To hate the phrase 'rushed to hospital'.

[HMOD]

Whenever I see it, I can't help but think 'Yeah but only to sit in the A&E waiting room for three hours with a cut finger/split lip'...hardly the stuff of gripping Casualty episodes.

Seems like people say it to make a situation sound more dramatic than it actually is! And as for checking in on Facebook at 'Local Hospital'...do not get me started.

Am I being unreasonable?

It's okay, Kew. I didn't realise how sick she was. Actually didn't until about 2 weeks later, tbh.

After DS was 'bluelighted' I almost needed the ready bed next to him, you care definitely rushed when you cover a 45 min journey in 20

Resus bed not ready bed, I got one if those

"rushed" should only be in a blue light situation.

I've been blue lighted once.

And once "rushed" (immediate transfer) by Air Ambulance between hospitals 120 miles apart. Wish I'd been with it enough to enjoy - I was out of it on pethedine with a painful pregnancy complication!

I agree - rushed is when you go in an ambulance or there is a lot of urgency.

I work in A&E and the people I most often hear telling their relatives that they were 'rushed in' are the people who shouldn't have called an ambulance in the first place and/or the people who the paramedics had tried to persuade to stay at home, but had insisted on being taken to hospital. They have usually waited at home for several hours for the unnecessary ambulance, and often the ambulance has been followed to hospital by the patient's nearest and dearest, in a perfectly adequate car. I rarely hear those who were genuinely rushed in making reference to their method of arrival at hospital as they're usually too ill.

'Blue-lighted' actually means something though, if I am requesting an ambulance for an urgent transfer to a critical care facility in another hospital I will ask control for a blue light response. This term suggests someone with appropriate training has judged the patient's condition as requiring treatment with some urgency.

He is fine thank you. He had eye drops, two lots of IV antibiotics and a five day stay in hospital. For the first few days they wer really concerned about him losing his sight in one or both eyes. He can still see, but his sight will never be great, he will never be able to watch 3D films or judge distances very well! He can see though!

:( expat

expatinscotland thinking of you.

our dd was ' blue lighted' after a fatal accident abroad, we were in the UK and found out by the Internet first and later in a text.

we had no idea if she was dead or alive for hours until the consulate phoned and ironically the police knocked on our door at the same time. like buses they came together.

yanbu op but some people love a drama but like lots of other posters, we have had our fill to be honest.

my daughter was 'rushed to hospital' once. the ambulance did the seven-minute journey in three minutes. she arrived at theatre with two to three minutes to live.
they saved her.
i am grateful to God and to the NHS and that it was Monday morning at 8-9am and not any other time of the week.

I don't hate it,For most folk any unplanned hospital treatment is scary

FeatherBag DD has been rushed in a few times (unstable Asthmatic). I know what you mean about the Blue Light transfer too. I wish I didn't. :( DM had life threatening complications from a simple op. Hospital quite blase about it saying they were transferring her to specialists and that the Blue Lights were mainly procedure. It wasn't until she got to the other hospital and the Surgeons came out to speak to her did she then realise how ill she was. She was also 'rushed' into theatre. I.e being prepped there and then and spent 7hrs on the operating table that night. Very very scary. Now when ever I see an ambulance with their lights on heading that way (she's still in) I'm forever wondering if that was a transfer and praying in earnest for them too.

I was given a lift home to my parents' house from a police Christmas party in a squad car. At the end of the road they turned the lights and siren on.

My, how my parents laughed. And how I sobered up.

I hate "released from hospital" too - NO - people are reaped from prison but discharged from hospital

Reaped was supposed to have been released - shades of Soylent Green there!

When I was taken to hospital recently the paramedic said I would be 'blue-lighted' so to me that does mean rushed.

I have been admitted several times for the same reason (haemorrhaging in late pregnancy), several times someone drove me, was rushed in the sense that it was hurried, but not urgent/critical enough to warrant an ambulance.

So sorry, thebody.

The irritant is when people use it to over dramatize an ordinary occurrence. A sprained ankle, a bad cut, a minor burn etc, all painful and not something I would wish on anyone, but they do not require the melodramatic language some use to describe, invariably on FB. "It was so painful! I had to be rushed up to A&E but thankfully it was only a sprain" followed by some crap about how it was the worst sprain the doctor had seen and how impressed the doctor was with how they handled the pain..... Then on further questioning it turns out they made such a fuss that an ambulance was called, who were not impressed and they still have to wait 4 hours in A&E to be seen by the minor injuries nurse who gave them a tubigrip and 2 paracetamol!

DS was having severe breathing problems but it was the last Saturday before Xmas (he was 5 weeks old) and the ambulance service said "If you can drive there then you will probably get there quicker than we can get to you" so I did. I went through every red light I came across (it was about 11pm luckily) and got there in 4 minutes, the ambulance service had called ahead for me and it probably saved his life.

Then again I was taken to hospital after being sent there by the GP. ExDH drove me and there was no rush about it. I subsequently almost died as my appendix had burst, so you cant always tell what is serious and what isnt.

Both times v serious, neither time was a blue light involved!

At work we used to call the hospital for condition reports. There were five. I don't remember them all except that 'poorly' sounded really soothing but actually meant: at death's door.

'Comfortable' was a good one to have. After speaking to the hospital, a colleague described someone who'd been in an road accident as such.

Some weeks later she got an angry call from the woman, who said: 'Comfortable? I had a broken pelvis, leg broken in five places and three broken ribs. I wasn't fucking comfortable.'

We were banned from saying hospitalised. Actually, I didn't need to be told. It's horrible. Like burglarised.

I particularly like when the newspaper report that someone, say, fainted in court and had to "be rushed to A&E to be treated for shock". That means, that we made them a cup of sweet tea and a slice of toast!

It does depend on the context and severity of the situation I think. My friend's baby was very ill just after birth and was already halfway to a specialist hospital while my friend was still coming off the medication. She had to travel in the back of her DPs car, not knowing how ill the baby really was. Luckily he's fine now, but ambulances don't use the blue lights and sirens for nothing so it does seem to minimise the urgency of some situations when other people say they were 'rushed' in for minor reasons.

I always feel sadder when I see blue lights and no sirens, I was told by a doctor that could mean that a smooth ride is better than a fast one, say for a heart attack or spinal patient, or a baby in an incubator. When I see an ambulance I always hope it's a woman in labour.

There are times when an ambulance might not be faster though so people have been known to rush themselves in. In which case the term is also justified. DM had a nasty fall and an ambulance was called, she had a minor head injury but also multiple pre-existing physical and mental health conditions so it was impossible to get her there ourselves. There was no rushing about it, but I'd have hated for other people to assume we were wasting NHS time.

That's another classic FB attention seeking status e.g. "Just rushed to hospital, so worried". Cue loads of "what's up Hun?" "Anything I can do let me know babe". Then after the suitable length of time and number of posts, the poster comes back to inform us all that little Jonny had stubbed his toe or some other minor accident