to think the hospital should have sent me home with pain meds

[ScarletOverkill]

I went to a&e today with what turned out to be a broken collar bone. They gave me codeine while I was there but when I asked about pain meds when they discharged me they said to just take paracetamol!
Is the NHS funding that bad?
Needless to say I shall be trying to see my gp in the morning!

I wasn't given meds when I was discharged from hospital with a gall bladder attack. I was given a prescription, though, which set me back £24+

They should have at least given you a prescription. Our a&e no longer hands out medication (used to give a pack of 30/500 Co-codamol) due to serious funding issues

Normally A and E give prescriptions or give you meds but bill you later.

Well maybe they think paracetamol is sufficient? Do you need something stronger?

Sorry to hear about your broken collar bone. A friend of mine also broke hers recently.
The advice from A&E sounds reasonable and sensible. Codeine is not supposed to be taken for very long as it is addictive. It also has unpleasant side effects.
Stick to paracetamol and if needed add in ibuprofen if you aren't intolerant (asthma/indigestion etc). Not sure a GP appointment is needed. If you really want codeine in your painkillers you or a contact can purchase something from a pharmacist.

You can buy co codamol for cheaper than the prescription charge, that is probably why. I didn't have anything like that for my broken arm though. Just paracetamol and ibuprofen. It really shouldn't hurt that much if it is a clean break, properly set and you aren't stressing it.

Broke my shoulder a few years ago, got sent home with paracetamol. I am in Ireland

Dh was sent home (from a private hospital, but not sure if that's relevant, apart from the funding issue) after a bone graft on his knee, with just paracetamol and ibuprofen. I was , but he seemed OK with it as we left, but of course, he was still feeling the effects of the general anaesthetic. When that wore off, he was climbing the walls in agony and I had to do an emergency dash to the GP to get some heavy-duty stuff.

I would now insist on more. When I was discharged after major surgery to insert pins, rods and plates to my broken leg, I was on 8 Tramadol, 8 cocodamol and 8 Nurofen each day for weeks. Still hurt, mind, but I managed to come off it all with no problem.

After my firs CS was sent home with meds. After my second one sent home with nothing and told to buy paracetamol! I guess if you need something they will let you have it/prescribe it, but the admin probably costs a lot more than the 16p you can buy these medicines for.
Hope you are ok and not in too much pain!

starry you can't set a collarbone in the way you can an arm. They're agonising

You can buy paracetamol, ibuprofen, lower strength codeine from the pharmacist without a prescription, I imagine they thought these would be sufficient. The pain should improve from now as it gets better.

I'd suggest purchasing different strengths of Co-codamol, and ibuprofen and do some trial and error at home. One 8/500 one solpadine (think that's 12.5/500) mix and match but no more than 1g paracetamol in a 4 hour time frame

If you don't normally take codeine then the 8mg version with paracetamol (or the nurofen with 12.5mg) may help get you through to when you can see the GP. Send someone out to a 24 hr pharmacy if there is one nearby.

Thanks for all the replies. It looks like it needs pinning at some point

When I was post hip surgery (not replacement) the pain relief I was offered was paracetamol.

I had a full hysterectomy and all the hospital offered me post op was paracetamol! I had heard stories of feeling spaced out on a cocktail of intravenous painkillers pre op but alas they obviously thought I could handle the pain (I couldn't!)

paracetamol is rubbish as a painkiller, i've only ever found it useful for bringing down a temperature.

Ibuprofen is usually my go-to, but then i'm one of those weirdy people that codeine does nothing for.

Paracetamol is great if taken every 4 hours. It stops working if you stop taking it because you feel you don't need it. It also helps opiates work better

Your key to good pain relief is to take it every 4 hours regardless of where your pain levels are at. Be religious with it until you are healed.

I was offered a paracetamol in labour when I asked for pain relief!

They offer/tell you to use paracetamol because if you go straight for the hard stuff you have nowhere to go if the pain gets worse.

Take the lowest possible dose you can of the weakest medication you can to manage your pain

Paracetamol is actually very effective as a painkiller. The key is to take it 4 hourly regardless of whether you're in pain or not.

Sad really that as a vet, I routinely discharge animals with a pain score chart for the owner so that we can use whatever combinations of pain killers are required to keep the pet as pain free as possible .
Would be horrified to think I had sent anything home in a less than comfortable state.
Hope your collarbone heals quickly scarlett

Maybe it depends on who you see?

I was in A&E with what later turned out to be an ovarian torsio that sorted itself, when allowed home I was given paracetamol and ibuprofen. DH broke his foot and was given nothing by A&E.

Actually poor DH wasn't even given anything while they were sorting out x-rays and we had to ask for a wheelchair! Seemingly they don't like offering any help at all until they absolutely know you've broken something, then they get all 'you must be very careful, no weight on it!' and worried about the bone getting misaligned.

I've found my a&e are great. I go in in screaming agony, dh just says "gallstones" and I get whipped straight round and given immediate pain relief no matter what time of day or night.