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.

but they always perk up in the waiting room : its the first rule of childrens A&E! Ive had DS with sats in the mid 80s make a serious attempt to get up and go into the playhouse when we arrived in the exciting brightly coloured room of toys. You were still not wasting ambulance or A&E time

Great that the steroid treatment cleared it up, and that it was just croup - but you dont have these things at home and cant tell thats all you need at 2am and the paramedics report on the initial state of your child when they arrived at your house/the need for treatment proves that you were not overreacting.

I got told off by an a+e rda few years ago for going. I'd had a funny feeling in my throat for a few days and woke up on a Sunday morn feeling like my throat was closing up and a horrible choking feeling. I was scared so went to a and e and got told off and sent home with nothing.

Rda ? Should have said dr!

We're 'frequent flyers' (DH and DB have hypermobility so we're often in to get a limb put back in to socket, and I have a chronic health condition - so all legitimate reasons) and my favorite thing is to people watch nosey We live in a city with a high tourist trade and lot's of overseas students that may not be entitled to free GP care, so they attempt to get round it by turning up at A&E. It's ridiculous, but often good for a distraction listening to some of them elaborating their illness when they realise the staff are on to them - full on wailing suddenly, holding different body parts to the one they said hurt originally, all so they can get through to see the doctor free of charge.

I phoned my GP Monday morning at 8 as woke up with severe back pain (had a fall off a horse a week or two back and then on Saturday felt something "go" but def. not an A & E case)
Anyway got offered a GP appt for 9.30 on Monday (found out it was a pulled muscle in the end happily no severe damage)

I've never in my life called an ambulance, and I can't think of a time when anybody I know has either.

I think of them as a life or death thing. I live in a city though so would get a taxi no bother if I needed one.

I did take my DS to the kids A&e once because he cried. He was about ten months old. He was fast asleep when the dr saw him, he had to gently wake him! I felt so bloody embarrassed but I think parents of babies are allowed one free pass to medical stupidity. The doc was so lovely about it. To be fair, we did wait ages and other cases were seen much quicker as they were actually emergencies.

Worked in A and E 10 years ago. I remember a woman in her 40s who came in with a tear in the tip of her very long false nail. It was in the good old days when we could triage and prioritise clinical urgency. Amazingly she waited over 4 hours and was seen at 5 am. She refused my offer to cut the nail and so I steri stripped it and suggested she see an emergency nail technician in the morning. She seemed genuinely surprised that I couldn't sort the nail there.

my DD had a small splinter in her foot and I was told to leave it as it would eventually ease out. It didn't and got infected, couldn't get a GP appointment so was told by our GP to go to A&E, waited five hours to be seen, they were so cross we'd been told by our GP to go to A&E as it was something he could have dealt with. I can never ever get through to get an appointment to see my GP and I know it is the same for a lot of people so they head for A&E. Such a waste of resources.

Last time I was in A&E I overheard a conversation between 2 people who'd bumped into each other there. One had brought in his dd with a rash that they felt wasn't taken seriously enough by GP. The other replied, don't bother with GPs, just come straight here, these doctors know what they're doing.
I was

My maternity unit told me to go to A&E yesterday for something which needed attention (but couldn't be classes as an emergency) because they 'won't see anyone until they get to 18 weeks'
Sat looking around me, wondering how many other people had been shunted there from other departments...

I have called an ambulance once. Late at night, walking home, tripped walking off kerb. I knew straight away I had done something. As it turned out I had shattered my ankle & spent 3 months in plaster.

The NHS is amazing, I think people take it for granted. I had 3 days in hospital getting my ankle put back together, I lost my job (low paid casual work like so many people) & was entitled to no sick pay.

I shudder to think how my family would have coped with me losing my job & having to pay medical bills, it was awful enough as it was

I know someone who went to a&e after she burnt her mouth with a chip. Woman in her 40s.

I ended up in A and E with DD aged 18 months, she had a purpuric rash (the kind that doesn't clear with the glass test) and had been sent there via 111 and the out of hours docs. The thing is, DD was absolutely fine in herself and just had the rash on her legs (so not even visible to casual onlookers).

The last time I was in A and E was for severe abdominal pain that codeine didn't even touch. I had had a colonoscopy a short while before, so we figured better safe than sorry (colonoscopy leaflet tells you there is a risk of ruptured bowel and any pain/bleeding is an emergency). Once at the hospital I had severe sudden diarrhoea and felt better, but by then doctors had triaged me, decided that my heart rate was irregular and stuck me on an ECG, and taken bloods. Meanwhile I was feeling much better and slightly bemused by the whole thing.

So that's why I ended up in A and E on 2 occasions with no serious complaint. The thing is, they could have been serious.

In 20 years in A&E have seen everything, from women who burnt her mouth on hot chips, lonely people, to a6 year old who's dad thought he just had a cold, had a severe form of croup, oxygen levels50%, close to death. They'd driven about for 40 min looking for the ooh centre. Have never told off parents bringing in a child because I would always rather they came as children can deteriorate so quickly. If only the drug addict couple having a lovely time getting high had noticed how sick their little boy was I wouldn't have had to try, and fail, to resuscitate a 2 year old.
So be sensible everybody but if you know something is wrong, get it seen!

I've ended up in A&E for a car allergy. I knew it was a cat allergy, I told the pharmacist it was a cat allergy. They refused me antihistamines in case it was a damaged cornea. The optician I managed to see also refused to help (by confirming lack of damaged cornea). In order to get bloody piriton I had to see an emergency doctor, which is difficult in rural Suffolk.
Next time I will accost a random stranger and ask them to buy me the bloody piriton!

I've called an ambulance 3 times at work

First time one of the guys working in the warehouse fell off a ladder and his ankle shattered, bone through the skin -bleurgh!

2nd a customer caught his head on some Perspex and ripped a flap of his scalp open that was bigger than my hand

3rd a guy was discovered lying on the warehouse floor, screaming, screwing his face up, groaning, couldn't talk -ladders and forklift about so as the first aider I made the decision to treat it as a potential spinal.
Called an ambulance, sat on the floor with him for 20 minutes, holding his hand and trying to calm him down while he kept moving his hand to the small of his back and moaning
Ambulance came and saw right through him.

He had a bladder infection and was out of hospital in about 3 hours

I was absolutely livid, seeing him like that had really distressed me ??

I've never called an ambulance for me or my family though despite broken bones, rashes, high temperatures and septic arthritis

That was the right decision though - you couldn't tell what had happened to him and playing safe if there was a possibility of a spinal injury was the right thing to do.

I think my last visit to A&E was with dd2. Out of nowhere she was having an allergic reaction. This started when I was out of the house and dh was in. He gave piriton and then I got home about an hour later. What had been a rash on one part of her body was then an expanding rash all over her and showing signs of swelling despite the piriton. So I took her to A&E and went through OOH which is also in the department. I took her because I had no idea what she was reacting to and if she was going to run in to serious problems I wanted to be in a medical environment. Previously we've been with a pulled elbow, a nasty hole in a foot and a being sick about 30 minutes after a fall at nursery having previously been well.

Last night alone,1) sore feet from wearing shoes that were too tight (and they knew that was why) , 2) Back ache, had for six months, taken no pain relief, 3) child with seriously minor nosebleed, think microscopic trickle, 4) Feeling sick, well drinking too much does tend to cause this
and that's just the ones the receptionist told me about, it doesn't include the ones we were called out to via 999 and left at home. Only one call last night even vaguely warranted a 999 call, there wasn't even one I could say was a 'well they were scared and didn't know what else to do' call. All but one were left at home.
That means there were a lot of calls that had to wait for an ambulance who could have done with one quicker.

I should say that my kids never seem to need medical attention between 8-6. The exception to that was the pulled elbow but that needed an x-ray anyway.

mrsleomcgary that's exactly the same system where we are. OOH is call 111 who call you back & if necessary you go to an appointment at OOH clinic in hospital.

Only done it once with DD when her feverish cold came out in a rash developing over just a few hours (Sunday). Very reassuring to get it checked but would have felt like a fraud taking her to A&E. Our village surgery is excellent & even though it's only part time they always slot children in at end of surgery for emergency appointments.

I've only used an ambulance once, dd had dislocated her kneecap and I couldn't physically move her. My dB is a paramedic, they do a fabulous job.

hi 'girls' yes the gp was able to sort out my daughters pulled elbow.

my teenager had a really bad water infection once. of course never knew it was that at the time. she was screaming in pain looked rather horrible. i phoned for advice they sort of talked to my daughter between the screaming/crying. and wanted to send an ambulance. there were not any available so they sent a cab instead. she was in hospital for 4 nights.

Was at the walk-in the other day with my eldest who had been unwell for several days and wasn't eating or drinking. 1 1/2 hours later the nurse who saw him said 'I've seen literally hundreds of people today but you're the first one who actually needed to be here'. It really does make you wonder...