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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be annoyed at 111?

68 replies

hastingsmua1 · 15/03/2019 21:18

Called 111 at 6pm, as that is the only way to get an out of hours GP appointment. The 111 nurse told me to go to A&E within the hour. I told them that I think that is unnecessary as I don’t feel unwell enough, I just wanted an out of hours appointment. He said that I have to go to A&E as I have been coughing up blood, and an out of hours GP/urgent care would not have the facilities to take x rays etc if necessary so to save time being redirected later I should go straight to A&E.

I have been at A&E for the past 2 hours, haven’t even had an assessment yet. I know I’m at the bottom of the triage list (which is fair enough) but I can’t help but feel like I shouldn’t be here to begin with. I told the 111 adviser that I didn’t want to waste A&E resources as I am not extremely unwell. I also feel like my time has been wasted as I have been wrongly directed to A&E, with very long wait times when other facilities would have been more appropriate. By the time I probably leave A&E, all shops/restaurants will be closed and public transport would have stopped running which means that I’ll have to order food in and get a taxi home which is just unnecessary expenditure for a minor problem.

OP posts:
FatChloe · 15/03/2019 22:04

111 sent me to A&E when I needed an emergency blood test. I'm on long term medication which can (in very very very rare cases) cause problems so if I get a sore throat I need a blood test sooner rather than later, as ridiculous as it sounds.

I felt ridiculous being there and had to wait a while behind all the poorly babies and adults who looked a lot more poorly than me, but I needed to be there. The best thing is for you to have it checked out, as frustrating as the situation may be.

Schuyler · 15/03/2019 22:05

YABU, you were advised to go to A&E, not forced. Personally, I’d suck it up and stay in case it is serious. You have been given medical advice based on your symptoms. It’s boring to hang around but use your phone and entertain yourself.

Starlight456 · 15/03/2019 22:06

I was sent to A&E within the hour with my Ds. I apologised when I got there. As tests went on it became clear it was more serious and he was in surgery within 12 hours .

Random18 · 15/03/2019 22:06

We got referred to A&E once as there were no OOH appts and my sons temp was too low.
We waited for ages and eventually went home. We had been triaged.
I actually checked with triage nurse before we left. His temp was better and he was sleeping peacefully. She couldn’t advise us to go but said she had no concerns about him.
We did get Gp appt next morning.

There have been other times we have been sent to A&E - sick less than a week after head injury - viral infection.

Would I ever not follow there advice - NO

You answer questions and computer has to make a judgement based on the answers you give.

goingtotown · 15/03/2019 22:08

You don’t seem bothered about coughing up blood, so go home.

Cheby · 15/03/2019 22:14

At this hospital, the 4 hour wait time begins after the initial assessment

No it doesn’t. The 4 hour wait is a national target. You can’t game it by not starting the clock until you’ve triaged. The clock starts the minute you check in at reception.

Today, they may well have such a long wait that you will be well over 4 hours in total. But they will be breaching their targets. They can’t just pretend they’re meeting it by starting the clock later. If they did, this would be fraud and they would be investigated by NHSI.

2 hours for triage is very unusual. It sounds like they are extremely busy.

adulthumanwolf · 15/03/2019 22:17

A GP would absolutely not have the necessary tools to patch you up and send you on your way if you're coughing up blood. They'd send you to A&E.

cloudymelonade · 15/03/2019 22:26

Jeeeez.

If you'd gone to your GP, they wouldn't be able to carry out the required tests, like you've been told. So you would have been sent to A&E anyway with a whole extra step of a wasted appointment.
Get a grip, if you're not concerned, go home.
You're coughing up blood and having to order a takeaway is your biggest concern? You might want to have a little look at your priorities.

MereDintofPandiculation · 15/03/2019 22:41

You're giving the OP an unnecessarily hard time. There's a whole raft of things which fall between the cracks - can't be dealt with at minor injuries or out-of-hours GP, but low priority for A&E. Your elderly parent has fallen and has a cut on their head - bleeding has stopped but it needs something done to hold the edges together. Not Minor Injuries - they don't deal with head injuries in the over 70s. So it has to be A&E. But it's not high priority at A&E so your elderly parent is sitting on a hard chair for 4 hours or more before the cut is finally seen to. Elderly person falls and carer has called an ambulance - 8 hour wait for ambulance to arrive. Yes it's right that life threatening things should have priority - but it doesn't do any old person much good to be lying on the floor for 8 hours.

Cyw2018 · 15/03/2019 22:50

Clearly you know better than the HCP, and as such will be well aware of the differential diagnosis for Haemoptysis (that's coughing up blood!!)…

Pulmonary Embolism
Pneumonia
Congestive heart failure
Pulmonary Endometriosis
Lung cancer

Enjoy your take away, what you having?!

Please stop NHS bashing and be grateful that these services exists!

GabsAlot · 15/03/2019 22:52

i dont get i though out of hours would hav sent u to a and e anyway so what do you want to do

IHopeYouUnderstandWeArePuppets · 15/03/2019 22:56

Just wait it out in A&E OP. That’s what you’ve been advised.

I really wonder if mumsnet puts off people who genuinely need to go to A&E. Even if they send you home, they aren’t likely to give you the stink eye for coughing up blood. Better safe than sorry.

LinenLou · 15/03/2019 22:56

A GP would have recommended you go to a&e right away so you could have an urgent chest & abdo xray or CT. Which is likely what you will end up having. What else do you expect the gp to do? No has forced you to go to a&e and no one is forcing you to stay. It's a Friday night, it's going to be busy. If your that concerned about your wait leave and go back in the morning. What facilities do you deem more appropriate for a potential GI bleed? Where did you get your medical qualifications to make that judgement?

MereD - An elderly person would 110% not be sat in a&e for 4 hours with an open wound on their head after a head injury!! What nonsense!

LilQueenie · 15/03/2019 22:59

Be bloody thankful they are taking notice of you. I nearly lost my life when I was sent away twice.

MereDintofPandiculation · 15/03/2019 23:00

MereD - An elderly person would 110% not be sat in a&e for 4 hours with an open wound on their head after a head injury!! What nonsense! I'm speaking from experience. I am not making up fantasy scenarios.

wigglypiggly · 15/03/2019 23:03

Go home if you dont want to wait. I needed medical advice so rang my gp for a call back, no reply so rang 111 who advised a call back from the gp within one hour, called gp again to explain this but they never did call me back. Absolute waste of time so you're lucky you got taken seriously.

GirlcalledJack · 15/03/2019 23:03

I don’t understand this post at all OP.

You are not being held there against your will, leave if you want. You’re an adult and can’t make your own decisions, if you think everyone is wrong and it’s all unnecessary hassle then go home.

Personally I think you’re an absolute idiot for wanting to leave and that you are in the best place you could possibly be.
It certainly sounds like A&E is the right place for you. Although clearly with your medical degree you know best.

UnalliterativeGeorge · 15/03/2019 23:06

Yanbu, I had to wait seven hours in a&e one weekend as they gave us an ooh appointment for my daughter for an hour's time from when I rang at 9am then rang back and cancelled it and sent us to a&e instead as "it'd be quicker". Couldn't go to ooh without an appointment as they wouldn't see her but she needed to see a doctor.

TheFairyCaravan · 15/03/2019 23:11

If I had started vomiting coffee grounds, which is what they call brown splatters bits, I would have phoned my GP in office hours and left work ealry. My GP, and I know others can, can ring straight through to the appropriate department at the hospital thus avoiding a wait at A&E.

It's unreasonable to be ill all day then whinge about having to wait to be seen on one of the busiest nights of the week.

alfagirl73 · 15/03/2019 23:12

Coughing up blood requires an urgent referral in any event so a GP would likely send you straight to A&E anyway. Better to be there and rule out anything serious than leave and delay your own diagnosis of something that could've been caught early and in time to do something about it.

VelvetSpoon · 15/03/2019 23:21

I've seen an elderly person with a head laceration waiting in A&E for over 3 hours...and they were there before I got there so it's quite possible they were there for 4+ hours. I'm not sure why that's difficult to believe.

I also think the OPs getting a hard time. Not everyone can just leave work early (certainly not without losing pay) and even if you do there's no guarantee of a gp appt. At my GP there is a minimum 3 week wait for appts, however available I am to attend. My only chance of getting seen sooner is via the OOH service. My GP is a mile from my home. OOH is about 1.5 miles. Our nearest A&E is 10 miles, which in London traffic even at this time of night takes over half an hour to get to by car, or an expensive cab ride. It's also a rough area I would feel quite vulnerable getting home from late at night. I can therefore sympathise with the OP whp is probably going to be stuck waiting until the early hours for something which (hopefully) isn't that serious.

bullyingadvice2017 · 15/03/2019 23:27

I am married to a paramedic.
111 redirect they call it. So many ambulances they send out unnecessarily. The scripted questions they ask are the worst.

DSHathawayGivesMeFannyGallops · 15/03/2019 23:30

I am no fan of 111 but I think you received the correct advice and should follow it. Heed the tales on this thread of people who were admitted after presenting at A&E as a precaution and expecting to be sent on their way. I hope all goes well OP!

PlatypusPie · 15/03/2019 23:36

Surely the OOH GP appointments are for if you fall ill out of normal surgery hours - or on the day and they consider you do need to be seen at some point albeit later - and not just because the normal surgery times don’t fit in with your working hours ?? It’s not an additional schedule of service for those who won’t take the time off work, irksome though it may be, even to attend to what they clearly think are urgent health concerns .

Lougle · 15/03/2019 23:37

"At this hospital, the 4 hour wait time begins after the initial assessment."

No, it doesn't. A hospital near me had that system, and when I reported it to the CQC, they called me, urgently, to discuss my complaint. When I explained that the 4 hour wait started from triage point, and that in effect, nobody knew you were even there until you were trusted, because you all just sat in a section, keeping an eye on whose turn it is next, they immediately said they'd investigate.

They phoned me later that day to say that they had contacted the hospital and told them to make changes within 24 hours to make the triage system clearer and to register all patients when they arrived at the department.

The 4 hour wait starts from the point you present to the receiving hospital.

If the hospital is in the South, feel free to PM me to make sure we're not talking about the same hospital. I never 'mystery shopped' it to see if the changes had been made.