to think that no wonder the NHS A&E depts waiting time is bad, there are so many timewasters.

[CalicoBlue]

I just spent the afternoon (3 hours) in Urgent Care/A&E with DS. I have not been to A&E in over 12 years and was really surprised at all the reasons people were there for. Granted if it had not been the weekend I would have gone to my GP, but my son's condition meant he needed to be seen today.

We were sat very close to the welcome window, so I heard every new person come in. There were so many people there who should not have been. The nurse kept asking people if they had seen their GP, so many said no.

One girl said that she had been there last week had been given antibiotics for a water infection and it had not gone so she wanted to see the doctor again, the nurse said that she should have made an appointment for her doctor and that urgent care was not to come to instead of the GP. There were at least two that had lost prescriptions given by their GP so wanted UC to replace them and would not take no for an answer. It went on an on, another person came in with his father who had an ongoing leg problem, the nurse tried to explain that he needed to see his GP, but he did not have one as he was on holiday and wanted to get his leg sorted before he went home again, they did tell him that they would not see him and he would not get the operation he said he wanted on the NHS.

I estimated that at least one third of the people coming there could have been seen by their GP. There were lots who did need to be seen, and lots of sick kids, but they had to wait so long. I felt quite guilty for being and taking up the doctors time.

Its more often than not impossible to make an urgent appt at my GP. The phoneline opens at 8, when you manage to get through (constant redial from 7.50) you are number 12 in the queue. When you get through they say there are no bookable appointments left for that day, try again tomorrow. It may well be in their contract but they aren't always able to fulfil it. If you mention its a baby or child one may become available. Same with elderly, I imagine.

If you are a previously fit adult with a broken toe, urinary infection etc you've got no chance at our GP. I would persevere for a few days personally (and go in and say can I wait around for a cancellation/no show?) - but I can see why many people.in this category end up in A&E.

You need to walk in and make the appointments either that or insist on a telephone appointment for that day. GPs can override the booking system

creampie, there just often aren't enough urgent appointments for everyone that wants one. I suspect many people book an urgent appointment for something non urgent, in the same way that people go to an A&E when they shouldn't.

I'm at my OOH clinic now. I'm actually quite upset, a patient trying to bully me into treating them even though there was no pathology to treat. I expect him to make a complaint and there's nothing I can do. He's been having symptoms for two weeks but decided to wait until today to see anyone. I'm baffled. It was very difficult to get him to leave, at one point I thought Id have to call the police.

Can't wait for my later.

details thread

Why can GP surgeries run like local walk in centres? I ended up registering as a patient at ours as appointments were never rushed, always available same day, always preceded by a GP triage call within an hour of calling and the receptionists are bloody lovely and will make sure if your crap with your prescriptions like me you never run out and often bypass the 48hr notification rule for you

agree, gp's should be able to deal with minor injuries.
my gp doesn't even do bloods! I have to make an app with the hospital phlebotomist for that! (2weeks waiting for that btw).
they also don't see to children's small cuts - a&e for stitches
and if you need a sick note after the self certifying period you can't get an app...

derails omg.

I was sent away from a and e with a severe throat infection and breathing /swallowing difficulties. They were very harsh with me and adamant I should not have gone in. There was no ooh then (was years and years ago) and I was really struggling but was told to go and just go to my own gp on the Monday. The a and e I attended is always very busy so perhaps they were just over stretched and stressed

I can always get an urgent appointment at my GPs. But then they know my health problems, and know I only ask for one if I really need one.
What I appreciate is being able to get telephone appointments with my GP. Ideal if you have a quick query, and takes the GP far less time than an actual appointment.

GPs have to see everyone the same day as requested if there's an urgent appointment required.

I think my GP might have missed that memo!

I do think that people over use the GP system too.

I am surprised at the amount of times my staff at work go to the doctors. If any of them have flu, coughs colds etc they will always go and see the doctor. Nothing a doctor can do for flu. If most of them stayed in bed and rested for a couple of days they would be fine. Instead they expect medicine from the doctor so they can still go out and party at the weekend.

Exh once took DD to the doctor for a tiny patch of dry skin behind her ear. I had not noticed it and even if I had I would not have taken her to the doctor. A trip to a chemist and a chat would have resulted in the same cream the doctor gave her. Apart from that one visit DD has not been to the doctors for 10 years.

My grandfather was a GP. I was brought up with my mother telling me that the doctor was too busy with sick people to waste his time on me, so as a child I hardly ever saw the doctor.

I don't see why every A&E unit wouldn't have an in-house GP that the "time-wasters" can be sent to. Very few people are going to be willing to sit around for four hours waiting to be seen unless they really believe they need it. It would be a perfect sensible extension to NHS GP provision. (I don't necessarily agree they are time-wasters. I'm more inclined to think the system is failing the patients than the other way around.)

YABU. My daughter also walked in with leukaemia.

She left less than 8 months later. In a hearse. But from appearances, she had a bad cold.

CalicoBlue - I agree that many people go to GPs when it is unnecessary. Viruses, colds, sore throats, and a host of other minor illnesses are usually self limiting and need nothing more than a quick trip to the chemist.

I'm so sorry expat

Our GP practice is amazing compared to some of these stories.
If you ring anytime during working hours you are added to the triage list. One of the most experienced GPs in the practice will ring within an hour, discuss the problem and give you an appointment if necessary, either the same day or next day.
If you ring for a routine, non urgent appointment, you can get an appointment within a couple of days, or two weeks if with a specific GP.

Dh was taken to A&E in an ambulance 2 years ago. He had had a stroke 3 months previously and had stroke symptoms again, which turned out to be Bell's palsy.
Because of his previous stroke, which was a rare type, he was kept in A&E for 10 hours while the drs found an experienced dr and had dh's history sent through from another hospital.
One of the drs was chatting during a quiet patch, dh and I felt silly taking up all that time and having scans etc, but the dr said in his opinion, during that day only a quarter of the people in A&E should have been there, and he considered dh was one of them, which was a relief!

DS2 hobbled into A&E with his university friends. A judgy person might have thought it was a student prank/drink related injury. It was also leukaemia - and the NHS Direct website (as it was 3 years ago) had rightly indicated he should go there for what DS had thought was a minor injury.
Fortunately for DS it was chronic leukaemia and he is is now very fit, but untreated it might have been fatal.

expatinscotland I am very sorry about your daughter.

I did not say people who walked in were timewasters, there was another PP who said that.

It was apparent from the people coming in and what they were saying that a lot of them were timewasters. If less timewasters went to A&C/UC then there would be more time for the people who do need the care.

I felt guilty about going to a&e yesterday. 111 sent us. Turned out after a chest x-ray DD2 has double pneumonia. So glad I trusted my instincts as her breathing went downhill very fast. (She is now recovering at home on antibs.).

Until about 18 months ago I hardly ever went to the GP so I wasn't aware how difficult it was to get an appointment. When I tried, the receptionist told me there was a three week wait (to see any GP).
Fortunately, I managed to get a cancellation for the same day as I said I was in a lot of pain (true- turned out I had gallstones), otherwise I might well have gone straight to A&E.
It bothers me to think how many people with what may turn out to be serious illnesses are waiting a ridiculous amount of time to see a GP.

It's possibly already been said but NHS direct is a nightmare for a and e. I've called them several times for DD and once for me.

Once she woke up being violently sick and wouldn't stop. Once she did, she couldn't keep anything down. She was very small. This was over about an hour. They sent an ambulance out. Even after I said that was extreme. The ambulance were shocked.

The next time she was 10 days old and my stupid friend held her under her arms and threw her up then caught her. Her head jarred. She screamed then went to sleep and wasn't responding. An ambulance got sent out. She was just sleeping and very tired. I'm fully able to drive. Maybe this one wasn't too much of an over reaction.

The third, DD had fallen and banged her face. She knocked her tooth out of place. We moved it back. Other than that she was fine. I was told by two people that she had a head injury and must be seen at a and e within the hour. I told them both she was absolutely fine without head injury or symptoms. It was her tooth I was wondering if I could do anything about. They said I needed to go. I went, as they caused me to doubt myself, a and e nurses were, again, shocked to see her.

Every time I have called about DD they have said take her to a and e or sent an ambulance. Even when I have said I'd drive in etc.

There is nothing such thing as NHS Direct any more. It's 111 now. Ah, 111. Once upon a time we had NHS Direct, which was staffed by a mixture of about 50% call ops and 50% experienced nurses (with dual trained midwives and psychiatric nurses too). Now, NHSD was not perfect by any means, but it was popular with the public. The nurses at NHSD were assisted by algorithmic software that directed you along a certain path to make sure you asked every relevant question. This software was rather twitchy and risk adverse; it used to recommend A&E for all kinds of things. Being an experienced nurse, you could roll your eyes and swear under your breath at this overexcitable software, and then override the decision to something more sensible using your own clinical judgement.
Now, the Tory government did their usual thing and said: 'how can we make this service cheaper and more crappy?'. They did this by getting rid of the vast majority of nurses, and replacing them with call ops with 3 weeks experience of working the software. Now, the call ops did their best. They had no clinical knowledge or experience of any sort though, and the overexcitable software now could not be overruled, as that would be potentially dangerous now that the nurses had all gone. This is why 111 tends to panic when dealing with anything outside the comfort zone of the software, and why it tries to send everyone to A&E.
This has contributed to A&E having to deal with a lot of people who perhaps would be better going somewhere else. It would be a lot quicker both for those people and also hard pressed A&E staff.
That's how bad, penny pinching government decisions contribute to the increasing burden on parts of the NHS.

Yes... That's what I meant to say!

I would be interested in an analysis of why people go to their GP, and any changes there have been over the years.