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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to hate a and e?

271 replies

Fuckingforriner · 22/04/2014 15:53

I'm waiting at the a and e in at the moment and I hate it.
I have a toddler who loves to scream all the time and I have everyone looking at me as if I can stop the toddler from screaming.

I've got an earache since Friday and when I tried to get to my GP today I was offered a telephone appointment. My phone rang three times and they hanged up as I was picking up the phone.

I'm in a lot of pain and when I get to the reception I found a rude woman who happen to be a nurse. I might be wrong but I noticed she was friendlier to other patients, maybe she didn't like my face, but I can't help thinking it's because I'm a fucking foreigner.

OP posts:

NurseyWursey · 23/04/2014 00:07

tilly the onus is on you as a person to make the call. If it came to it, I would rather they saw GP and be wrong and have to be refered to A&E rather than go straight to A&E and it potentially not be an A&E case. Because I'm betting 9/10 it doesn't need to be referred. If you think it's GP worthy, go. But if you think 'I may as well go to A&E in case I get sent anyway' that's ridiculous.

A&E is for emergencies. It is being continually and consistently mistreated. Meaning people are getting sub standard care.

DustyCropHopper · 23/04/2014 00:13

NurseyWursey I realise now that it was an emergency, but at the time I felt like I was wasting resources as it didn't feel like it was an a and e type of thing. I am very aware of abuse of resources. While I was waiting in the minors part of a and e for the ENT to come and look at ds1 I overheard the nurses talking about a patient who had phoned for an ambulance because his earring had become infected (ear lobe had swollen and earring needed to be removed). Obviously that is a waste of resources, get a lift, a bus, a taxi, not an ambulance.
However, on another thread on here, someone who has hurt there foot was told to go to their GP by other posters. In my area (at least at my doctors surgery) the doctor would refuse to treat or even look at a hurt foot, it is an accident so out of their 'remit' and send you to minor injuries. My mum had a fall outside our doctors surgery, people took her inside, she was told she could not see a doctor, if she needed any treatment (reluctant to even give her something to hold the graze) she would need to walk to the minor injuries unit 10 mins walk away. So minor injuries would be the right place for a bumped and bruised foot, but that seemed to be consider a waste of resources by some on that thread.
In the OP's case I would not have gone to A and E, I would probably have continued with pain killers and trying the dr and may have used the ooh service as a very last resort.

HappydaysArehere · 23/04/2014 00:17

Actually severe earache needs to be attended to in order to reduce risk of long term damage but the GP or out of hours service is the way to go. I can't understand how you could sustain a long wait at A andE with a crying child while nursing a full blown ear infection. It's right up there with toothache. Migraine etc. Hope all is well.

Nennypops · 23/04/2014 00:29

But distance and childcare issues is not the nhs responsibility. We can't use the services that are easiest for us for that reason.

I've pointed out more than once that I have never once suggested that childcare is NHS responsibility. But, to an extent, distance is. If the NHS doesn't provide accessible GP services and the only walk-in centre is 90 minutes away, the NHS doesn't get to shrug its collective shoulders and say "Sorry, OP, your fault for not living closer to our walk-in centre, push off and die".

Nenny, I get the feeling if I said the sky was blue you would disagree with me. I will leave you to it. Night.

Perfectly happy to agree with you if you will put forward a reasoned and evidenced case for blaming OP for going to A&E with a potentially serious and very painful condition. After all, I've explained at some length that I entirely agree that A&E is not for trivial conditions. But, goodnight.

TillyTellTale · 23/04/2014 00:32

If it came to it, I would rather they saw GP and be wrong and have to be refered to A&E rather than go straight to A&E and it potentially not be an A&E case.

Yes, I understand that. Most normal people are of that line of thought, and will see the GP first.

My query is with the idea that if you would rather check with the GP first, then it can't be serious enough for you to decide to visit A&E if there is no GP available. Because it doesn't reflect the life I know, of people who always try the GP first, and then would rethink what to do if they couldn't get to the GP.

Some things are "wait until tomorrow/the day after tomorrow/next week" and some things are "I really need someone to look at this today". But if you wanted a GP to see it first, that doesn't mean they have to be "wait until tomorrow/the day after tomorrow". Sometimes "I really need someone to look at this today" is the right option.

dontknowwhattodo11 · 23/04/2014 00:51

I haven't read any the posts so may be replying too soon.

I had to go to A&E a few weeks ago with severe stomach pain, and I mean severe. I had a 36 hour labour with my son and would gladly do that again before having this pain. Turns out I have gallstones and was admitted to the wards for a week before being sent home as they were too busy to remove it, but anyway...

I had to sit in agony for 13 hours before being seen as it was so busy, so yes although you are in pain I do think you could have phoned and went to an out of hours doctor instead of an Emergency Department.

Arkina · 23/04/2014 01:34

Misuse of A&E drives me nuts. Almost as much as misuse of ambulances. Im a police despatcher and I was night shift last weekend. The number of calls we get for people 'demanding' an ambulance for nonsense is unreal. Then they get to A&E and wonder why the waiting time is so high. Thatll be because the place is full of time wasters.

musicalendorphins2 · 23/04/2014 02:09

Fuckingforriner I've only read the first 15 or 20 replies, so please excuse if this has been suggested already.
Ear infections can be really unbearably painful. Even Tylenol 3's (Prescription Paracetamol with codeine) didn't do more than take the edge off a little bit.

In the meanwhile, I am not in the UK, but here you can buy Polysporin antibiotic eye drops that you can use in your ear until you can get a proper prescription for antibiotics and strong painkillers. Also, try a warm wet washcloth held against your ear. I put a hot pack inside the washcloth to keep it hot for a while, or you could use a hot water bottle wrapped in a wet warm washcloth. A decongestant and drinking ginger tea, which is also a decongestant, may help.
I hope you get some relief soon.

RachaelAgnes · 23/04/2014 02:15

I have been sat in A&E from 3pm til 10pm, when I was admitted to a ward (continued asthma attacks).
The staff, from paramedics to consultants have been astounding (and as I spent the first 2hrs in corridor - whilst being treated - rather than a cubicle, I saw a lot)
I would also like to say that a screaming child, whilst trying to deal with an asthma attack would not do much to help me calm!!

NCISaddict · 23/04/2014 09:49

I had a severe ear infection when I was eight months pregnant so couldn't even take really strong pain killers, the pain was worse than any labour I've had but I found the best thing for it,( until I could get to see my GP) was a hot water bottle wrapped up, which I put my head on. The ear drum burst at 4.00am and I still remember the relief.

StillStayingClassySanDiego · 23/04/2014 10:08

Perhaps we shall never know the outcome of this.

Did she stay and get medical attention?
Did she leave and see a pharmacist?
Did the toddler stop screaming?
Did she complain about the perceived racism?

Are you better OP?

So many questions?

MeerkatTargaryen · 23/04/2014 10:26

Wow! Just wow! You went to A&E with an earache? The deduced they were racist when your toddler was running around screaming and disrupting the place. There were really sick people there btw. No wonder they didn't take too kindly to your screaming kid.

I went to A&E on Monday night. I got bitten by my mum's cat. I felt stupid saying i was there for a cat bite but it was a really bad one about an inch long and really deep and wouldn't stop bleeding. I had to have a tetanus booster and a week of antibiotics. It was infected by the next morning so it was actually an emergency in hindsight. I'm a nurse and assessed myself i needed to go. I felt bad going when I needed to be there when I had kidney stones but again, I needed to be there.

Earache? GP! Wait until the next day or call out of hours GP. They do have them.

YABVU with knobs on!

TillyTellTale · 23/04/2014 12:51

I expect she hid the thread.

Meanwhile, there's a thread lower down the page from a woman with just-started tonsillitis, which she thinks is bacterial, and she's asking if she's entitled to demand to see a doctor for an antibiotic prescription today. So far, MN has said SINBU and needs to start the antibiotics as quickly as possible.

CorusKate · 23/04/2014 12:54

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

NurseyWursey · 23/04/2014 12:56

Tilly erm why are you trying to compare those two? As CorusKate said she was asking for an urgent GP appointment - which she is entitled to to but her in front of those going with lesser problems that don't need treating as quickly.

CorusKate · 23/04/2014 13:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TillyTellTale · 23/04/2014 13:05

Because in this case there was no urgent GP appointment available, and the ear had been painful since Friday. So yesterday was the fifth day, already,

Sirzy · 23/04/2014 13:12

So you go to ooh, walk in centre or even the pharmacist. A and E isn't the answer to no GP appointment

Cerisier · 23/04/2014 13:21

When DD age 14 woke in the early morning of a Friday public holiday crying with the pain from an ear infection we went straight to the 24 hour walk in GP clinic attached to a local hospital. It cost about GBP200 for the consultation, pain killers and antibiotics.

What are you expected to do in such a situation in the UK? Just suck it up for 3 days until the GP is open? Surely not. I don't think the OP was unreasonable to go and get it sorted out as earache can be excruciating and dangerous.

TillyTellTale · 23/04/2014 13:23

As I've said before, OoH on Saturday would probably have been the best option, rather than soldiering on until her surgery reopened. But she tried to wait. Apparently the OH is 1 and a half hours away, though, there was no walk-in centre, and we have no reason to suppose that her local Boots employs an independent prescriber/whatever they call pharmacists who can prescribe.

And she did phone up to ask first.

NurseyWursey · 23/04/2014 13:31

I've just been at A&E (not working) and a woman went in with toothache. When asked if she'd seen a dentist her answer was 'no'. When asked what she'd taken for it 'nothing'.

My mind boggles.

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