To think what on earth would possess someone to turn up to an A&E to ask for a COVID test?

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Bolton hospital have tweeted that over 100 people have attended A&E to request a COVID test in recent days.
They have politely asked that “people think of others” before making the decision to go to a very busy A&E to ask for a test.
To only attend if they have had an accident or have a life threatening injury or illness.
They also say where you can get advice re testing.
It beggars belief.
Having had first hand experiences of people demanding ambulances for the most outrageous things, I’m not surprised but for the love of all that is sensible, why do people do this?
This is just Bolton, are people turning up to A&E countrywide asking for tests?
The poor staff on triage will have their share of abusive patients AND relatives tripled because of this, telling people that they can’t have what they demand.
Jeez, the world has gone mad.
And I do not accept that it’s ok to tip up at an accident and emergency department because they can’t get testing anywhere else, this is blatantly not the right thing to do.

Happens at our trust as well. Now extra security etc etc.
The testing centres are a total fiasco.

Testing in England will settle down. We saw the same 3 or 4 weeks ago when schools went back here, all the kids were snotty and everyone panicked.

I wish people would stop blaming the public for government failures.

@AnyFucker

The same reason that people go to A and E because of, an actual example this week, flat feet

Remember the people who called the police when KFC ran out of chicken?

If, my son was to be sent home and the whole family had to self isolate, we would have no money coming in and we are still recovering from lockdown.

My partner is customer facing, so it would be a choice of him going in and potentially infecting other people (so selfish) or losing our home. Its not as black and white as people are entitled, stupid or selfish, its a case of desperation for a large amount of people

@Aroundtheworldin80moves

Desperation. Fear. Confusion. And in some cases, entitlement.

This. If you are in a minimum wage job and can't go to work until you or your children have had a negative test then you can be desperate to keep the money coming in. Not everybody (and I don't mean this in a horrible way) is capable of rational thought when they are in a tricky spot and struggling for money. Obviously some will be taking advantage of the system and I have nothing but contempt for them but others will be trying to do what they feel they need to do and going about it the wrong way.

@Aroundtheworldin80moves

Desperation. Fear. Confusion. And in some cases, entitlement.

And in many cases, stupidity.

For at least the first three months of this pandemic there simply were no tests in the UK. Everyone relied on self diagnosis and self care unless they got to a stage where they couldn't speak for struggling to breathe and were then taken to hospital.

Obviously that was shambolic and disgraceful but having a test doesn't mean you will get treatment does it? It means you will be sent home to look after yourself as if you had flu (paracetamol, rest, fluids).

If I know that the last place I should just turn up if I suspect I might have C-19 is a surgery, medical centre or hospital then why doesn't everyone? I am not a specially intelligent or highly educated person.

CasperGutman

They also can't identify the hotspots if people can't get tested 🤷.

Like you said an absolutely broken system. I know of people paying for private tests, waiting 5 days or more for results. It's maddening

Because we have a pandemic or something close to one, rules that require children to miss school and a good chunk of the working population to miss work and thus potentially lose income if there's a possibility they have the virus, a decent proportion of the population who are panicking and our systems for testing plus tracking and tracing are fucked. I would never have done this myself, but then I'm wfh and have savings.

I see it as a sign of desperation tbh, the same as the ppl who turn up in A&E because they've tried (and failed) to get a GP appointment for weeks and feel they have nowhere else to turn.
It suggests a broken system more than anything else.

Well op the stupid people have identified themselves to you on this thread. Their reason? Desperation. I guess just as desperate as the man who demanded an ambulance because he had a cold.

Also yeah, some people are stupid, if we're using that terminology. Any system that has a hope of working needs to bake that in.

It’s like the Covid toilet roll saga all over again. People are told there’s a shortage of testing facilities and their mentality dictates that they want one whether they need one or not, so create massive problems for those genuinely in need of one.

i knew a couple who had a test as their relatives were due to come and stay,
reasonable or not?
actually not it turns out

I also see it as desperation. We have tried and struggled to get a test for my 12 year old who has type 1 diabetes. She is at no greater risk of Covid but it makes her condition harder to manage. I'm a key worker, her sister can't go to school and my dh is self employed so money becomes an issue. Got one yesterday which involved a 75 mile round trip. We grabbed it rather than holding out for a closer one. Everyone has a story as to why their test is important and when people are anxious or frightened for their loved ones or money is a worry then people make less than sensible decisions.

The perfect storm of being entitled and intellectually challenged

People are desperate and angry because they can’t book a test. Children off school because they have symptoms and then parents not being able to work as their child’s not allowed back until they have a clear test. People are fed up because this is all a total f#ck up.

I can absolutely understand people being desperate if not getting a test means losing their job and then their home.
The way this government has handled this situation has been an utter disgrace.

@AnyFucker

The same reason that people go to A and E because of, an actual example this week, flat feet

IME these are always the people who cause the most fuss about having to wait for several hours because the staff are dealing with peoplewho came in after them, just because those someones have life-threatening injury, or are bleeding like stuck pigs, or are small children with broken limbs and in a lot of pain.

They generally arrive with 11 family members, including noisy kids, and the who damn lot of them occupy all of the chairs in the waiting area. (Though I suppose covid has put paid to umpteen of them turning up).

Because we have been led to believe - by the Government - that we should get tested regardless. Some people cannot comprehend they may just have a cold etc, and rather than 'go out and pass it onto an old person and kill them' - they think they should be being better safe than sorry. Too much scare-mongering

I thought at the beginning the way the government were handling this crisis was pretty good. It went pear shaped so quickly though!

It was evident the needs of the economy was being placed ahead of scientific advice and then it all seemed to be made up on a going along basis with people in positions of power breaking the rules.

People are thick as shit generally too. Anyone seeing the way people behave with respect to the environment and each other can't deny this.

There are no police to enforce anything and the health system is broken.

These are terrifying times to be vulnerable in.

Can you really not understand why? People are obviously desperate for tests. In some case they’re sick, in others can’t work because they’re children are off. It’s not hard to see how desperate people might just think ‘sod it I’ll try A&E’ in those circumstances it isn’t their fault- it’s a systems failure that has led them there.

Unfortunately entitlement seems to be part of the problem. I waited for four hours with chest pain and someone else had torn her nail off. Now I can appreciate it would be painful but she was more worried about losing the nail she had just paid for than anything else.
I had very high BP and I was kept all night and there was a group of four or five talking very loudly and making a drama out of everything. Think running commentary of everything going past. Why they have to take a group of friends and why a group are allowed I don’t know. I was quite ill and struggled to sleep and I am sure I wasn’t alone in that. I did ask the nurse and she asked them to be quieter.

There doesn’t seem to be much problem here. Unless it has happened in the last week. DS2 had a test just over a fortnight ago. He said he waited about 10 mins results back just less than 24 hours which I thought was pretty good. He has been for four now and only waited a day for the first one. It is due to his job that he has had to go for so many.

I wish people would stop blaming the public for government failures.

If 100 people turned up at A&E, how many more are sat at home unable to get tests? It's unacceptable that so many people do not have access to a test.

My GP surgery sent a mass text yesterday asking people to stop asking them for tests because they don't have any.

I could fucking cheerfully throttle our government over the one fiasco after another handling of this