AIBU Triage waiting time for my daughter

[Zazz101]

I’m just after some feedback to know if I am being unreasonable or not..
My daughter collapsed last night and banged her head quite hard. She has an underlying neurological condition that does cause this, so it was not so much the collapse but more the bang on the head that caused concern. She was taken to hospital by ambulance, and left in the waiting room. I, unfortunately was not with her. She was left in the waiting room for over 3 1/2 hours until she was finally triaged. I understand that A & E is exceptionally busy, but surely she should have been triaged, then assessed to see if it was safe for her to wait hours to see a dr ? Thank you for any responses

I think that as she was taken in by ambulance, the paramedics will have done all - and more - of the tests that the A&E nurse would have done.

She was taken in by ambulance, so the ambulance crew assessed and triage her. They will have spoken to the triage nurse at hospital too - so although she didn't speak to the triage nurse for that long, it's not true that she wasn't triaged.

But she was triaged!

Who was with her?

The paramedics will have given information that probably meant she wasn’t classed as an emergency plus you usually get a quick check when they ask why you have come. I split my head open and when I was checking in they asked a few quick questions to check if I was concussed.

3.5hrs is quick for round here- where do you live!

The paramedics would of done that assessment

Depending on the ambulance trust involved, the crew will either have followed their trusts pathways to deem her suitable to be in the waiting room (based on observations and history), or they will have liased with the shift lead nurse to decide that your daughter was suitable to be in the waiting room. Either way, she will likely have had more observations (and multiple sets) with the ambulance crew than she would have with the triage nurse.

OK, that has put my mind at ease. Although when she was triaged, the triage nurse did ask why she was there, so there didn’t appear to be any hand over.

I would imagine the paramedics would have triaged her and would have ensured a medical professional was aware she was there before leaving (I don't think they can leave someone unless they have been officially handed over).

Hope she is ok.

If she came by ambulance she had essentially been assessed had she not? She would have been seen by the ambulance crew who would have handed over to A&E staff. It’s 4 hours until breech so was she seen at 3.5 hours then discharged?
It’s winter A&E is packed, lots of people misuse the service.
I fully agree ideally she should have been assessed on entering A&E but are you really sure she wasn’t? You say you were not there?

No, asking why she's there is standard - they can check her memory isn't impaired after the head injury, and also can check that the information they have is correct. It also ensures that the patient actually knows what's going on.

Agree with @Losinglola

She was asked that to check her memory, and her cognitive ability, not just because the nurse didn’t know.

And yes, she was triaged by the paramedics who took her in.

Hope she is on the mend nowx

Whenever we have been to hospital with ds (whether in an ambulance or not), every person that you talk to asks 'so what happened here?'....'what is the problem?'...even if they have just spoken to the paramedic, nurse etc. Maybe the Triage nurse was just doing this.

I have always assumed it is because it would be very easy for mix ups to happen in a busy A+E and in order to ascertain a full and accurate medical history.

I can appreciate the need to wait, but everyone else was triaged within an hour or so. It must have been the fact that the ambulance did indeed triage her. Thank you again.

I do think that sometimes the wait in a&e is on purpose as well. As if the paramedics had assessed her then the triage nurse would wait a couple of hours to see her incase anythings changed.
A couple of times I've been in with head injuries or an accidental swallowing incident I've wondered if the waiting room is used as a monitoring area to save bed space

She was taken to hospital by ambulance, and left in the waiting room. I, unfortunately was not with her. She was left in the waiting room for over 3 1/2 hours until she was finally triaged. I understand that A & E is exceptionally busy, but surely she should have been triaged, then assessed to see if it was safe for her to wait hours to see a dr?

I agree the paramedics will have triaged her. Just so you know, if she wasn’t deemed well enough by them to be in the waiting room, they would have stayed with her. It won’t have necessarily meant she was seen any sooner but there are many occasions when paramedics are waiting with their patients (who are part of the general waiting queue) on stretchers (out of sight) to be seen.

I hope your daughter is ok.