To go to a and e because I can't get an appointment with GP?

[Mamadoll]

I have been trying to get an appointment for almost 2 weeks now and I'm at the end of my tether with my symptoms. I was treated for helicobacter (stomach bacteria) a few weeks ago and within a week of stopping treatment my symptoms have come back with a vengeance. It's making my life a misery; I struggle to eat much and can't sleep properly for the constant pain in my stomach/ chest.

I really hate wasting people's time but am I supposed to just put up with this until after new year?

@Fatasfooook cardiac chest pain is an emergency. Pain from helicobacter is not an emergency. It’s probably a gastric ulcer.

OP, please don’t go to A&E for this. We had 175 people in the department last night, the waiting room was packed so full that people were having to stand, we had trolleys stacked 3 deep and we were opening parts of the hospital that are never used to cope with it, because people go to A&E for things that are neither accidents nor emergencies.

Ring your GP and ask for a phone consultation, and don’t forget there are nurse practitioners at most surgeries now. Failing that, ring 111. Just please don’t make A&E your first port of call.

I hope you get sorted soon though.

My local A and E have a primary care triage through which every person not arriving by ambulance has to pass before they are then re-triaged by A and E. If yours does the same, you might receive appropriate care while not entering the A and E system. I understand they do this so the Hospital is not paid for activity that primary care could provide.

I am not a doctor, so this is anecdotal only.

Helicobacteur is not likely to be giving you the symptoms you describe. Did they check whether you had an ulcer as well? Have you got some Omeprazole? Did the symptoms come back when you stopped it? It sounds like you have either an ulcer, or particularly bad acid, or as a pp said Gall Stones. None of these is an a&e issue, sorry. If you haven't got Omeprazole, or they only gave you two weeks, go to your chemist, they can give you an otc equivalent, it really helps me when I have a flare up, and they do prescribe it for full blown ulcers too.

Do press for a GP appointment though. Go to the surgery and request to be seen. They have to see you if you are in pain/v.ill.

shoebedobedobedobedoo
Hi OP, I’m an A&E consultant, and I’m going to go against the masses in this post. Honestly, less than 10% of my work is a true emergency. About 50% is urgent and the remaining 40% is primary care or common sense. I wouldn’t have a problem seeing you in my department.

I'm actually really shocked and outraged by this post. With this kind of attitude by A&E Consultants, no wonder there's a 6 hour wait before the 10% are seen.

I know a number of A&E Consultants and Senior Nursing staff. They all have the attitude of asking every time-waster "Hello, what is the accident or emergency?". This subtly gets the message home that they shouldn't be there, crippling the system, in such a way that they might not behave so irresponsibly again.

I don't want my taxes to pay for an A&E department that does nothing to push back on the timewasters and welcomes them with open arms as shoebedobedobedobedoo apparently does.

If you're saying 40% is primary care or common sense, you at the forefront should be doing something about it, not perpetuating it.

YABU to even consider A&E for this, cop on.

I just got onto the GP at hand app and quit my actual GP because I could never get appointments and it was so frustrating - I actually ended up in hospital with a severe kidney infection because i was made wait 2 weeks to see a GP about it

With the app you can get a video call usually that day and if i've needed to be seen in real life I can usually get an appointment within a day or 2 (Sometimes same day!!) have had to travel a little bit to get to a surgery that can see me but it's been worth it tbh!

But do say you need an urgent GP appt today.

Present yourself at your gp surgery at opening time either this afternoon or tomorrow morning and get an on the day appointment

Thanks for the replies. I have called my surgery every morning at 8am to try and get an emergency appointment and your call is put on a list so by the time they answer my call there's nothing left for that day and am told to call back the next morning. I've asked to speak to a doctor or nurse on the phone but I'm told "it's not possible". I've tried explaining to the receptionist that the doctor who saw me told me to come straight back to see her if my symptoms didn't go away, but it made no difference. The doctors and nurses at my surgery are really great, it just seems that you can't get near them.

I will ring 111 and see what they say. I'm really not a timewaster and generally don't bother with medical care unless I'm desperate.

Can you go to the GP and insist on being seen? If you’ve been trying for days and the receptionists are ignoring the doctors request that you be able to come back should the symptoms arise then I think this could be a good option.

It’s a lot harder to fob someone off face to face.

@Devereux1 no wonder there's a 6 hour wait before the 10% are seen. You clearly know nothing about how A&E works. Emergencies (the 10%) are seen immediately. The 40% wait. I’m sorry you don’t like my attitude, but I take the view that most of my patients have come to see me because either it is an emergency or urgent or they have been unable to get the healthcare they require elsewhere. I’m not there to pass judgement or tell them they have come to the wrong place, I’m there to treat them or reassure them.

I think that there should be two GP doctors at every A&E department and when you arrive you are triaged to a gp or A&E
You are then told what time your gp appointment is and you wait, once the appointments have been taken you can contact your own go or return the next day

As previously mentioned, many emergency departments have a GP service on site which diverts patients from the main hospital. Triage usually determines where you are sent. No one can tell what is wrong with you over the internet. However, my ex-husband had exactly the same symptoms as you. He had antibiotics for hpylori, but that didn't work. Turned out that he had gastritis and stomach ulcers. A course of omeprazole sorted him out, although he still needs to be careful with his diet. He was seen by a hospital consultant for blood tests and a endoscopy/ colonoscopy to identify the problem so see your GP on an emergency appointment, and write a list of symptoms before you go as it is easy to forget during a consultation. Good luck!

@shoebedobedobedobedoo you may be an a&e consultant, you may not be, to be fair no body knows who anybody actually is on an anonymous forum, however, I deal with the three a&e departments in our trust on a daily basis and we are sending out the message not to go to a&e unless it is an accident or emergency to prevent the '10%' (not sure where that comes from) from having to wait to be seen.

Unfortunately that is what A & E has become: a walk in centre.

The NHS needs reforming, people!

However, your symptoms do classify as a medical emergency, and you must go.

Ulcers can perforate and cause peritonitis, so please please please do not sit with this.

Does your GP surgery not have a call back or 'Ask my GP' service?

Can you (or someone for you) go to your surgery at 8am and ask for an appointment that day? That's what my surgery advises as getting through on the phone can take half an hour sometimes.
Failing that ours has a duty doctor so if you call up after appointments have gone you can go on their list and they will either ask to see you or give a message to reception who will call you back. Could you try calling up now and saying you weren't able to get an appointment this morning but really need to be seen?

One of my children was unable to see their GP for a month.

They now have an auto immune syndrome which was triggered by the original problem. This is a life changing event.

I would gladly pay to filter serious cases from self indulgence and to save the poor GPs from being the gatekeepers to the NHS.

I really don't think it is appropriate to go to A&E - is your illness life threatening? If the answer is no, either visit a pharmacy (they are actually really good at helping) or call 111 who SHOULD be able to get you an emergency appointment at your GP or an appointment at your local walk in centre.

Otherwise sadly if you have seen a GP already and been given treatment you likely just need to wait it out.

shoebedobedobedobedoo
@Devereux1 no wonder there's a 6 hour wait before the 10% are seen. You clearly know nothing about how A&E works. Emergencies (the 10%) are seen immediately. The 40% wait.

You clearly think you know everything because of your role. You clearly don't, and it is obnoxious to assume my information from other A&E staff is incorrect merely because I do not have your role.

You're now suggesting that among all those people waiting up to 6 hours in A&E there are no real A&E cases? This is a nonsense. It is not just the 40% which you give as primary care cases that wait, there are people with real accidents and real emergencies who are left to wait whilst timewasters/fakers/those who use A&E as their personal GP service ruin the system.

As you must know, there are secondary care policies and targets which mean huge pressure to see some patients within certain windows otherwise your hospital gets a ticking off. Sometimes if that means a waiting timewaster is seen before a real A&E case, they go ahead and are seen.

I’m sorry you don’t like my attitude
That's OK, I appreciate your sympathy for my situation.

but I take the view that most of my patients have come to see me because either it is an emergency or urgentor they have been unable to get the healthcare they require elsewhere.

Do you ever take the view rooted in reality which is that they are not unable at all, they haven't even tried?

I’m not there to pass judgement or tell them they have come to the wrong place, I’m there to treat them or reassure them.

Part of that is to tell them if they have come to the right department for their needs. It is not. You are causing more problems for society, for the NHS and for the patient themselves by perpetuating their use of A&E as their queue-jumping private GP service.

If you’ve not been able to get an appointment when your GP said to return if needs be, why haven’t you asked to speak to the Practice Manager? Surely the HCPs there need to be made aware?

Hi OP, I’m an A&E consultant, and I’m going to go against the masses in this post. Honestly, less than 10% of my work is a true emergency. About 50% is urgent and the remaining 40% is primary care or common sense. I wouldn’t have a problem seeing you in my department.

And that, is very understandable!

And it shows a real need for an out of 9 to 5 GP system and this is what our hospital has done, they have a sort of GP walk or crawl in bit tacked onto A&E which has taken the strain off the overall system!

So whats the OP to do?, perhaps write to Boris J asking him if she has to die first before being seen anywhere!.

If it were me?, well i very rarely see our surgery but I do know i would get a telephone appoiment if absoutlty no one was there to see me failing that I'd call 111 or go to the hospital.

In fact I think if GP surgeries were attached ot hospital perhaps not that bad an idea a LOT more diagnostic resources are avaiable there. I can tell a tale of someone who if they went to the hospital first would have saved themselves a lot of pain and time off work.

Pehraps the whole system need a bit of a re think?

If you can afford it, it's only about 30 quid to see a GP privately and they actually prescribe for private patients as a bonus

In your shoes I would either turn up at 8am as you’ll have a better chance of getting an apt (as Twinmum says)

Also, can you not make advance appointments? I had a chest infection and the GP gave me an spot that was in 8 days time. I then turned up the next day at 8am, got a same day appt and called the later appt.

Todaythiscouldbe
however, I deal with the three a&e departments in our trust on a daily basis and we are sending out the message not to go to a&e unless it is an accident or emergency to prevent the '10%' (not sure where that comes from) from having to wait to be seen.

This is what should happen. Push back.