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.

I find it hard to believe that anyone would knowingly go andsit somewhere cold/uncomfortable/no wifi/no food for several hours if they could avoid it!

I can't thank the doctors enough for what they do to my son who has asthma, he can get seriously unwell within hours and does need to be seen when he gets ill.

For me it means staying up all night/taking time off work and then having to work the next day or cancel things I want to do but what choice is there?

I can't help thinking that some of the inappropriate A&E/ambulance users are people with MH problems - and that there is such poor support and treatment for MH in the health service that all sorts of antisocial behaviour results.

Obviously that's not every case, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's a significant proportion.

I had a period of taking DC1 and DC2 to A&E (well, to the out-of-hours GP based in the same unit). They always got ill on a Friday night/Saturday morning. In the end (over a year later) it surfaced that there was an underlying medical condition, which has been resolved. But before that, we sometimes got treated rather crossly. It's been years since then, and have never been there since - but for a while I was a frequent flyer.

I called an ambulance once - I managed to cut my finger off in a weird freak accident (resting hand against door handle, sharp gust of wind meant door slammed shut. Finger was caught in hinge and severed). Still not sure if it was the right thing to do but I was alone in the house with my finger in my hand and a pool of blood on the floor and just went slightly into shock. I don't think I could have got on a bus in that state.

Other than that, I've taken DH to A&E with severe asthma a few times (not for years now he has his meds sorted) and I've been in to see the duty psychiatrist twice (I'm bipolar. Both times I was mid episode). No regrets for either.

Er, I think calling an ambulance because you cut off your own finger is more than reasonable, owlborn.

I have called one once, when mil fell down stairs carrying my ds, who was just 2. I saw them fall through the stair gate and the way his little body flipped over, I thought he was dead. He had a nasty cut and mil was very battered and bruised. First responder turned up and advised we should attend hospital. He said he could radio for the ambulance or we could drive ourselves. My h had just got home so we drove ds and fil took mil. Ds was ok, though he still has a scar and mil had broken her breastbone. This unusual breakage led directly to the diagnosis of the cancer that unfortunately killed her last year.

And there was me getting embarrassed for going in via ambulance for the third time in a week because of ante-partum haemorrhaging. They did tell me to call an ambulance if I bled that much and the ambulance crews were shocked and blue-lighted me in. But it was embarrassing to have three ambulances within a week. Maybe not so much now that I know what some people call an ambulance for.

I've just read your post properly Oldspeckledtam. Sorry for your loss.

My experience of working in reception in a GPs and a walk in centre was that the louder they shout, the less they need the care.

I remember a chap in his 20s, well built and healthy looking, doubled over, screaming and cradling his arm. Couldn't speak for gasping with pain. I thought it must be a dislocation or fracture, poor chap, rushed him through. Dr saw him - a papercut across his thumb pad, barely a cm long.

Then you would get the lovely old dears or the stoical old men who would say they didn't want to bother the Dr, but they were a little bit worried because they couldn't feel anything on their left side or their chest was 'a bit sore' and the pain was going down their arm or had been weeing blood for a month. But not to matter if the doctor was busy .... it drove me crazy that the polite, considerate people were, in some cases, literally dying because they weren't demanding like the perfectly fine people who pushed their way forward.

I think it is important that people don't feel they can't call an ambulance. Owlborn has just justified why she needed an ambulance when she cut off a finger. Why should she feel the need to do that? An ambulance was clearly needed in that very shocking situation.

It's also perfectly acceptable to call an ambulance for a situation which isn't stable - so asthma attack, child displaying signs of serious infection, any fall involving head or spine injury, chest pain (even if it DOES turn out to be indigestion).

What's not reasonable are the calls for an ambulance when you've had the pain for five years, have symptoms that could be resolved with a paracetamol and tucking yourself up in bed or sprained your ankle ten minutes ago, your foot is a normal colour and your partner will be home in two hours and could take you to A&E then.

I also don't think any A&E practitioner would want to encourage parents with a sick child who they are concerned about to stay at home. Better 20 parents get there with kids who perk up than 1 doesn't come with a child who is in serious trouble. Children aren't like adults, symptoms display differently and they do go down hill quickly - so take them in, get it checked and don't feel you have to apologise for being there.

We have urgent care centres where you can walk in if you have a minor illness that doesn't require a&e, however last time I checked they won't see children under 5 leaving you with little choice if your child becomes unwell at the weekend.

I rang an ambulance once because dm had taken an overdose. I can't believe the people who call an ambulance out for no reason, or the guy who was using it as a cab service home. If those people realised that they could indirectly be causing the death of another person who really needs the ambulance they've taken, maybe that would stop them.

I said earlier how dp's family overuse the gp. I think that needs to be stopped. They are the type to go with a cold, demanding antibiotics and blood tests (and they will generally receive them which adds the the problem!). Maybe either receptionists could vet more who can get an appointment or there could be a sort of fining system - 3 unnecessary appointments and you pay £30 etc. Same for a&e.

I've never called an ambulance, but had 111 order one for DS. I told them it wasn't necessary, I could drive him myself and it would be easier to get home so I was asked if I was refusing an ambulance for a child with a head injury and if so, was I aware they had an obligation to report that to the health visitor and SS?! The paramedics were fine about it, the hospital confirmed that the high fever and lethargy which came on within hours of a fall from furniture were indeed a coincidence as I suspected, and I had a bloody nightmare trying to get a sick DS home again on the tubes and buses.

I also had to take DD to A&E for a wobbly front tooth. Most pointless waste of time and resources ever.

It was a Sunday, she'd fallen, bashed up her face, front tooth loose and I wanted to find an emergency dentist. I looked up our dentist website, it gave a number for ooh/emergency DENTAL CARE ("to locate your nearest OOH/emergency dentist, ring...") so I rang that. Bloody 111. I kept saying that I was trying to locate an emergency dentist, they followed the process ("any injury to head?" "Well, er, yes, but it's her face" "any bleeding, no matter how little?" "Well, there's a deep gash in her lip which is of course bleeding, and her gum is bleeding heavily, but it's a mouth injury, it would, that's why we're trying to find an emergency dentist"). Again, the outcome was that I needed to take her to A&E and the GP and HV would be informed of the child with head injury and would follow up if there were no records of A&E attendance. I was absolutely fuming. Of course, the A&E doctor checked, confirmed the tooth was loose and said she needed to see a dentist ASAP, but they don't have emergency dentists at the hospital so I should call my dentist's OOH number...

And yes, the HV does follow up on head injuries. They certainly did on DS's!

We've also used A&E on other occasions, eg last week, when DS was admitted to a ward for a couple of days, but I've always wondered how many parents are there with their DC because they've phoned 111 or OOH and been told if they don't get to A&E they'll be reported to HV/SS. Personally I won't bother phoning 111 again.

Yes blackbird we phoned 111 when dd was a newborn. Ended up being sent to a&e 'to be safe'. We knew we didn't need to go and we certainly didn't want to go. Complete waste of everybody's time.

I don't dispute that A&E is misused but I do disagree with posts like this:

some stupid fucking idiot was holding the queue up with a sprained ankle or something

It's Accident and Emergency. If you have a badly sprained ankle which is possibly broken, and no minor injuries unit, A&E is the only place to go. There's no point in going to your GP because they'll only send you to A&E for an X-ray anyway.

I went to A&E with what turned out to be a sprained ankle two years ago. And whilst I appreciate that some people will be there with life threatening conditions, which a sprained ankle isn't, I'd do the same again tomorrow.

I think some people use A&E appropriately as some of the pps have. I have worked in A&E and OOH and have seen some people who refuse to attempt to treat themselves at home - for example taking painkillers before going to A&E to see if they work because that will be the first thing thag the doctor suggests that they do but becoming extremely aggressive when asked to take anything even paracetamol.
Rule of thumb in my work is if the child is sick or parents are concerned they should attend A&E, children become very ill very quickly and need treated as such.
There are a lot of people in my area who believe that the ambulances are taxi services and don't seem to grasp that it isn't and become very unhappy when you tell them they need to find there own way there. An ambulance picking up a person who doesn't need it or has a minor ailment could be preventing someone with a heart attack or breathing difficulties getting treated.

So far on my 4 night shifts this week in A and E....

broken finger nail - luckily reception staff just flatly refused to let her book in!
4 days of a cough not coughing anything up just an annoying cough
dental pain after having a wisdom tooth out, had all the analgesia he needed but thought there might be an infection (there wasn't) but didn't want to go to the dentist as it costs money. Found it very difficult to understand A and E is not a bloody dentist.

vomiting - stay the hell at home, its self limiting in pretty much all cases!
2 year history of slight chest pain but decided that 11pm would be a good time to get a Dr to check it out again!
took some drugs and felt funny - yep thats what they do!

I could go on. Previous things I have seen are athletes foot, thread worms, 2 year history of a rash,.......

Its depressing that people think they must rush to A and E at the first sign of any illness or bit of pain.

What is it with all the people going to a&e with broken nails?! There's been at least 3 mentioned on this thread.

I've taken DS1 to A&E with a "fucking sprained ankle" twice. Once it was a sprain and once he came out in plaster and on crutches.

(he plays rugby BTW, he isn't particularly accident prone :))

A badly sprained ankle can be worse than a break, take longer to heal and need a lot of physio.

Camping filth - my ankle took a year of physio before I could walk more than 5 minutes without being in pain. 2 years later it's still not 100% and i don't think it ever will be. Whereas my sister broke her leg in 3 places 5 months ago - plaster for 9 weeks, off it came and she's right as rain!

Getting a GP appointment locally is nearly impossible and sadly it means some people go to A&E when maybe they shouldn't. We do have a good minor injuries unit which is great for stitches, sprains and so on. Maybe there needs to be a GP facility along side A&E ?

I'm shocked at what some people go to the GP over too, I think it has a knock on impact to a and e as well, if people can't make a go appointment they may go to a and e.

I had major surgery earlier this year and was wrongly discharged too early. A week later one of my wounds literally exploded as an serious infection had occurred underneath. It was one of the most frightening things that had ever happened to me, but being a polite person, I decided to call the put of hours doctor and describe the pus and blood and bathroom looking a little like psycho!

Eventually, we had a call back saying maybe I should get to a and e, where they, in a horrified manner asked why I hadn't got there immediately! I ended up on heavy duty iv anti biotics for three days. I just hate bothering them!

With my nearly 3yo DD i have gone to A&E a few times

at 7 months had a temp in the 40s that wouldn't shift at 7pm (double ear infection)
then she fell and hit her head on the bathroom floor but then vomited so i was scared of concussion
then she had bright green vomit another time and was very dehydrated
Another case of some temp that wouldn't shift (on my DH's 40th bithday)

and the last one a very high temp not shifting and there they spotted a non-blanching rash and put her straight on IV antibiotics for suspected meningitis - what she actually had was RSV but low oxygen levels so we stayed in for 3 days when she got more antibiotics then the meningitist tests came clear but they spotted the RSV so was on inhalers and oxygen... (around my 40th birthday...)

for myself I had a badly cut finger when i lived alone so took a bus to my local hospital to the walk-in centre but they closed at 10pm so passed me over to A&E... and another time had a fishbone stuck in my throat which needed to be pulled out...

Didn't see a single broken nail during my 6 month stint in A&E.

I did wonder if the chap who used the ambulance as a taxi home was from Bedford as we had someone who did exactly the same :)

I remember once we were fairly busy and the senior doctor on went into the waiting room, got everyone's attention and said "I'm very sorry for the long wait, we've just had a major emergency come in via the ambulance entrance and I'm afraid the wait is at least another 2-3 hours. Please stay if you need to be seen, but if you feel able to go home and see your GP tomorrow morning then let the receptionist know and of course come back later if you get worse." Waiting room cleared in 10 minutes, those few who did stay got seen well within the 2-3h anticipated.