how do i get to A&E?

[hurtmyankle]

not AIBU but posting for traffic

I've fallen over about half an hour ago and heard my ankle crunch, can't put weight on it and in a lot of pain, taken paracetamol and got it raised but really am in unbelievable pain and think I need to go to A&E, my DP says i've just fallen over and i'm being silly but i'm not so He's gone to work.

I can't get a taxi and have no family here to call to drive me so how do I get to A&E? If I ring 111 can they arrange transport? The hospital is only a 2 minute drive from me but I can't walk what is the best thing to do?
Sorry for asking here but my DP is useless and my family are all away

Wowzers done already in an hour and a half! That was QUICK! You definitely don’t live where I live OP!

For what it’s worth, if you had got an ambulance via 111 it would have been low priority so you would probably have still been waiting for it now.

Hopefully you’ll be home in the next hour or so and it’ll all be done and dusted.

You have my sympathy, I broke my ankle just over 2 weeks ago and sprained the other one leaving my friends house after a play date with our children , my foot was facing the wrong way.

My friend automatically called for an ambulance for me and I don't think she was wrong to. I was sat in the middle of her drive in the dark with a duvet over me.

Fortunately I could call my partner and my friends partner came home, but my partner suggested trying to get me into the car as I could be waiting hours for an ambulance as not a priority, so I had to shuffle on my bottom and be pulled up by the partners.

user1497718723
You have twisted it. If it was broken you wouldn't be typing as you'd be in severe pain. Keep it elevated and ice it

Heh - I broke mine and skied back to the ski hire place (was adamant I didn't want the banana stretcher), changed into my boots, walked back to my hotel (about 1/4 mile), had a mate deliver pizza to my room, had a bath (crawled to the bathroom), called the insurance company and took their advice, went to bed, walked to the medical centre the next day, argued with the consultant - I thought it was just a sprain..... until he showed me the X-ray with two fractures.

It was very painful, I hurt my knee too and that was hurting more. But it really would not have stopped me posting on Mumsnet (had it existed).

Conversely, a couple of years later I sprained the other one and was convinced it was broken. Got myself to A&E by taxi (was staying in London for work) and the Xray showed no break, though they did say one of the bones on top of the foot might be broken - but that hurt way more than the first break!

NO - needs treatment immediately.

Genuinely laughed out loud then. 😂

but there is a flaw in that excellent plan, how will we tell user if we can't type?!

That’s what was so funny. If they typed NO then they need help immediately.

I've had sprains that put me on gas and air and urgently into a&e before (snapped tendons) and I've had breaks that I've hobbled on. Both need a&e treatment.
Hope you're doing ok OP

You have twisted it. If it was broken you wouldn't be typing as you'd be in severe pain. Keep it elevated and ice it

Bollocks. I walked around with a broken wrist for 3 days because it didn't hurt that much and some idiot gave me similar advice.

Rainbow you don’t put pressure on a wrist like you do an ankle. Bit different!

Glad you’re being seen OP. Bad day for ankles it would seem!

Hope you are okay OP.

Diana, I see your point but you aren't putting pressure on your ankle when you are sat down with it raised either.

Rubbish about broken bones always being agony. My son had a clean break right across his wrist a few months ago and had so little pain we nearly didn't bother with A&E.

Joining in with the chorus. My friends ds broke his arm. After the initial pain, and idiots who were there with her saying it was overkill taking him hospital because it didn’t swell up, she took him in. He had X-ray, saw it, was sent to wait. Her ds started playing normally. Someone in waiting room started on her that she was wasting nhs resources- 30mins later he was in a cast- nice big fracture. She said the idiots face was a picture when she waltzed past saying ohh such a waste of time, twat! 😂

I walked on a broken ankle for 6 months before anyone finally listened to me and I had an MRI!!! And I work in an X-ray Department!!!! Oh the irony!!!!

I walked round with a broken wrist.

There’s an acrobat in the midst.

Hope it is ok OP.
Impressed you got seen to quickly at a&e!

I hope you get the care you need op and haven't taken the harsher comments to heart. It's hardly like you have stubbed your toe and decided to call 999. I get that people waste nhs resources, but being in pain, fearing you have broken a bone and being frightened because you can't afford to get to hospital does not deserve abuse. I think that some people don't realise that some people have no money and very little support.

In my experience (mainly with dd) the triage/X-Ray tends to happen fairly quickly, then you wait ages for someone able to check and interpret it.

Do some people really not understand that sometimes people really can't afford a taxi hope you're okay OP

Ouch. I tore the ligaments in my foot when I tripped over a hole in the ground in a park- my foot went one way, I went the other. My friends who were about 20 metres behind me heard the snap from them tearing. I thought I'd broken my ankle because of the sound.

Silly me thought tearing ligaments would actually be better than breaking the bone, but the doctor at A&E informed me that was not the case. Right enough, I still have a bit of weakness in that foot three years later and am really paranoid about being on uneven ground.

Hope you can get it sorted and it's just a bad sprain!

My broken ankle hurt less than my sprained ankle.
Hope you are ok OP

Glad you managed to get there OP x

you don’t put pressure on a wrist like you do an ankle

Equally, you don’t type with your ankle.

This insistence that people with fractured legs and ankles should hobble to and from a taxi is terribly dangerous. It can make the injury much worse. For the sake of saving NHS ambulance resources you could end up using much, much more of their resources over the years in terms of treatment for long term injuries.

If you've ever waited an insanely long time for an ambulance while your loved one is seriously ill or injured, you would probably have strong opinions on misuses of ambulances

^^ This.

Only two nights ago my friend's 89 yo mother had fallen down the stairs. She'd been lying there for hours (normally quite independent). Punctured lung, broken leg, cuts and bruises everywhere, and a bleed on the brain. She waited over two hours for an ambulance...