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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

24hr A&E why have they gone there?

106 replies

Oooblimey · 16/03/2016 21:32

Just watching 24hr in A&E.
AIBU to be annoyed at the woman who has taken her 6 yr old to A&E, he got a splinter in his foot a week ago which has turned into a puss filled blister. How is this an emergency? And we wonder why A&E departments are on their knees?
Surely this should be a GP appointment. Yes he may be uncomfortable for a couple of days but he's not dying. Is it a sign of today's expectation of instant service or AIBU to think that this situation is unacceptable?

OP posts:
MrsPear · 17/03/2016 10:38

I got sent to a and e by my GP and was told everything was fine other than I needed to see the mental health for anxiety. I ended up being ordered back for treatment when bloods came back showing what the gp said!

As for splinters I have terrible hand to eye coordination and I took ds2 to the walk in with a deep imbedded splinter. I didn't want an infection to set in and as the doctor said you don't what the wood has been treated in so I was right to be there. Also it meant I prevented the need for more antibiotics.

I just don't think there are the right resources in the right places. There should be 24 minor injuries next to a and e then transfer can be smooth.

Mousefinkle · 17/03/2016 10:40

I honestly wouldn't go to A&E unless I was on the verge of death or in serious pain and there was absolutely no other option. It's not a nice place to be, I don't know why anyone would go for a stupid small thing a GP could easily sort. But I guess some people can't get GP appointments for weeks and there's no out of hours in their local area etc..

I've only been twice. Once when I was a stupid teenager and had a tragus piercing that got badly infected and basically blew up. It was horrendous. My mum had tried her best to get the stud out but couldn't and I was in agony so had to get it taken out with local anaesthetic. Second time I'd been to see out of hours (Saturday) who diagnosed tonsillitis and sent me on my way with penicillin. It wasn't tonsillitis at all, was quinsy and I ended up not being able to keep anything down for hours after taking the penicillin, was in excruciating pain and just felt awful. They saw me after an hour of sitting there vomiting none stop and admitted me immediately, spent a week in hospital, had my tonsils drained.
While I was there they were taking pissheads in whilst a poor woman was sat with her husband slipping in and out of consciousness after a fall Hmm. Alcohol is a massive problem at the weekends. Fights, people not knowing how to handle their drink or just drinking too god damn much. And yes, time wasters who go in for the slightest little niggle. I bet some people do it for a bit of company and attention which is sad.

unlucky83 · 17/03/2016 12:05

Ahhh the drunks - that is something that pisses me off off about 111 and DCs.
IME at one time if you phoned them up for advice they would tell you to go to A&E, you know you don't really need to but then you have to go really else you might be flagged as being neglectful. Arrrrghh
The other thing is they say I'll get a Dr to call you back and you wait for 2+hrs until 9.30pm and they say better go to A&E. You go to A&E just as it is getting busy as all the drunks are arriving for a long wait with an overtired child who should have been asleep hours ago.
(Best was DD2 got quite a nasty bang on her head, a bit later was sick - was it connected or not? Waited a couple of hours for Dr from 111 to phone me back - and they asked me if she appeared sleepy/drowsy ...well its 3 hrs past her bedtime ...so yes she does seem quite sleepy...but she probably would now wouldn't she?)

thisismypassword · 17/03/2016 12:16

Think it is time for a media campaign on when you go to a@e!

StarlightMcKenzee · 17/03/2016 12:29

Most people go to A&E because they are frightened, or because they are playing it safe.

The lack of alternative reassurance avenues is what drives it. You're child might have no issues at all, but if you believe they might and you can't get a GP appointment swiftly, A&E is where you'll end up.

sugar21 · 17/03/2016 12:33

If I had gone to a&e straight away with my dd she may be still alive, but I waited to see the GP. Precious time lost.

MorrisZapp · 17/03/2016 12:36

On another note entirely, how utterly fabulous was Margaret? 92 and so stylish, amusing and independent. That's what I aspire to.

MorrisZapp · 17/03/2016 12:40

Apologies sugar, that's an insensitive looking cross post xx

NotGonnaAnswerThePhone · 17/03/2016 12:42

I saw an episode a few weeks ago where a lady had had bunion surgery and it was causing her pain. Definitely a GP job, however they redressed it for her in A&E

Bellasima20 · 17/03/2016 12:49

24 hrs... seems to have really dumbed down in terms of the cases they can/do cover now, I often read the programme synopsis ahead, as last night and deicide not to watch. It used to have more more interesting/high risk/dramatic cases and more interesting watching than boring every day GP surgery cases like these.

Fratelli · 17/03/2016 14:13

I used to be terrified of going to a&e and wasting their time. The first time I recall going I was young and pregnant and very scared as I was having the worst pain of my life and bleeding. I rang my doctors surgery and they advised me to go to a&e. When I saw the doctor she was obviously annoyed and said "well why have you come here? You're probably just having a miscarriage. Go home. You'll have to wait for a scan, you might get one next week". I was so upset and she put me off doctors for many years.

sugar21 · 17/03/2016 15:29

Morris it's ok

ConfuciousSayWhat · 17/03/2016 15:40

Our walk in, although advertised as open until 10pm, often turns people away as early as 6pm because it's a 4 hour wait to be seen and clearly the staff can't possibly be paid overtime... (the best solution would be accept patients til 10pm as advertised and staff til 2am to cover the wait) they also don't do minor surgery which the case of the op would be if the splinter was in place.

DH got sent to a&e for a similar reason but our a&e runs a gp clinic to perform these minor surgeries so you don't actually get mixed in with the general melee

Primaryteach87 · 17/03/2016 16:26

I agree but it's also due to the crisis in primary care. I rang my GP for an appointment that is not an emergency but equally not to be left. I was told they had no appointments for 6 weeks. The only way to see a GP was to ring on the day and wait for about an hour and claim it is an emergency. It wasn't an emergency! It's crazy. We need to look at why GPs are so overworked and how to recruit and retain them. Possibly we need pharmacists and nurses to do more. I don't know the solution but I do think this problem is impacting A&E.

herethereandeverywhere · 18/03/2016 17:15

A&E is the overflow for everything. MH crisis? Turn up at A&E. Sent home with newborn and some concerns? Go to A&E (I was adivsed this after ringing all the help numbers on the leaflet and being told noone could see me. If I was worried I had to go to A&E). Health issue and it's not Mon-Fri 9-5? Go to A&E. Cuts everywhere else just forces all of the overflow into the only place it can go to.

Accessing healthcare at the weekend is desperate. Whenever I have had to do it for my children it has felt like being in the 3rd world with queues down corridors and many hours of waiting time.

MoominsTilIDie · 18/03/2016 18:25

My son had something similar in his finger and his school insisted I take him to A&E and despite me being annoyed and feeling they'd massively overreacted, the nurse told me I'd done the right thing in coming and to come back if it happened again?

thinkingofayear · 18/03/2016 18:35

It's really hard to know which service to use sometimes. I have been in a and e twice in the last 3 months and my dd has been twice. Both times I went I waited and waited for hours at home trying to wait for the gp to open but then gave in and went. Both times I was rushed straight from the triage bit to the resus bit. I still feel like a fraud for being there even though I was clearly I'll and was admitted both times.
My dd was also admitted both times.

I also can never decide when to see my gp - I feel like I am wasting their time all the time, I went last week because my eyes were so sore around, it turns out I have excema around them and I was given cream but I still don't know if I was supposed to make a gp appointment for that.

Sometimes I really would like to go to the gp about mental health problems but don't because of the guilt!

bigbluebus · 18/03/2016 19:36

No walk in centres in our area either. The nearest one used to be 16 miles away but they closed it, moved it to the General Hospital, put it next to A&E and called it an Uegent Care Centre. Now everyone who goes through the doors of A&E is triaged in the same place and either seen by Urgent Care Doctors or A&E Doctors.

I once spent a Saturday morning in the waiting room with DD and it was full of people who looked well and most of them went to the Urgent Care Doctors and left again within 5 minutes. DD thankfully was seen in A&E - I don't take her to hospital if I can absolutely avoid it.

Our local Minor Injuries unit is open Mon-Fri from 9 - 5 which is less hours than our village GP surgery is open Hmm

LifeofI · 18/03/2016 21:35

YANBU i hate this as well

soontobemrsmckeown · 18/03/2016 22:04

I went to my docs today with tummy spams. Doc did a wee test came back clear so refered me to a ward in hospital. They do a wee test and it comes back with everything in it. Doc could of picked up on that if they had retested my wee the hospital said. Docs refer over daft things

BYOSnowman · 18/03/2016 22:11

I was in children's a&e the other night and was shocked that there was a group of about 10-12 adults coming in and out and using it as a social club a couple of them were eating stinky takeaways and they kept nipping into the staff area to get cups of water. They were laughing and joking which I thought was quite odd in a room full of poorly kids.

They were very well dressed and didn't seem to be homeless and it was late so can't imagine they were relatives visiting someone.

Is this usual these days in a&e? The staff just ignored them.

SupSlick · 18/03/2016 22:28

I once rang 111 as my son, about 1 at the time, was struggling with his asthma as I wanted to book an out of hours appointment. They rang an ambulance despite me telling them I didn't think it was required & I could drive him.

Paramedics got to mine & ummed & aahhd. Said it was probably a chest infection but theyd take him in to get checked. Made me feel quite guilty for it.

30 minutes later DS was critical in Resus & I got absolutely BLASTED by the Dr for letting it get to this point & the paramedics stood with me, all three of us looking sheepish.

I guess what I'm trying to explain in a very drawn out way is that a lot of the advice we can face can be quite conflicting. And it makes me worry all the time that I'm going to be seen as a crazy, neurotic & hyperchondriac parent, especially if I bring my son to A&E to get a nebuliser & steroids at the early onset of an attack when it may look like he's alright to other people in the waiting room, rather than leave it to the point where he's about to die.

But the drunks can fuck off Grin

BoomBoomsCousin · 20/03/2016 10:41

BYO the wandering is definitely not normal at the two pediatric A&Es near us. You can't wander in and out of ours - you need to be buzzed in by the staff and they check which child you're with. But the eating stinky takeaways, large family groups with kids and being jovial isn't uncommon. The takeaways is because there is little other provision for food near by and the large and jovial groups seems to be cultural - seen as supportive and good for keeping spirits up by many.

Stratter5 · 20/03/2016 11:50

thisis there is a campaign atm. This is showing in our GP and A&E waiting rooms.

It's incredibly irritating, but quite clear. I spend far too much time in A&E and at the bloody GPs

Stratter5 · 20/03/2016 11:52

Oh and yes to whole families attending. Parents, grandparents, siblings, sometimes it's impossible to work out who the patient is. And then they all troup up to the ward to annoy the fuck out of everyone unless you're on a protected ward :(

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