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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To complain about A&E not changing my dressing?

270 replies

HarderToKidnap · 21/04/2013 15:15

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?

OP posts:
MintyyAeroEgg · 21/04/2013 16:36

"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

Original poster
HarderToKidnap · 21/04/2013 16:36

Sorry I was 2 hours from home! Not 200 miles. I mistyped.

OP posts:
crashdoll · 21/04/2013 16:36

OP if you do travel again with an open wound, take a letter from your consultant in case a similar situation occurs. Also, it would be wise to ensure you know where OOH is and make sure it's open. There is no excuse for that GP.

Salmotrutta · 21/04/2013 16:36

Oh, and the OP did say that the A&E triage nurse phoned the OOH and they wouldn't do it either

It's in the first post.

IneedAsockamnesty · 21/04/2013 16:38

Minty can you not read? I already apologised and acknowledged that I had missed that line.

Salmotrutta · 21/04/2013 16:38

Oops. X-post with Mintyy.

I think the OP is getting a hard time here for a set of circumstances that aren't her fault!

yaimee · 21/04/2013 16:38

To the people saying that the op shouldn't travel...
Op has stated that her wound has been open for 6months, it is unrealistic to expect anyone to not go anywhere for 6months.
If she feels able to travel then she should, she can't put her life on hold indefinitely.
She had done her best to make appropriate arrangements, including seeking advice from a gp in the local area.
I don't agree with her behaviour in a&e but up until that point I don't think she had been unreasonable at all!

MintyyAeroEgg · 21/04/2013 16:42

Pixie, fortunately I can read but it also took me a minute and a half to type my post because I wanted to be accurate with it Smile.

olgaga · 21/04/2013 16:44

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?

Yes, and how do they manage it? The make arrangements. Which they ensure are going to be ok.

That's how.

In this case, the GP was wrong with the information, but the OP could easily have checked by telephoning the (non-existent) walk-in centre.

She should not expect to turn up to A&E and then complain that getting treatment was difficult - even though she had not had an accident, and it was not an emergency.

OP write to the GP, by all means, and have a moan that their information was out of date. But this is hardly the kind of thing to make a formal complaint about - especially when you could have found this out yourself before you went.

pancakedays · 21/04/2013 16:46

Agree with Olgaga

olgaga · 21/04/2013 16:46

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

Yes - she made an erroneous assumption.

That's a pity.

AmberLeaf · 21/04/2013 16:50

olaga, but you can't make arrangements in regard to walk in centres, you can only find out where to go, short of getting an appointment [which isn't possible at a walk in] nothing is set in stone, so an individual can't really ensure anything that relies on others.

I know that the OP isn't the first person to turn up at a no longer existent NHS service.

IneedAsockamnesty · 21/04/2013 16:57

But you can check that they do still exist and have the details of any within a reasonable travelling time and find out what one is still open.

You can get your own consultant or their dept to see if a one off appointment can be made at the same dept in a different hospital ( granted this is quite hard to do unless your talking dressing over years and its a couple of appointments whilst on holiday).

Or you can make a private appointment with a dressings nurse at a private hospital in advance.

higgle · 21/04/2013 17:03

YANBU - someone had to change it - does it matter who ? NHS responsibility. Rigid adherence to "jobsworth" attitude is why the whole system doesn't work anyway. I would have thought that the local GP should have assisted you, but you were certainly not unreasobable in going to A & E. If more people who couldn't get satisfaction in the rest of teh system pitched up at A&E someone would take some action to ensure that we got proper service. NHS is like British Rail used to be, and needs a real shake up to be customer friendly.

AmberLeaf · 21/04/2013 17:04

I don't think it is fair to criticise the OP for taking the word of a local GP tbh, I think it's pretty shit that the GP didn't know it had been shut for 3 years.

OP had less than 24 hrs notice though, so not much time to get an appointment in a private hospital, that's if there is one where she was or if she could afford to do that.

Yes, getting an appt through her consultant in another hospital, on a saturday would be pretty hard to do.

pancakedays · 21/04/2013 17:04

You can however ensure there is a walk in centre and find out the opening times.
If you have a chronic wound that requires daily/alternative dressing changes, surely it is common sense to look into this?
Op, perhaps next time you travel you can ask your consultant/Gp/Dn for a letter and a supply of dressings. It may also be useful to know that if the Gp practice is closed where you are visiting, you can always see the District Nursing team as a one off patient.
I really don't think you have a right to complain to PALS about A&E. If anything you should apologise for throwing a 'hissy fit' and threatening to remove your dressings.
You could always write to the GP to tell them that the walk in centre is now closed!

ILikeBirds · 21/04/2013 17:08

"It may also be useful to know that if the Gp practice is closed where you are visiting, you can always see the District Nursing team as a one off patient."

If this is the case why didn't A&E advise her of that? I think it's unreasonable to expect members of the public to be better informed than healthcare professionals

happyyonisleepyyoni · 21/04/2013 17:12

How the hell did the GP not know the walk in centre had been shut for 3 years?

GGiven this duff information it sounds to me the OP was in an emergency situation!

middleagedspread · 21/04/2013 17:13

I think you're being unfair on the Op.
She took Consultants advice, rang MIL GP who said Walk in Clinic (which would suggest no appointment). If the local GP said walk in, why would the Op presume to check the info is correct?
So Walk in is closed & she has no other option but go to A&E. What do you suggest, she drives home again?
I think A&E should have seen her without a fuss.

AmberLeaf · 21/04/2013 17:14

It may also be useful to know that if the Gp practice is closed where you are visiting, you can always see the District Nursing team as a one off patient

Highly unlikely you would be seen by the district nurse team.

Selks · 21/04/2013 17:14

Too many typical knee jerk AIBU responses from people who can't be bothered to properly read the OP's posts. Some people just love to have a go at someone; sad really.

OP, YANBU

fallon8 · 21/04/2013 17:21

You are a temporary resident then,,they could have charged you for it...lesson learned then,,stay at home in future..

EduCated · 21/04/2013 17:24

'If the local GP said walk in, why would the Op presume to check the info is correct?'

Of course the OP should be able to rust the info provided by the GP, however if I was to travel so far from home knowing that I needed specific medical care, I would want to speak to the place providing that care myself.

EduCated · 21/04/2013 17:26

fallon As far as I'm aware you aren't charged for treatment as a temporary resident? That's never been mentioned whenever I've been treated as a temp resident Confused

imour · 21/04/2013 17:28

yabu a&e is for exactly what it says accident or emergency , your problem was neither !