in thinking that some/alot of people go to A and E without a good reason

[ghostspirit]

im just wathing 24 hours in a&e and a mum took her child to hospital because he has hayfever. also i see loads of posters at bus stops it says things like have a back ache, see your GP do not do to a&e. seen a few other similar things. is this because there are a lot of people going to hospital when they don't need to or is it just a general thing to make people more aware.

Pharmacist is usually our first port of call, then gp. We very rarely go to a&e (just polishing my halo!). My mum was a radiographer and many of her friends were doctors, so she made sure that we grew up understanding that you don't waste doctors' time. In later years that included all HCPs.

I was shocked when, once married, I found how easily dh would want to call an ambulance, but he's learnt!

Having said that, we took dd to a&e last week as I couldn't even get through to the surgery and she'd been sent home from school with instructions to get her seen "today". It was only a badly strained shoulder muscle, but it affects her whole back and is very painful. She now has a sling - a much better one than I would have done for her at home - and I suspect the surgery wouldn't have been able to see her that day even if I'd been able to get through.

I feel guilty about it, though.

Some do misuse A&E, but I'm afraid it is true that people can't get GP appointments. It depends where you live, but seems to be getting worse.

Because of targets some GPs now tell you they won't make you an appointment now, but call again in 2-3 days and they will make one then for a later date.

Another factor is that an illness that turned out to be nothing might have looked worse when you set off to A&£. Especially true with children when it's hard to tell what's going on.

There are also a lot of things that might not be life threatening but need to be seen to promptly. There have been times I would have been happy to just see a nurse or someone with first aid training, but it comes down to the GP in a week or so or A&E now.

Mostly I fix things myself, but I shouldn't have to.

My daughter had an ear infection that burst her eardrum and made it discharge. This was on a Saturday night of a bank holiday. I don't drive so took her on the 4 bus journeys, with a fever and no coat (we weren't at home when it burst when I diverted my plans) to our nearest walk in centre. She needed antibiotics. It was 3 buses and 1hour and a half home.

They refused to see her on the basis that they shut in 1hour and half and have too many people to see. My nearest A&E is 15min walk from my home. I could have gone there. I told them and they said I should have.

I told them to call an ambulance to take us to A&E (Also 3 buses away) then because my daughter had been through enough and was now too sick, too feverish and too cold (without coat) to move anywhere else. And they agreed, bottling out at the last minute and seeing here.

So they gave her a prescription . It was by now 10:30pm. I refused to move again and despite protestations that they hadn't any antibiotics onsite they somehow found some.

Forgot to say, my daughter was 5.

I'm always shocked at how often dp's family go to the gp! I don't think they are that bad like that with a&e but with the gp they're a nightmare.

Unbelievable Mosthighly! Ambulances are not there because you can't be bothered to get 3 buses, a burst ear drum does not make someone too sick to get a bus, or even a taxi! Can't believe it!

The A&E thing is a very complex problem, I think the 'broken fingernail' type complaints, while they make good TV, are few and far between. It's knock-on pressure from deficiency in other primary care areas and slow admissions to hospital mostly IMO.

Walk-in centres were taking the pressure off for a bit, but then loads got closed down as they were too expensive.

I used our local one for eg 5yo DD crying in pain with urinary infection (6pm on a Friday); 2yo DS with suspected chest infection on top of his suspected asthma (3pm on a Sunday) - outside GP hours but can't really wait till Monday either so without walk-in, probably A&E visit.

Last time we used 999 was when DS had croup, possibly you would class us as timewasters for doing that, but when your suspected asthmatic 3yo comes staggering into you at 2am unable to breathe and making horrible gasping sounds, and his inhaler does nothing... I'd challenge you to sit back and say, oh he's probably ok, we'll phone the GP in the morning.

well the last time I took dc to minor injuries I was told to go to a&e because they had a) no x-ray facilities b) won't do stitches
which is sort of the whole point of minor injuries with small dc imo

I was open mouthed once at an 18 yr old who had pulled a muscle playing football, knew he had pulled a muscle, was walking fine, not in rnough pain to have even taken a paracetamol, but his dad wanted him to get checked out (his dad was there and could see he was fine).
I got very angry at a man who repeatedly called an ambulance for toothache.... An ambulance!!!! And we are not the dentist!

I also agree that a lot of people attend a and e who could and would see their gp, but can't get in because appointments are clogged with colds etc.

I've also heard that lots of families aren't registered with a GP. I thought they all had to offer you an appointment within either 48 hours if it's urgent or within 2 weeks now? Another point - a trip to the A&E at our local hospital costs the NHS/us as taxpayers at least £450.

Raith your stories make me scumbags especially compo woman

I don't know if people overuse it, but I believe it from what HCPs are saying on here. However, I have the opposite guilt - 2 weeks ago I didn't take my two year old two A and E but did get him an OOH appointment after he was sent home from nursery with a very high temperature. The rash came out in the waiting room. He had fucking meningitis and it went suddenly from me thinking "I hope I'm not wasting their time" to blue lights and sirens. The hospital staff were amazing. He is now recovered. It was the most terrifying thing I've ever experienced.

5yo DD crying in pain with urinary infection (6pm on a Friday); 2yo DS with suspected chest infection on top of his suspected asthma (3pm on a Sunday) - outside GP hours but can't really wait till Monday either so without walk-in, probably A&E visit.

why would you not phone your OOH GP?

Caspo my daughter was extremely sick, in pain with a temperature over 40 and floppy. It was 8:30 when we got there and it was supposed to shut at 11pm. The walk in centre triaged her and said she needed urgent treatment but that we would not get to see the doctor who would give it to her, despite travelling for 2 hours to get to the walk-in centre well before closing. For some reason I wasn't given they had decided to shut at the non-published time of 10pm.

She could not travel another 1.5 hours in the cold. We even had to walk 20mins to get to the first bus. She couldn't do it. I hadn't come from home so hadn't enough money to fund a taxi or else I might have done that. I didn't expect that I would have to.

We were TOLD to go to A&E and we could have done that in the first place with a lot less hassle and misery. But the walk-in centre was the most appropriate use of NHS services and it took an incredible amount of effort to get her there.

The point is, in that same situation again would I make the effort to get to the walk-in, or would I just go to A&E?

ghost did the gp sort the pulled elbow?
I had a 4.5 hour wait Saturday night in a&e with dd2 and pulled elbow.
Annoying as I knew what it was as dd3 has had it before, an hour later a nurse said she was fairly sure it was that but still had to wait another 3.5 hours for the doctor to pop it back in..
Wouldn't have had the choice of gp at 6pm on Saturday though.
Although I did knock on my doctor friends door but she was out unfortunately.
A&E was absolutely packed people were sitting on the floor.
As a pp said lots of people seemed to have their entire family with them. You never know the circumstances but seems odd to me to have both parents plus siblings there too.

Was waiting in Minor Injuries a couple of weeks back (with what turned out to be a fracture! promise!), and saw a couple of men who were in before me go back up to the receptionist and ask, loudly, how much longer they'd be waiting for A&E. Didn't hear receptionist's reply but it was clearly longer than they were hoping.

Man #1: "All right, we'll make an appointment for this time tomorrow."
Receptionist: [mumble, presumably "er, no".]
Man #2: "Never mind. We'll just get some disinfectant."

And they left.

Eh?

TooHasty our OOH runs through 111, so you have to hang on for ages, and answer 300 irrelevant questions before they say 'a doctor will phone you back within 12 hours' or if you fit the right algorithm 'go to A&E'... TBH I have lost all confidence in our OOH service.

When it looks like your DC has reached the stage where they need to be seen by someone medical within the next few hours, OOH is very much not the way to go.

Unless you are medically trained it's hard to tell at 3am what is a medical emergency or an outpatients appointment with some things. Especially if it's a young child.

Flu like symptoms which have been going for a while, abdominal pain, chest pain can all be something minor or something very serious better to be safe than sorry I say.

OOH were the way to go for us - the first antibiotic injection was administered immediately there and they had the ambulance with us to get to the hospital in less than five minutes. They saved my son's life.

a relative of mine either has the world's sickliest child (he is not) or misuses A&E. She took him there once because he had a cough! Just a 'after a cold' cough. Nothing serious. I thought she was joking. Recently she called an ambulance because he fell off the bed he was jumping on, hit his nose and had a massive nosebleed. he is 7, not 6 months.

It winds me up because people like this block ambulances for genuine cases. Another relative has a baby who has severe health issues. Baby was vomiting excessively and going blue as she could not breathe (complex underlying issues means this should not happen) and they struggled to get a swift ambulance...but it got there in time and baby in now in ICU.

Boulevard 'Last time we used 999 was when DS had croup, possibly you would class us as timewasters for doing that, but when your suspected asthmatic 3yo comes staggering into you at 2am unable to breathe and making horrible gasping sounds, and his inhaler does nothing...'

You were perfectly sensible, call away. That is a totally legitimate use of A&E, 999 ambulance and all resources. Although you suspect croup you dont know whats causing the airway issue - could be many other things, you dont mess about with a gasping wheezy child of that age: They need assessment in a brightly lit place with equipment to hand.

the woman on the other hand who walked into a&e with bunions and demanded they were 'fixed' there and then.....

Yeah, but the thing was that the paramedics have a steroid that essentially clears the croup in a few minutes, but you then have to go into hospital to make sure of correct diagnosis/no rebound once steroids wear off.

So cue DS arriving in hospital, in ambulance, but full of excitement and joy and NEW TOYS in the waiting room!!1!! I'm sure all the other parents waiting in A&E were wondering who the idiot mum with the perfectly healthy child was

My local ooh is phoning nhs direct and they're really good here. Yes,it usually involves answering a million questions and a dr phoning you back but if you need to be seen you are given an appointment within a few hours at the ooh centre (right next door to a&e here incidently),who can admit you straight to hospital if required. I've had to use them a couple of times in the last few years for genuine reasons (sudden onset of abdominal pain and fever once and what turned out to be bells palsy when pregnant) and had no problems.

Of course people can make a mistake but this is not just the odd mistakes turning up at A&E and it seems to be worsening so there is a huge battle to be fought educating people.

While there is a lack of GP appointments at some surgeries, that is also often down to inappropriate use of that service by some. I'm sure if GPs kept records of the daft things that take up their time and block these appointments up so others then end up going to A&E we would all be shocked at that too.

I love the NHS but one of the problems of healthcare that is free at the point of delivery is that, unfortunately a lot of people do not see the cost/value attached to GP appointments, medicines, A&E, etc. This means that some of them use the service indiscriminately. I don't know what the solution is as I hate the idea of charging but we don't seem to be winning the battle through education