Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

To think this might be why so many people end up in a&e when shouldn't

38 replies

wineoclockthanks · 31/03/2016 16:05

And to wonder how common our situation is?

Spending Easter at my Dsis about 250 miles from our home. On Tuesday DS aged 9 fell and quite badly scrapped his bum on some wood in the garden. It bled quite badly and looked as if there might be some splinters or something in it. DSis phoned their GP for an appointment with either doctor or nurse and first one offered was April 13th! She was told to bring him to the walk in clinic instead.

We got him to the docs but when I explained he wasn't registered with them, we were told they wouldn't see him (despite the fact they could see how distressed and in pain he was).

They obviously just wanted rid of us and their suggestion was wait until we get home (6 days later) or a&e (there isn't a minor injuries unit nearby).

So we pitch up at a&e, triage nurse was initially a bit shirty as to why we were there with such a minor-ish injury but once I explained she said we weren't the first people she sees in our situation.

We had to wait nearly 6 hours (as DS obviously wasn't a priority) and the doctor and nurse that cleaned and dressed his wound were great .

Surely there should be some sort of reciprocal arrangement with GPs so that the a&es don't get clogged up?

OP posts:

livewyre · 31/03/2016 21:26

Honestly, it sounds like everyone has forgotten how to do basic first aid.

Sorting out a scraped bum is not what the GP, or A&E is there for. It's what parents and bottles of TCP are for.

Basic first aid kits should be kept at home, and basic dressings should be done at home. A&E for a splinter. WTAF.

expatinscotland · 31/03/2016 21:30

There is truth to that, Sunshine, but I have been to A&E/ER in the US where you do have to pay and was astounded at why some of the patients were there. One time, I was sent by my GP. I could not stop vomitting and having diarrhea (turns out I had fecking giardiasis). Anyhow, she sent me there because apparently I was too dehydrated to be treated at home after she did some test. At ER, the gal next to me was telling the doctor about how her bad cold was keeping her from sleeping and she needed drugs to help her sleep.

Another time, my ex h slipped on ice going into work. His head hit some exposed brickwork on a building and, as you can imagine, he had a horrible gash on his head and an ambulance picked him up. When I got to see him in the ER, the person next was complaining that her little toe had been hurting her for hours.

livewyre · 31/03/2016 21:32

Evidence shows a fee doesn't stop the dross, it does stop those who can't afford healthcare.

But I do wonder when we stopped learning these skills as 7 year olds in Brownies/Scouts.

snorepatrol · 31/03/2016 21:34

I think the GP surgery fobbed you off to be honest. They could have easily seen you as an emergency patient even if you weren't registered.
My brother is in the army and has been seen several times at my GP surgery when he is on leave and can't get to his base (other end of the country)
Yanbu to think that this is poor use of resources I agree with you.

OpenMe · 31/03/2016 21:40

I do wonder how I'm supposed to know what an emergency is. As Pp said, if you ask 111 they almost always tell you either a&e or docs within 48 hrs. To get an appt in 48 hrs you have to say it's an emergency... If the experts at 111 think everything needs to be treated as an emergency, how am I supposed to know better?

I've often ended up at a&e with dc simply because there's no where else to go. No minors injuries unit here and if it might need stitches or an xray, there's no point going to gp.

superwormissuperstrong · 31/03/2016 21:41

I can see how it happens. Started suffering with really bad hay fever and knew I couldn't take my usual OCT medicine. Last time a pharmacist gave me a nasal spray but this time said it needed a gp prescription. I phoned up too late in the day for a phone appointment and asked what to do - and was advised that my only option was A&E. I actually sent in other half to get the spray from the pharmacy and pretend it was for him rather than waste mine and A&E time... bloody ridiculous...

HopelesslydevotedtoGu · 31/03/2016 21:44

The GP surgery has a contract with the nhs to provide core services to their registered patients for X amount of money. They are not required to see temporary patients. If they do that is lovely and very helpful but if they are so overwhelmed by their own patients that they don't have appointments for 4 weeks, they could reasonably choose to concentrate on their own patients. They are not fobbing the OP off, it is up to them whether they agree to take temporary patients. They will use time and resources for the OP from their own limited budget which they won't get back.

A&E and walk in centres are funded differently, they receive money per person they treat.

MeadowHay · 31/03/2016 21:45

I have seen a GP at the practice near to my parents' house a few days as a temporary patient, mostly when I needed a prescription for a pain meds or antidepressant or antianxiety meds. I am a student and still quite often stay with my parents for a couple of months at a time during the summer and things and sometimes my own surgery in my uni city wouldn't prescribe me enough of the medication to last me the entire time. Have had some reception staff at the surgery be shirty and rude/abrasive to me for pitching up and asking for the form to be seen as a temporary patient, which I thought was unreasonable as it's not my fault I need medication and couldn't sort it any other way. But have always been seen after a wait (the surgery in question operates on a drop-in basis during set hours). And the GPs I have seen have always been fine with me being there.

So in brief, if anything happens again, demand to register at the nearest surgery as a temporary patient. They can't really refuse you and it's better on the whole for you to do that then cost the NHS a lot more money going to A+E needlessly. But obviously lots of people are not even aware they can do that and have to go to A+E.

Dungandbother · 31/03/2016 21:49

Our A&E got downgraded to urgent care. It's busy but great.

DD hurt her hand bent backwards recently. After 4 days of moaning I took her there.

The wait was 2 hours. But Triage nurse wait was 15 mins. I opted for that and got reassurance her finger was ok and left.

I couldn't assess whether her tears were genuine, I didn't want to press her hand too hard and didn't know how to gauge how hard was hard enough.

But I'm greater London. Pretty happy with our services.

And I've seen my mums GP thrice now as a temporary resident. Just on weekends or weeks staying with her (to be fair when I'm so ill I can't look after my own kids and she makes me go to the doctor!!)

Wherediditland · 31/03/2016 22:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Rinoachicken · 31/03/2016 23:16

I think it must depend on area. For me if its OOH I call my normal GP number and get put through to OOH triage, who either arrange for GP to call me back or make an appointment at OOH clinic (which is attached to a&e.

On the few times I've called 111 they have also been able to book me into the OOH clinic, and on one occasion for DS1 (who was 3 at the time, high temp, floppy) a prescribing paramedic sort of person came out to the house (was in green but could prescribe and administer?) they were great - diagnosed a nasty ear infection, prescribed and gave him antibiotics and even called an hour later to see how he was doing!

MadisonAvenue · 31/03/2016 23:39

My son has had a problem with his foot recently, he eventually decided he'd like to see a doctor about it and the earliest appointment I could get was 17 days away. He saw the doctor who decided he needed a blood test. We were given an appointment for 11 days later. He then found out that he'd have to be in school that day (during Easter holidays but he needed to do GCSE DT catch up) so I had to rearrange the blood test, was told that there's a shortage of nurse appointments and that there was nothing available for a further week, so by the time he gets that done it'll be 18 days after the GP requested it.

The local minor injuries/walk in dept has had it's hours drastically cut and whenever we've used that in the past they've just sent us to A&E at a larger hospital anyway as they don't have the facilities there to deal with much more than a sore throat.

bakeofffan · 31/03/2016 23:52

Like a PP upthread, our A&E dept is much closer than OOH, the former is 5 mins by car, 10 by bus or 30 on foot - OOH is a good 30-40 mins by car. No idea how long by bus, but probably 1.5 hours (at least 3 buses). As such I can quite see why anyone local goes to A&E instead, especially as our GP surgeries never have appts for anything less than 14 days hence, and even then only ones in the middle of the day.

I can't believe that no-one's come up with a solution yet to the issue of uni students, I was a student years ago, and had several friends who went back to uni before term started because they needed to see a GP and were only registered in our uni town (and their old GP at home wouldn't see them).

Flip

1 2