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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Aibu to not go to AandE with a suspected broken finger?

42 replies

WeirdCatLady · 12/02/2015 19:22

Ive damaged my right hand ring finger. It can bend, a bit, and isn't at a weird angle so obviously not a bad break, if broken at all. It is slightly twisted and has been painful for the past few days. I can't put my fingers together as it sticks out and is twisted a bit.

Dd is bugging me to go to AandE for an x ray but I've read the NHS Internet pages and the advice for a broken, dislocated or strained finger is just to buddy tape it to another finger. I don't see the point in spending six hours sitting around to be told that. It isn't bent enough to need resetting or anything like that.

So, oh wise MN jury, WWYD?

OP posts:
ColdJerseySpud · 12/02/2015 19:24

It really does depend. If its a fracture it will need taping to the other finger. Do you have a walk in centre near you?

DandyHighwayman · 12/02/2015 19:24

A and e, a badly set/unset digit can be un horreur in older age

BadgersNadgers · 12/02/2015 19:24

I'd put ice on it, pour a glass of rum and put my feet up. A&E won't thank you for turning up and won't do anything for you.

TheFecklessFairy · 12/02/2015 19:26

It's ok to tape it together provided the bones are in the right place. From what you describe, they are possibly not, even though you think they are. I'd get a flask of tea/coffee, some sandwiches, and brave A&E if I were you.

peutetre · 12/02/2015 19:27

You are right that is exactly what they will do and will probably not even x ray it.
You can buy a foam finger cover which will give some protection from banging it and which should remind you to take care of it.

Purplepoodle · 12/02/2015 19:28

Tape it then go to a&e first thing

sbear22 · 12/02/2015 19:29

walk in centre probs best for this not a and e

RumbleMum · 12/02/2015 19:29

I'm afraid you probably do need to get it checked out - if it's twisted you could end up with long term problems. I went with a little toe in a similar condition (ie slightly odd position) and they took it seriously and referred me to the fracture clinic. I nearly didn't go as I had the same thinking as you.

Could you call 111 or GP tomorrow for advice?

Original poster
WeirdCatLady · 12/02/2015 19:30

Thanks, I have got it taped up already. I have arthritis so my fingers are pretty screwed anyway. I'm just too lazy to go out and I agree, the nurses etc won't be pleased to see me with a sore finger :)

OP posts:
CobbOnn · 12/02/2015 19:30

Walk in centre or emergency GP appt. Maybe call 111 to see what they suggest. A lot of radio ads on at the moment about alternatives to A and E.

RumbleMum · 12/02/2015 19:32

Ps meant to say if you have a minor injuries clinic or walk in centre that's the place to go (not everywhere does).

Cherriesandapples · 12/02/2015 19:33

I'd go to a minor injury unit in the morning

JudgeRinderSays · 12/02/2015 19:35

If you are right handed I would definitely go.If it twisted it will affect your grip

desertmum · 12/02/2015 19:37

stay at home and drink the rum - recently spent two (separate) days in a&e - they were useless and I ended up in hospital for four days because of their uselessness. I wish I had stayed at home and drunk the rum - same result with a more pleasurable build up.

Gunpowder · 12/02/2015 19:40

Hmm, I think you have to be quite careful with hand things. I reckon I'd want to get it checked out but not sure where best place would be. 111 for advice?

Clobbered · 12/02/2015 19:44

You've had an accident and you have an injury with some deformation of your finger. It's a perfectly appropriate thing to take to an Accident and Emergency department FFS. Get it looked at.

bronya · 12/02/2015 19:45

Go to A&E at a quietish time. Minor injuries would be quicker if there's one near you. Better to x-ray it and check than have it heal wrong.

Icimoi · 12/02/2015 19:48

You really should go as soon as possible to a walk in centre. I hurt my finger and thought it was little more than a sprain. Eventually I was persuaded to go to get it checked, and it turned out that I'd chipped the bone and the ligament had torn. Had to spend 8 highly inconvenient weeks in a splint, it did mend but is now permanently bent at the knuckle. I really do regret not going as soon as I injured it.

Original poster
WeirdCatLady · 12/02/2015 19:52

If it is still bad tomorrow I'll phone my gp and see what they say.

Thanks guys x

OP posts:
BendyMum15 · 12/02/2015 19:54

I hurt my finger a few years ago. Was very painful and got very swollen and a funny colour too. Tried to carry on but by mid afternoon the day after I hurt it it was too painful so my colleagues persuaded me to go to A&E.
It turned out to be broken so they sent me to have it splinted. I was just expecting it to be taped to another finger so imagine my surprise when the nurse showed me the cast I was going to have. It covered my fingers so you had to peer inside to see them and went to just below my elbow. All for just a broken finger!
I had to wear it for about 5 days and was told when I went to have it removed that there was the possibility that I had torn ligaments so needed it totally immobalised. People looked a bit Hmm when I explained what I had done.
The upshot of my story is go to A&E.

WhereYouLeftIt · 12/02/2015 20:00

If you really don't want to go to A&E, and there's no walk-in centre, why not go to your GP? Just so they can run through the checks to identify whether it's bone, muscle or ligaments that have been damaged, and be able to tell you how best to treat it/how long it will take to heal?

shattered77 · 12/02/2015 20:03

Your gp will give you a form to go direct to xray.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 12/02/2015 20:04

Dh broke his finger, and needed three operations, including plating and screws, and a full year of physio, and his finger is still deformed and works less well than the rest on that hand. Luckily it is his left ring finger and doesn't seem to cause him any difficulties.

Interestingly he did it by falling downstairs and catching the finger in the banisters - he was rushing round the house sorting out the children's school stuff for the following morning, because I had been whisked off to A&E with chest pain.

He came to pick me up, when I was discharged (it was a chest infection, thankfully), and his first words were, "I've broken my finger - but it's OK, I have strapped it to a piece of Lego!" I had a look at it when we got home, and drove him back up to A&E.

clam · 12/02/2015 20:10

Dd had a suspected break on her little finger following a fight with ds for the last cake on the plate Blush and I was expecting A&E to send us away with a taped splint. (We were off skiing the following weekend, and I was hoping she'd just stick her hand in mittens and get on with it).

But they put the fear of God in us by saying it depended where on the bone it was broken - too far down towards the hand and it would mean a plaster cast and all that entails. Shock Anyway, they X-rayed and fortunately it wasn't broken after all.

Sallystyle · 12/02/2015 20:18

My husband didn't go for his broken finger.

He regret it, has lots of problems with it now.

A&E won't thank you for turning up and won't do anything for you.

Sorry, but that's a silly thing to say. A&E is for accidents, if they don't like people turning up for a broken finger then that is their problem. A broken finger is what the A&E is for unless there are alternatives, which there aren't in my area. I would call 111 and see if they think it can be left until tomorrow.

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