaining if it did turn out to be nothing that he had to wait? and that is crux, in my opinion.

Ambulances definitely do not get priority and sometimes Martyrs people are worse than they appear to be.
My DP was taken in ambulance to hospital after jetski accident they sent him through triage and put him in waiting room in wheelchair.
I could tell something was seriously wrong as he was rocking with pain, I begged the nurse for painkillers and she came over and gave him some...at which point he straightened himself up so he could talk to her., then doubled up in agony after she left.
About an hour later he was given an ECG which was when it all went nuts as he actually had a punctured lung.

I sat in A&E for 7 hours with a child with a broken arm.

Then a further 2 hours waiting for an X ray.
Then a further 2 hours for a temporary cast.

Then a further 2 hours the next morning for a different cast.

It was grim, but I am sure there were people a lot worse off than us.

Four hours wasn't bad, or unusual IMO. I think a walk in or GP would have been more appropriate for a sore neck.

I would not have gone to A&E with child except that the limb was obviously fractured. (In a sort of obvious from the other side of the room way).

Hope your neck is feeling better. It is very painful, I know. I injured my neck years ago and was in a collar for weeks.