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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Should she have got priority treatment over other non-urgent patients?

249 replies

Rabbitradar · 30/11/2019 11:32

DD is an SHO (dr) in A&E in city X. She was off duty yesterday and so came home and stayed here last night in city Y which is 30 miles from city X. She was due on shift at 10am this morning. Unfortunately one of her contact lenses tore in her eye and despite several attempts a piece of contact lens remained in her eye causing blurred vision and mild pain.
She could not drive due to blurred vision so I drove her to eye casualty in city Y.
Waiting room packed (9am) and average wait time 4 hours.
DD didn’t ask for priority treatment - and wouldn’t dream of expecting to be seen before anybody requiring urgent treatment. She did ask what the waiting time was and explained she was due on shift in A&E at hospital X.

However, to me it seems nuts that she is spending the morning sat in a waiting room with lots of other non-urgent casualties (and doubtless some urgent ones too) whilst 30 miles down the road at hospital X the waiting room in A&E will be backing up further as they are 1 Dr down.

AIBU to think that in some circumstances -like these - it would be sensible for NHS staff to get priority treatment?

Please note I am not suggesting that any other patient’s treatment is compromised just that other non-urgent patients have to wait a bit longer ....

OP posts:
voddiekeepsmesane · 01/12/2019 14:41

Alrighteo, Still not getting it, are you? But Darkstar has said it for me.

This

Original poster
Rabbitradar · 01/12/2019 14:50

@Darkstar4855 perfectly put.

OP posts:
Alrighteo · 01/12/2019 14:54

The point is, that there are very many other people with VI jobs. So hospitals don't prioritise on who has a very important job.

TBH, I've seen them arsing around hospitals. Never seen them ran off their feet.

rp30 · 01/12/2019 14:58

What is also being overlooked is that it was not known that it would only be 10 minutes. What if it took much longer.

Also, yet again, the OP said her DD could work at hospital X until she was seen by the A&E she worked for. So then why did she go to a&e during work time? Surely she could had held on for a bit?

Alrighteo · 01/12/2019 14:59

I'll tell you one complete and utter waste of time.

You go to A&E. An A&E dr sees you and asks you 1 million questions. You're then assigned to let's say the medical team. That doctor then asks you the same fucking questions! Just copy and paste! FFS.

Particularly annoying me at the moment as on the last admission I couldn't speak as my lungs were not working so being asked the same questions twice really fucking annoyed me. Now that would save time....

vdbfamily · 01/12/2019 15:02

I manage a therapy team in the NHS and I think staff should get priority after urgent cases have been seen. There are not many other perks to the daily grind in the NHS. I have had one staff member of work on full pay for nearly 6 months awaiting an operation plus recovery time afterwards. How does it make sense to pay someone to stay at home rather than do their op quickly and get them back to work. I have had the therapists off for weeks awaiting physio....I think they should be seen straight away so they can get back to work. The NHS is groaning under pressure of more sick patients and there is no money to cover staff on sick leave until they have been off long enough for sick pay to stop. Why should they not be prioritised?

cloudsabc · 01/12/2019 15:02

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Evilspiritgin · 01/12/2019 15:05

Surely if your daughter was so so desperately worrying about her patients she would have been better off going to an opticians?? As previous posters have said chances are she would have been in and out within 10 mins, if it had been serious he would’ve sent her to the eye clinic to be seen right away!!

Ww2 soldiers etc are supposedly meant to have priority treatment but I think they stopped that practice years ago as they tend to be the ones on trolleys in corridors(the ones that are still alive that is)

TwatCat · 01/12/2019 15:09

Didn't they tell her not to drive? When DH has an iron filing in his cornea he had the dye etc and was told not to drive as it impairs vision.

feelingsinister · 01/12/2019 15:13

Sounds a bit suss. I was not allowed to drive after damaging my cornea. I also had to wear a patch so I'd be surprised if she was able to go straight back to work in A&E whether she'd waited 40 minutes or 4 hours to be seen.

Stinkycatbreath · 01/12/2019 15:14

No how ridiculous to suggest she should be priority based on her occupation. Other people have equally important jobs or carer duties. Shw is no more or less important.

Original poster
Rabbitradar · 01/12/2019 15:16

@vdbfamily I agree with you - helping your team members first means that nearly everyone else on the list will get help sooner.

OP posts:
randomsabreuse · 01/12/2019 15:18

The difference is that the Dr sat in eye casualty could be reducing the queue once treated... it's not so much important as immediately useful - and one of the local hospitals being understaffed will directly affect the waiting times at all of them!

Sometimes pragmatism makes more sense - treat your staff first then they're actually available to treat others- in the case of an A&E Dr, waiting the extra 10 minutes will potentially halve the wait for others as there are now 2 Drs working rather than one...

Presumably the DD wanted to let colleagues know how late she'd be - so cover could be planned? So a valid question...

The NHS procedures don't generally do pragmatic cynicism -adding this would probably improve waiting times massively- having injured staff back at work should absolutely be a priority!

CallmeAngelina · 01/12/2019 16:17

cloudsabc, I have reported your vile post.

Bozlem80 · 01/12/2019 17:30

But how do you know other people aren’t a priority?

CallmeAngelina · 01/12/2019 17:38

No how ridiculous to suggest she should be priority based on her occupation. Other people have equally important jobs or carer duties. She is no more or less important.

And another one! Angry It's not based on her occupation. No one is suggesting she should waltz to the front of the queue, say "I'm a doctor," get seen immediately and then go home for her tea. SHE IS DUE IN A&E FOR AN EMERGENCY SHIFT!! Her delayed arrival at work means dozens of other patients facing lengthy waits.

But yes, By all means be jobsworth about it, fail to apply common sense because "fair," and contribute to the major problems faced by A&E staff (and patients) all over.

ThistleTits · 01/12/2019 17:46

Thank goodness for triage.

Jack80 · 01/12/2019 17:50

I would have taken her to the hospital she works at she may have got seen quicker

manicmij · 01/12/2019 17:56

Not sure if DD would be able to just start back at work once attended to whether at her own place of work or the eye unit. Something lik a piece of contact lense can cause a lot of irritation and need time to settle. Definitely should wait her triaged turn though.

Frenchw1fe · 01/12/2019 18:00

When I worked in hospital pathology I had the same incident. A contact lens didn’t come out in one piece. I arrived for my Sunday shift and after an hour of pain and runny eyes told my colleague I needed to go to A & E. There were only 3 of us working the weekend and I explained to the nurse in A & E that I had left the dept short staffed and did she have any idea how long I may be?
She commented that she couldn’t bump me up just because I was staff. Fair enough.
The dept was quite quiet so I wasn’t too worried.
That’s fine, I said. You’re pretty quiet which is just as well because I’m the one processing all your blood samples this morning so they won’t get done until I’m finished here.
A& E have to turn blood results round within 2 hours and I knew that.
I was in with a Dr 2 minutes later.

mrscosta · 01/12/2019 18:03

You took her to receive medical treatment for a bit of contact lens stuck in the eye? What a waste of hospital time. This happens to me all the time. I don't go running to see a doctor about it. I try to get it out myself, if that fails, I put my glasses on and go about my day. Eventually it makes its way out by itself. The first time it ever happened to me, I was a teen and even then I didn't waste the hospitals time. I went to specsavers and had an optometrist take a look. Good god. No wonder waiting times are so long.

Frenchw1fe · 01/12/2019 18:05

@mrscosta
You risk your eyes if you want to , I wouldn’t.
My mum badly damaged her eye because she took your attitude and was lucky not to get permanent scarring.

HuggedTrees · 01/12/2019 18:14

Going against the grain, apart from treating more urgent cases, when it came to non urgent, surely getting a doctor back to work in A&E where they can see more patients makes total sense?

beautifulstranger101 · 01/12/2019 18:17

And another one! angry It's not based on her occupation. No one is suggesting she should waltz to the front of the queue, say "I'm a doctor," get seen immediately and then go home for her tea. SHE IS DUE IN A&E FOR AN EMERGENCY SHIFT!! Her delayed arrival at work means dozens of other patients facing lengthy waits.

We KNOW she wasn't going home for tea. Good grief. People were making the point that many OTHER OCCUPATIONS who work in emergency services should also jump the queue then. People understood the point exactly- they KNOW she was working in A&E, we were making the point that OTHER people might also be working emergency jobs - firefighters (in the middle of saving people in burning buildings), mental health rapid response team (they might be in the process of preventing someone committing suicide), bomb disposal (actively preventing a terrorist attack), paramedics (their delay being seen in A&E might prevent an ambulance reaching someone). THAT is the point. Where do you draw the line with people (not just doctors) who are on the front line of emergency services and who gets to decide which one should be seen first. THAT is why people said it should be in order of medical need. Because doctors aren't the only ones who deal with emergency situations.

Toomuchtrouble4me · 01/12/2019 18:33

YABU We’ve all got responsibilities and jobs - people relying on us.
Should the elderly/unemployed wait until last because they don’t have a job?