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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to not understand why arriving at A+E in an ambulance gives you priority regardless to your injury?

156 replies

elfsmamma · 27/12/2013 19:51

We had the pleasure of spending this afternoon in A+E, dp had dislocated his shoulder.

Dp was in lots of pain, he couldn't walk, his arm was hanging down and he was crying, shaking and almost loosing consciousness.

We had to wait for ages, first for an x-ray and then for a Dr to give pain relief and eventually attempt to put the shoulder back in.

People kept saying to me "oh you should have called an ambulance, you would have been seen right away" "poor guy go and tell them he needs to be seen now"

When we eventually went in the lady in the next cubicle had bruised her foot, she had come in by ambulance so been taken directly in. She was happy as could be, chatting to us asking dp ( who couldn't speak easily) what was wrong with him.

Aibu to think that all patients should be judged on pain and severity of injury rather than method of arrival to casualty.

OP posts:
Lweji · 28/12/2013 12:37

Ah, there speaks someone who's never been in severe pain

Not sure what I said has to do with having been in pain before or not.
In fact, I've been to A&E with a cracked bone that hurt like hell, for about 4 hours, between arriving and being put a plaster.

FraidyCat · 28/12/2013 12:52

Anyone who complains about waiting unless medical negligence is occurring is a bit of a wanker really,

I don't think waits of several hours serve any useful purpose, therefore it is always reasonable to be annoyed by them. I don't buy into this attitude that we should be grateful for what we're given, and its not our place to have expectations about the quality of service.

Sirzy · 28/12/2013 12:54

they may not serve a useful purpose but often they are unavoidable especially if staff are dealing with an emergency

VivaLeBeaver · 28/12/2013 13:06

The only thing which annoys me a bit about a&e is the receptionists at our local one try and triage you before the nurse. Last time I went they advised me to go to OOH dr the other side of town. I ignored their advice and was admitted for a week severely ill!

Misspixietrix · 28/12/2013 13:15

viva she shouldn't have been advising you where to go if she wasn't medically qualified imo. Hope you are better now.

Misspixietrix · 28/12/2013 13:16

viva she shouldn't have been advising you where to go if she wasn't medically qualified imo. Hope you are better now.

Allergictoironing · 28/12/2013 13:48

Lweji it was your reference to giving paracetamol that seemed a little flippant; I'm sure that wouldn't have helped much with your elbow either!

VivaLeBeaver · 28/12/2013 13:48

I'm good now thanks.

She was very snotty with me when I politely declined her advise. Grin

VivaLeBeaver · 28/12/2013 13:48

Advice.

Misspixietrix · 28/12/2013 13:55

Oh they do. Ds once had a bad rash and the walk in centre sent us to A & E,got the whole neurotic parent vibe off both receptionist and Nurse until she lifted his top up and saw the rash for herself. I've never seen her scoop him up so swiftly and rush him through to the bed bays. Thankfully it was a false alarm but goes to show. Glad you are better now.

FraidyCat · 28/12/2013 14:27

they may not serve a useful purpose but often they are unavoidable especially if staff are dealing with an emergency

A&E exists to deal with emergencies, so I don't think "emergency" is usually a valid reason not to cope with level of demand. If there are four-hour waits every night of the week (or even only on weekends) that looks more like a planned shortfall in capacity, that could be solved by spending 2/5/10/[pick a number] times as much money. Most people may not be willing to spend more, but that doesn't meaning those who are willing are wankers for having different preferences. (See the original post I was responding to.)

ChestyNutRoastingOnAnOpenFire · 28/12/2013 14:34

Paracetamol for a dislocation?

I dislocated my shoulder and have never felt pain like it, too the point of vomiting and passing out.

12 hours before it was put back but morphine defiantly helped me stop wanting to shoot myself.

Hope DP is ok OP Thanks

Lweji · 28/12/2013 14:39

I didn't actually say that paracetamol would help with whatever disease. My comment was about pain relief that would only be given by doctors, not nurses.
And I only mentioned paracetamol to refer the type of pain relief that we could give ourselves without waiting for a doctor to give it.

The comment about me never having experienced really bad pain was the flippant one.

MrsDeVere · 28/12/2013 14:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
elfsmamma · 28/12/2013 19:33

Dp is recovering although he is unable to lift his arm above his head. I think we will wait until we get home todeal with it.

The country dp lives in has a 20--30 pound charge for A+E treatment, it means that you are seen much quicker because A+E isn't full of people who have bumped their foot or drunk too much.

I think the charge is great as it is a real deterrent to those people clogging up the system with ailments that could be delt with otherwise.

Dp was never taken further than triage, so his shoulder was put back in place whilst he was laid on a bed in the middle of a room with no curtain, no privacy, no respect. People were commenting as if it was an interesting spectacle, if you are well enough to speculate and comment on other patients conditions then you shouldn't have been put before them in my opinion.

OP posts:
ddubsgirl · 28/12/2013 19:56

I was taken by ambulance after being hit on the head by a brick in the summer and spent from 6.30pm till 5am before I was treated and was only given paracetamol for the pain result was I lost part of my ear as the flesh had died due to no blood supply was told I should have been taken to the local a&e as thats the major trauma center and has the plastic surgical team instead I was taken to worthing a&e

RudolphtheRedknowsraindear · 28/12/2013 20:01

I had a fall on a grassy slope & broke my ankle, sounds like nothing doesn't it. My foot was facing upside down & pointing backwards & my shin had slipped down to where my foot should have been. It soon swelled to the size of a rugby ball.
The ambulance, then the helicopter arrived: I had no idea how bad it was. I was flown into major trauma A&E & taken straight into xray, feeling very guilty because xray was so busy that people were queuing & standing. After xray I was taken into a cubicle where the orthopaedic registrar was waiting for me, Along with a couple of beefy looking male nurses.
At this point, the nurse suggested that my DH take my DC outside & that the waiting room wouldn't be far enough. It was when they decided on the local shopping centre as being far enough to get me some overnight things that I thought, "ooh, not good!"
Anyway, they gave me 3 puffs of gas & air, held me down & pulled the dislocation out, (I did scream), plastered me up, put my leg up on a contraption to keep it elevated to get the swelling down so that they could operate. I was in hospital for 10 days.
I had smashed & dislocated my ankle, broken the end off my shin & the end off my heel. I need a fusion operation & will never walk properly or run ever again.
I had not realised just how bad it was. Since then I've had breast cancer & a mastectomy.
I am so thankful for our wonderful NHS staff: Drs, nurses, orderlies & porters. You are all wonderful & work extremely hard.
I think that a lot of concerns stem from mistrust that is sparked & fanned by the media. NHS staff have saved my foot & my life & I would now go with decisions they make, they do know what they're doing.

Anyoneforacheckup · 28/12/2013 20:25

It's all about the media...about time they were held accountable for scaring everyone silly and misreporting things and scaremongering

VivaLeBeaver · 28/12/2013 20:30

Paracetamol for a dislocated shoulder doesn't seem enough.

I used to work in a mud hut hospital in Africa and was taught to put shoulders back in. I used to stab people with ketamine to knock them out before doing it. However I have no real medical training so maybe that's not best practice? I can pop a shoulder back into place really well though. Grin

ToffeeOwnsTheSausage · 28/12/2013 20:36

It doesn't mean you get seen quicker. DD has been taken to hospital twice by ambulance, once an emergency, once not really necessary and both times she had to wait to be seen. I was just grateful she was actually in the right hospital since the first crew took us to a hospital that couldn't treat her Hmm.

lookatmybutt · 28/12/2013 21:01

I'm actually terrified of going to my local a&e now. Last time I was in there, there was a guy with a dislocated shoulder. The doctor came to boot him out saying he was fine, he said: "Does this look fine?" whipped off his blanket to show an obviously disclocated shoulder. He'd already been there many hours and I presume they had given him morphine. He was told to come back the next day because they were too busy - I didn't even see them try to pop it back in for him.

Another guy was screaming in pain for well over an hour - puking and howling. The nurse kept telling him to shut up and that he was making a fuss over nothing. It turned out to be peritonitis. I felt so bad for him, at least when the doc turned up she gave him morphine or something and was NOT impressed by the awful nurse's attitude.

'Lucky' for me, I was admitted with my problem which turned out to be minor in comparison. I'd nearly snuffed it about a month before, so it was related to that, but I was not about to snuff it when I went to a&e (as far as I know, they don't always tell you).

Rachelicious · 28/12/2013 21:26

I've gone in before for collapsing from a migraine. Got driven there by a friend and had to wait 2 hours before being seen. I probably looked perfectly fine but was in agony. You can't judge someone's situation just by looking at them there could have been someone worse off than your dh that needed to be seen

ChestyNutRoastingOnAnOpenFire · 28/12/2013 22:50

viva the thought of putting a shoulder back in makes me feel queasy.
I went to theatre to have mine put back in.

Did the ketamine render them unconscious?

look that sounds horrendous Sad

Original poster
elfsmamma · 28/12/2013 22:57

I just don't understand why people in the UK can't pay just a tiny bit more tax and get a decent emergency service.

I am very tempted to learn how to put a shoulder back into place, dp has dislocated his shoulder before and managed to put it back by himself, I really think my armature attempt in the middle of nowhere would have caused dp less pain than the wait he had.

OP posts:
VivaLeBeaver · 28/12/2013 23:08

Yes, knocked out with the ketamine.

Then spend a couple of hours wailing like the undead as they slowly come back round.