To complain about A&E not changing my dressing?

[HarderToKidnap]

I have an open wound on my abdomen that has a small pack in it. Last Friday my consultant told me I would need to see someone on the Saturday to have the pack removed and changed. I was due to drive 2 hours to stay with my MIL for the weekend, to catch up with the all the inlaws and attend several family events.

On Friday morning after seeing my consultant I called my MILs GP to try and arrange to have the pack changed the following day. GP flatly refused to help or see me the next day but did tell me I could go to a walk-in at the local hospital.

Friday pm I drive 2 hours to MILs. Sat am I get up and head to local hospital. I find the Walk In boarded up and looking deserted. There is no other option to see anyone other than A&E. Receptionist/Triage nurse said they couldn't take the pack out. Just that. They couldn't, and wouldn't do it. It wasn't their dressing to change. Oh, and the walk in had been closed for 3 years!

There followed quite a long Mexican stand off during which she repeatedly told me they wouldn't change the dressing, and where I asked for reassurance that I would not get an infection or the pack would not adhere to the inside of the wound if I didn't get it changed until the Monday. She told me she couldn't assure me of that but that they couldn't do it. She phoned an OOH who wouldn't do it either. In the end I told her I would go to the toilet, remove pack myself and if I experienced a lot of pain/bleeding I would come back and be seen as an Emergency. She then said they would do it "just this once" and let me go through to a deserted waiting room, I was called 2 minutes later and dressing changed by a lovely nurse, back in car 10 minutes later.

Now, I'm a frontline HCP and bolshy with it, so I got seen - but what if you were a vulnerable person who had the temerity to be far from home when you need your dressing changed? Who thought if the receptionist was telling you they wouldn't do it, that you would wait however many days until you were back home, potentially causing problems? There was no "we can't do it, but if you go here/do this they will see you" just a very very flat "no". I'd like to complain to PALS, not about my treatment but about the lack of healthcare options there and the fact I had to throw a hissy fit to get medical treatment I needed. Other people wouldn't have thrown the hissy fit and wouldn't have got seen. WIBU to do so?

[AmberLeaf]

Well, if they are going by the info on the NHS website, they may very well get it wrong!

[pancakedays]

You were in the wrong.
Firstly, if you were in a car, travelling 200 miles with an open abdominal wound (packed or not) it will not help the healing process. Did you really have to do such a long journey when you require daily dressings?
Your priority should have been sorting this out before your journey, even if this meant getting it redressed on the Saturday morning by your own health care team before travelling. This would also be more consistent in your care.
You were very unreasonable to take up the time of the A&E staff, and even more so by throwing a 'hissy fit' and threatening to cause the wound to bleed by removing the dressing yourself!
As a 'frontline', 'bolshy' 'HCP' you should know better.
They should have made you wait a long time while they saw everyone else with an ACCIDENT and an EMERGENCY!

[MintyyAeroEgg]

Pixie - she had it done on the Friday. She needed it done on the Saturday too. Are you saying she should never stay overnight anywhere? She asked A & E if there was another clinic she could go to. Ooh refused to do it.

Don't worry, I am reading the op so you don't have to ...

[ILikeBirds]

I don't think in these particular circumstances you were being unreasonable.

Out of ours provision is patchy, OH split his head open the other week. We were told (at 9.30pm) to attend the walk in centre and got there to find it closes at 8pm, so we then had to head to A&E. It wasn't what I would term an emergency as the bleeding had just about stopped when we got to A&E but it still needed treating. So we sat and waited and looked at the patronising posters which "Should you really be here? - Minor injuries go to the walk in centre. Who chooses to go to A&E at 11pm on a Friday night if there is another option!

[Salmotrutta]

We certainly don't have access to the GPs surgery on a Saturday!

We do have a Minor Injuries unit at our local cottage hospital BUT, we are advised if we are closer to the nearest A&E than to an MIU then go to the A&E instead.

Well, I say we have an MIU but for all I know that information may be out of date! Thankfully we haven't had to use it!

[FasterStronger]

perhaps you find the first one has been shut down, very annoying, so you call the second before going.

I have had a 2 inch deep abscess and other smaller ones so have a fairly good range of experience of dressing changes.

the NHS is not perfect, but it gets little praise or thanks when it gets things right.

[MintyyAeroEgg]

FFS! It wasn't 200 miles!!

[MintyyAeroEgg]

People read what they want to ...

[IneedAsockamnesty]

I wonder how people got information before google existed?

Ask a pharmacist and perhaps ask them to either phone and check its still open or give you the number so you can,dependant on the number being available to the public or not.

[QueenOfFarkingEverything]

This thread is a perfect illustration of why I can't be arsed with MN much these days.

OP - YANBU to think you should have been correctly advised. To be fair it wasn't A&E's fault and it wasn't really their job to change it but under the circumstances they should have done it without the need for you to be stroppy.

[olgaga]

^how olgaga?

By NOT asking the GP where she could go when she travelled?^

No - it's quite simple really. You don't travel.

[crashdoll]

I'm not sure why people are saying some people can't read because they said YABU. The OP discussed compaining about A&E. They did nothing wrong, complain about the GP but not A&E. I would not normally be so rude as to say "can people not read?" but if it cap fits....

[HarderToKidnap]

I had to go up on the Friday as MIL had left earlier with DS, who is BF at night still. She came to me Thurs and stayed overnight, then left Friday morning with him leaving me free to go to consultant without dragging him with. At that point I didn't know about having to have the dressing changed on Sat too (as daily dressings hadn't been part of the plan until then). So I had to follow up on the Friday, in a pinch I suppose he could have been left Friday night but as we hadn't prepared for that at all I didn't feel able to do so. MIL has MS too so would have been worried about her coping with him overnight if he was unsettled.

[yaimee]

I'm unsure to be honest.
I think you made every effort you possibly could to make suitable arrangements to have your dressing changed and travelled under the belief that there would be an appropriate facility for you to have your dressing changed while away.
I would probably have asked in a&e too, since you were there anyway, but after being told no, i would have left without arguing and either phoned 111 or tried to get through to an out of hours gp or clinic, chances are that there would have been one fairly near by.
The person I would complain about is the gp who misinformed you.

[edam]

Wow, amazing how people just make up stuff that isn't in the OP and then attack the OP with it... unless someone is now imagining she managed to drive at a consistent 100 miles an hour?

[IneedAsockamnesty]

Minty no ooh didn't refuse the crap gp didn't give out the correct ooh or walk in info.

[Salmotrutta]

The OP did also mention that the waiting room was deserted at A&E so at least she wasn't delaying other people.

Although there would have been triage anyway if it was busy, I suppose.

If the staff are there, not particularly busy (and it was early morning too by the sound of it) and its a quick job I really don't think there is a problem helping someone out in a bind!

[IneedAsockamnesty]

Sorry I missed the phone to the ooh line.

[AmberLeaf]

Don't travel? ha!

You know that lots of people have these sorts of needs for months or years at a time? should they really never go further than 3 miles from home?

Really?

[olgaga]

This gets worse! For something like this, check and double check.

I would have rung the walk-in centre and made arrangements beforehand to make sure it was ok. Before allowing my BF DS to go on ahead with my MS suffering MIL.

If you'd done that you would have known there was a problem.

Lesson learned I hope.

Unfortunate, but these things happen - and I don't think anyone was particularly to blame.

[pancakedays]

MintyyAeroEgg, I have read the post. Op states it was 200 miles on the first page, 18 posts down.

[MintyyAeroEgg]

"She told me she couldn't assure me of that but that they couldn't do it. She phoned an OOH who wouldn't do it either."

Fyi Pixie

[AmberLeaf]

The OP has already said that she would be unreasonable to complain about the A&E, just in case anyone missed that.

[pancakedays]

Actually, 200 miles in 2 hours is pretty impressive!

[AmberLeaf]

olaga, she didnt know she would need seeing on the saturday until after her MIL had taken her baby with her.