A&E is much calmer and a better place now that patients can’t have visitors with them

[Sharpandshineyteeth]

I do understand some people really do need a family member. I’m pretty sure the staff wouldn’t turn away an essential family member.

But generally, it’s a much better place without tons of family members and friends all sitting with patients. Taking up seats and Sometimes kicking up an unnecessary fuss.

Surely it’s better for infection control in general.

I’m sitting here right now waiting to be seen and for a Saturday night it’s so calm. The staff seem calmer and the patients seem calmer as well.

I say keep this rule!!

Patient +1 seems the best answer, though I don’t mind being in A&E on my own.

I think visiting numbers and hours should be properly enforced too.

I had hyperemesis gravidarum throughout my pregnancy last year and had to present at a&e a couple of times for rehydration.
I could hardly talk due to the nausea and was pretty disoriented at times. I even found myself lying on the toilet floor of a&e more than once as I couldn’t even sit upright on a chair in the waiting room. The thought of having to do that alone is terrifying - and I was no where near the sickest person there (though I did always get called through pretty quickly resulting in dirty looks from people who clearly thought I was a filthy little queue jumper )

I had to go in alone while bleeding heavily while miscarrying. I think 1 guest per person is fair, people are often struggling and it also helps to have someone keeping an eye on you and listening out for you name when you're unwell.

I sat in A&E for several hours while my husband was being assessed for a heart attack ( he had,)
There was an enormous extended family , very loud, children playing with the water dispenser and throwing water around while a child from their family was being assessed for a sprained foot. There must have been at least ten adults and multiple children.
The child was eventually released with a bandage but nothing serious.
The security staff had to intervene several times to tell them to calm down and to disperse as they took up too many spaces in the waiting room.

It was embarrassing to behold.

@SantaClaritaDiet

GurlwiththeCurl

such a shame you had to! I don't understand why we are refused copies of our medical files in this country.

You can request copies of medical notes in the UK.

In theory, YANBU. I was in A&E a few weeks ago. It was much more peaceful without various patients bringing an entourage. However, I was quite unwell and given very specific instructions which weren’t written down in a way that I fully understood. As a result, I made an error which landed me back there a few days later. It would have been better to have a healthy person with me to absorb the info especially as I was upset over the diagnosis.

My daughter (22) was rushed into A&E yesterday afternoon... we were turned away at the door. Whilst I 100% understand the reasons why they are allowing no visitors, it was heartbreaking watching her being taken away sobbing, and then getting messages saying she wanted us there.

No wards at our hospital are allowing visitors. We've been lucky that the ward they moved her to now that she's stable is ground floor and looks onto the car park, so we've had a quick cheeky hand hold through the window. She'll be going into surgery in the next 24 hours. It's been so tough on us all.

Incidentally she is a trainee nurse working in A&E. If you'd asked me what I thought a week ago, I'd have said "whatever is safest" and hearing some of the horror stories my DD tells about patient families, she'd have agreed 100%. However, sitting on the other side, the mental and emotional toll the last two days has taken has been huge on all of us - especially the very upset and scared patient. Sometimes, you just need a hand to hold and someone to sit with you.

We have a rule of no relatives in the clinical areas unless it's in a caring or translating capacity. And a maximum of 1 relative in the waiting room if required for transport etc. And to be honest ... it's bloody lovely! It means that the visitor that comes in with the patient is generally the most sensible and clued up. Helpful if the patient doesn't know meds etc. More space to move about, do things with your patient, I'm able to actually focus and talk to my patient without 4 people watching and interrupting and fussing, less people asking you the same bloody question 9 times from 9 different relatives, no cheeky relatives trying to steal sandwiches out of our kitchen (FFS).

Obviously, exceptions are made if it's End of life care, Major Traumas etc. We let relatives come in in limited numbers.

[quote StopGo]@Sharpandshineyteeth my DH was told he was terminally ill in A&E without me or anyone else to support him. It was brutal, cruel and unforgivable. They allowed me in later as they couldn't console him. So excuse me as I as say fuck you.[/quote]

This is inhuman. I am so, so, sorry you and your DH had to experience this.

It’s axiomatic that if you’re in an emergency department it’s an emergency, so you need someone who knows you well to advocate for you. There may be exceptions to this, fine, but forcing patients to endure alone is unforgivable, even in a pandemic.

@ShopTattsyrup

We have a rule of no relatives in the clinical areas unless it's in a caring or translating capacity. And a maximum of 1 relative in the waiting room if required for transport etc. And to be honest ... it's bloody lovely! It means that the visitor that comes in with the patient is generally the most sensible and clued up. Helpful if the patient doesn't know meds etc. More space to move about, do things with your patient, I'm able to actually focus and talk to my patient without 4 people watching and interrupting and fussing, less people asking you the same bloody question 9 times from 9 different relatives, no cheeky relatives trying to steal sandwiches out of our kitchen (FFS).

Obviously, exceptions are made if it's End of life care, Major Traumas etc. We let relatives come in in limited numbers.

Lovely?

Shame on you.

A friends husband was taken in a few days ago, she wasn’t allowed to go with him. He died 2 hours later. Completely unexpected.
Another friends brother died in A&E a few months ago, she wasn’t allowed to see him for 2 weeks!!
An elderly neighbours husband with dementia went in alone, no one knows what came of his admission as no papers were sent home.

No it’s not a good thing

As the parent of a child frequently ill enough to be in a and e regularly, the arseholes who turn up with the entire family can do one. It's bad enough waiting four hours or whatever to be seen without putting up with these absolute fuckers blocking all the seats and making a lot of noise. One family member works just fine. We have had to go in several times during Covid and it's been miles better. Should become a permanent rule.

My old neighbour died on the floor in A&E from her brain tumour. Thankfully her son was with her holding her hand. She was waiting to see the doctor.

@ShopTattsyrup please don’t listen to @WiseUpJanetWeiss. Totally uncalled for her to say ‘Shame on you’. You’re a medical professional and should be able to get on with your job without a truckload of family members gawping. I’ve been in children’s a&e more times than I care to recall, and every time there have been several families treating it like a day trip to the bloody circus, taking up space, hassling staff to ask why little Courtney’s toe hasn’t been assessed yet, and letting their multiple kids run riot and bang into seriously ill patients. One adult visitor/supporter per patient is acceptable- any more is ridiculous. It’s a hospital, not a theme park.

[quote Adirondack]**@ShopTattsyrup* please don’t listen to @WiseUpJanetWeiss*. Totally uncalled for her to say ‘Shame on you’. You’re a medical professional and should be able to get on with your job without a truckload of family members gawping. I’ve been in children’s a&e more times than I care to recall, and every time there have been several families treating it like a day trip to the bloody circus, taking up space, hassling staff to ask why little Courtney’s toe hasn’t been assessed yet, and letting their multiple kids run riot and bang into seriously ill patients. One adult visitor/supporter per patient is acceptable- any more is ridiculous. It’s a hospital, not a theme park.[/quote]
She should listen. She’s supposed to be a healthcare professional who cares about her patients. To say it’s lovely that her patients are alone in A&E with no relative to support them unless she decides it’s necessary to call them from the waiting room is a disgrace.

Hoards of people are of course unnecessary, but no-one should be forced to be alone in such a frightening situation.

@Turnedouttoes

One person per patient is reasonable surely. What really annoys me is when it’s a child and they’ve got both parents there plus multiple siblings running riot

I agree mostly with that.

However when you have a seriously ill baby and no siblings, I have every sympathy with both parents with them. Or a single adult with ill child and siblings may have no choice whether to bring them or not.

So one person per patient sounds reasonable on the face of it, but there are times it would be unfair to insist.

I can see the benefits of restricting support numbers, especially people not in the same household in walk-in centres, though I worry about people who will avoid seeking medical care without being able to take in support. There have definitely times in my life where I'd need to be pretty much immobile to get me into a medical situation without someone for support. I also worry we're going to be hearing more stories of medical abuse, and less available to investigate it.

Where I am, before COVID, there was an effort to help people not leave medical care too long by having posters about the right to bring or request a 'chaperone' (I'd prefer the term support). They also made it clear in other literature that it's one person as support, if needed, so maybe they were trying to deal with two issues with one information campaign. Now, they've even more signs that one can be requested which I'm glad they're doing for those it helps, I'm just not one of them.

I can see having set rules, but there will always be exceptional circumstance that others have discussed many examples of. A parent with a child who needs to be seen but has no other childcare for siblings too young to be left at home came to mind first, that would be a hard position to be in. As others have mentioned, having uncontrolled kids can make being in A&E so much worse, but I wonder what options for this type or similar situations other than letting a child have to be alone which seems harsh.

Is it just because there are no family members?? I'd also think that other factors are at play, such as potentially fewer alcohol based issues (falls & fights), reduced contact sports events and people putting more thought into whether a trip to A&E is necessary/worth the risk.

@WiseUpJanetWeiss I do care about my patients, and the reality is. If you need to get an acutely unwell patient stabilised quickly then that's much easier if their family can't see what's happening behind the scenes until they're stabilised. If there is a woman having a miscarriage in one cubicle, I need to give her as much attention as I can, without 3 children from another patient running through A&E or without a drunken couple having an argument in the corridor outside her cubicle. As I said in my previous post, it's lovely because it means I can focus on my patient, I can talk to them, I can get on with treating them without having half their family sat around fussing and pulling me away from my actual job so that I can fetch them chairs, make them a cup of tea, so thay they can ask me the same question asked by each individual relative when I'm trying to actually treat their relative.

As I also said, one relative is allowed in in a caring capacity. If someone is distressed, vulnerable, has additional needs, is scared of needles and needs someone to hold their hand etc. they of course can have someone to accompany them.

We've only allowed one parent to stay and they could only swap every 7 days. Everyone was very good about it, though it was really tough for them. But from out pint of you it's been lovely to not have heaps of extra people. One other person can now visit in the afternoon and it's a bloody nightmare trying to police that.

@Turnedouttoes

One person per patient is reasonable surely. What really annoys me is when it’s a child and they’ve got both parents there plus multiple siblings running riot

All the time!

@WiseUpJanetWeiss you clearly
Didn’t read her post properly. She wasn’t saying it was lovely
That her patients were alone, was she?

The problem with all of this is that it assumes that one size fits all. When my severely disabled brother went into hospital he required 2 carers, as he does 24/7, 365 and will do for the rest of his life.

In the event that my eldery mother required a&e who has complex health issues herself, she would require an advocate (i.e. me) to be able to relay details of all the drugs she takes daily. She cannot do this when well, so she isn't going to be able to do it when sick enough to require a&e. So I'd need to be with her but also need to have my severely disabled brother with me, at least initially until ss arranged additional support (which in my experience can take WEEKS).

My sister is a single parent of multiple children who at various points. Is she supposed to hope the sick child doesn't die, whilst we organise childcare for the others? For the record I've always gone and met her, taking supplies for her/sick child and collected the other 2 kids but sometimes its been a couple of hours after they've got to a&e because I've had to ensure appropriate care/cover for my brother first.

[quote ShopTattsyrup]@WiseUpJanetWeiss I do care about my patients, and the reality is. If you need to get an acutely unwell patient stabilised quickly then that's much easier if their family can't see what's happening behind the scenes until they're stabilised. If there is a woman having a miscarriage in one cubicle, I need to give her as much attention as I can, without 3 children from another patient running through A&E or without a drunken couple having an argument in the corridor outside her cubicle. As I said in my previous post, it's lovely because it means I can focus on my patient, I can talk to them, I can get on with treating them without having half their family sat around fussing and pulling me away from my actual job so that I can fetch them chairs, make them a cup of tea, so thay they can ask me the same question asked by each individual relative when I'm trying to actually treat their relative.

As I also said, one relative is allowed in in a caring capacity. If someone is distressed, vulnerable, has additional needs, is scared of needles and needs someone to hold their hand etc. they of course can have someone to accompany them.[/quote]
Fair enough Shop. You have now explained that the patient’s needs are taken into account. This is really not what you said in your original post.

[quote Adirondack]@WiseUpJanetWeiss you clearly
Didn’t read her post properly. She wasn’t saying it was lovely
That her patients were alone, was she?[/quote]
I did read her post properly, and she said it was lovely that there were hardly any relatives. This is not lovely for patients. She’s since elaborated that it’s not only in EoLC and major trauma situations that patients are allowed to have their support present, but this is extended to any patient based on their needs. Her original post implied that this was not the case.