To think this is why our A and E are failing?!

[DaisyLilyFlower]

Currently in A and E with suspected ectopic pregnancy (told to come here from 111) and current wait is around 4 hours, already been here two.

I’ve been sat by triage next to the reception desk, so not deliberately being nosy but in the last hour two patients have come in with

One with an ear infection
And another with a ingrown toenail

Cannot believe it! Reception asked them both if they’d been to see GP or rang 111, tried overnight pharmacy etc and both said no!
I do not doubt that both of those conditions are extremely painful, but I sort of can’t believe that people turn up to A and E without trying other methods first?

I’m probably just being wingy as I’m in pain and the wait is long and ABU, but I guess my question is,

What’s the worst thing you’ve seen at a and e?

Also Name change as don’t want this linked to my other posts but reg poster.

YANBU OP but as can see, people have an ingrained level of entitlement that blinds common sense.

It's not acceptable to go to A&E with an ear infection having not exhausted all other options. And an ingrown toenail can't be treated at A&E FFs.

I'd suggest the solution is to pay a set charge for an A&E visit, refundable on treatment (and not refundable for time wasters). Emergency treatment would not be chargeable.
But if course I'd be accused of reserving treatment for the wealthy or some such thing.

I hope you are ok OP .
Just to say that the big problem for AE dept is the reluctance of GPS to see their patients!!!
Until Covid it was unheard of for a GP to refuse to examine their patients!
Trying to get to speak to a GP involves freeing up a day to wait for them to call back
My baby granddaughter has been ill throughout March/April/ May and has been on three courses of ABs for high temp,chesty cough and generally unwell.
In desperation I took her to AE two weeks ago ....her mother was on her knees with exhaustion and worry ! I sat it out with her for 4 hours and when we finally saw a paediatrician he was absolutely furious and was angry that my granddaughter was the 5th child he had seen that day with the same back story!
Baby had chronic inflammation and infection in both ears,pharynx,larynx ...now on completely different type of AB and is a different baby .
All could have been avoided if seen and examined 2 to 3 months ago !

DHs adult cousin once went in for a rash, not ill in any way, but had a rash on his arse so went to A&E. Not the GP, or a pharmacy or even try 111. It was eczema, obviously.

Ha I've seen someone do that too. Small rash on their arm, not bothering them in any way while they sat there eating food and playing on their phone or chatting to their girlfriend. Then the nurse came over and they got a bollocking for being a moron and told to see the pharmacy the next day.

Dunno how people have the nerve or the level of stupidity to think that's OK while sat amongst people bleeding or with broken bones or other actual accidents or emergencies. If it can be seen and dealt with by a gp or pharmacist, it's not either and I won't go.

GPs are no better though, before covid. Mostly lonely people looking for any excuse to talk to someone. It's really sad that services have been cut so much that that is their only option.

We’re lucky that we have an urgent treatment centre in our A&E, so things like ear infections are seen in there.

Half the problem that we’re having is that our GP won’t see patients at the moment. DD has Tourette’s and has some nasty self-injurious tics so we’ve ended up in A&E or the UTC.

She has a tic where her hands lock in fists for hours, usually her fingers are twisted over themselves so it’s extremely painful. Our GP gave us some low dose diazepam pre-pandemic, she’s now run out so we ended up in A&E as her fingers were numb and blue. The GP wouldn’t see us, but wouldn’t prescribe the diazepam without seeing her. I phoned 111 and they sent us to the hospital.

A&E has always been like this, mainly because it’s almost impossible to get seen by a GP now, out local GP surgery closed so we had to join the bigger one in the next town, it’s now so hard to get an appointment so people end up in A&E.
It is annoying but it’s just the way it is, my local A&E will prioritise people depending on symptoms but I have seen people in a lot of pain and obviously very unwell whilst there are people with just a splinter or a stubbed toe being seen.

@Upamountain43

Sorry this may be a bit intense but just shows you cannot make these judgments. On tuesday my son in law went to A&E for pain relief as his leg hurt. He had been to the GP 7 times in the last month but was not prescribed anything and told to take paracetamol- he was in total despair.

Today he is in Intensive Care recovering from an above knee amputation - that would have been avoided if he had been seen by a specialist even two weeks ago.

Life changing - but I guess other people in A&E might have seen a comparatively fit man in his 30's complaining of leg pain - the GP surgery certainly did.

That's an utter failing on the GPs part and not an indication that everyone who uses A+E needs it. Clearly your son was the exception - in the majority of cases, people rocking up to A+E complaining of a sore leg are piss takers who don't require emergency treatment.

@Upamountain43...am so sorry about your SIL absolutely shocking 💐

@DaisyLilyFlower

Currently in A and E with suspected ectopic pregnancy (told to come here from 111) and current wait is around 4 hours, already been here two.

I’ve been sat by triage next to the reception desk, so not deliberately being nosy but in the last hour two patients have come in with

One with an ear infection
And another with a ingrown toenail

Cannot believe it! Reception asked them both if they’d been to see GP or rang 111, tried overnight pharmacy etc and both said no!
I do not doubt that both of those conditions are extremely painful, but I sort of can’t believe that people turn up to A and E without trying other methods first?

I’m probably just being wingy as I’m in pain and the wait is long and ABU, but I guess my question is,

What’s the worst thing you’ve seen at a and e?

Also Name change as don’t want this linked to my other posts but reg poster.

You're right - A&E - accident and emergency.

I was eves dropping - in the middle of a norovirus outbreak, people vomiting into paper bowls, car park full of more vomiting people, ambulances backed up - and the conversation at triage went something like this:

Triage: Why are you here?
lady: I keep waking up to wee
Triage: how long has this been happening?
lady: oh, months
Triage: so, what brings you here today?
lady: I've got a day off work and can't get a doctors appointment

Neither an accident nor an emergency

One of the last times I was in A&E I was there with someone who had a stomach ache after eating Mcdonalds!! He said 'yeah I always get it after eating there, I should probably stop.'

He got seen before me.

@Cannes12

I suspect its because they can't actually help you with a suspected ectopic pregnancy. They have to wait for the gynae department to open in the morning to scan you. So you could wait on a bed, meaning they couldn't treat someone else. Or you could wait in the waiting room where they can keep half an eye on you in case you collapse. Doesn't make it right. But I was blue lighted in at midnight once. Given a bed in a and e but they didn't do anything, just transfered me tk gynae in the morning. Hope you're OK

They do have gynae on call - I went in to A&E at about 2100 on Easter Sunday as my miscarriage turned into a haemorrhage, and I had 2 people from the gynae team in my cubicle by 0100. As I was bleeding through a heavy pad in 30 mins when I arrived and obviously then through my clothes as well, i was processed through ahead of lots of other people who’d been waiting longer, to try and preserve my dignity a little.

My friend is an a and e doctor and said covid has actually been a good thing for the walking well attendees, as people with ear infections thought twice before coming into hospital at the height of the pandemic, and the drunk men who usually fight, weren’t.
Alas we’re back to the morons wasting NHS time again, not sure what the answer is.

How are you getting on OP? I’ve had two eptopics. Hope your ok.

I’ve taken my daughter in twice for eat infections, her temperature was dangerously high and on one of the occasions she had blood and yellow fluids coming out of her ear and a burst ear drum, pharmacist don’t touch ear infections in children and we couldn’t get a GP appointment because of the phone within a two minute window to get an appointment system.

Both times she had to have follow up appointments with ENT consultants and my mother is deaf in one ear due to recurrent ear infections.

Ear infections need to be dealt with quickly.

*ear

Plymouths GP services almost collapsed 2 years ago due to lack of GPs!
AE waits at Derriford average 12 hours, last year it was 16 hour, there is a CQC report into its failings, yesterday morning at 10:00am it was 6 hours.
Cornwall has closed some of its minor injuries units and the two in Plymouth have had their hours reduced, the AE nr Bude was shut because they had no staff.

Bottom line is there isn't enough investment in the NHS and staff, even the NZ nurse who cared for Johnson has resigned.

@Chamonixshoopshoop

My friend is an a and e doctor and said covid has actually been a good thing for the walking well attendees, as people with ear infections thought twice before coming into hospital at the height of the pandemic, and the drunk men who usually fight, weren’t. Alas we’re back to the morons wasting NHS time again, not sure what the answer is.

I think this is very true.

Yesterday the nurse we saw at a and e said people have been gradually coming in more and more now. They said yesterday was their busiest day for months - they had over 100 patients in a and e that morning (Norfolk).

@georgarina that’s unbelievable! These people should be put on the a to list somehow and made to paid (not unenforceable, shame).
I’ve lived broad where I’ve had to pay for my health care, I think everyone should see how much it is and then they’d appreciate the nhs and try and protect it more

Our small injuries unit closed. The nearest one is a 30 minute drive in the middle of a housing estate in another town. If you haven’t got a car it’s a nightmare to get to.

We’re having a nightmare with our normally brilliant docs at the moment. They said they are getting 1000 calls a day and they are mostly about vaccinations (however you have to listen to a 5 minute recorded message about them when you call in, I can’t believe so many people are ignoring it).

We used to have an emergency GP service at the hospital which was brilliant and it meant you could be sent next door fast if necessary.

I took DD a little while ago after she head butted a metal bar at school (a tic) and knocked herself out.

A dad was in front of us in the queue with his son who had caught his little finger on a zip getting something out of his bag and it was swollen.

They called DD through before him and the dad kicked up such a massive stink that we were pushing in, they were here first, “she” (DD) looked fine, etc, that they ended up being seen first. He was awful. They were in and out in less than 2 minutes, so I don’t blame the staff for letting him go ahead, but I couldn’t believe his behaviour

I’ve seen plenty of people in the emergency dept with things they could manage by themselves or by visiting a pharmacy, and have the obligatory anecdotes about ambulances for broken fingernails and cucumbers (or broken-in-half-cucumbers) stuck up backsides.

On the whole though, people don’t often present with trivial things (drunkenness excepted) late at night unless there is an underlying reason though. The people you mentioned are probably in considerable pain and have probably also been told to attend by 111.

I hope you are more comfortable OP

We are in wales and have such a good selection of options - out of ours GP which will ring you back and then if needed give you an appointment to go into the surgery (not our normal one but one in the city) our local minor injuries have closed but there are several about 30min away then there’s A&E which has a seperate children’s A&E with a completely different waiting area etc.

One time I did take DS in the middle of the night - he’d had a stomach ache for a few days which I had told him was a stomach bug, he wasn’t crying but had started to walk bent over again but he was talking and never moaned. Turned out he had a burst appendix so although it might have looked to others that he wasn’t that bad it actually was serious and he had to have his bowels pulled out and washed in saline to get rid of the infection.

I'm so sorry for you op, other posters minimising the pain you must be in - for those who aren't aware it is almost as bad as labour and an ectopic pregnancy can be very harmful!
Hope you are seen soon and that all is well with your pregnancy

People definitely misuse A&E and know it - they come in for repeat prescriptions, they come in with “ghost poo” (did a poo and it had vanished down the u-bend when they looked).

They come in wanting an MRI because they’ve been referred by their specialist but have been told the wait is 3 weeks and wondered if the scanner was free now since they were passing. They come in with knee or back pain that they have had for literal years. They come in with pre-existing complex specialist diagnoses (neurological conditions diagnosed at Queens Square) that they don’t like and want a second opinion on.

They come in wanting travel jabs and insurance letters because their GP has told them they will have to pay, and they think A&E will write a multi-page insurance letter, with no access to their records, for free, while they wait, at 8pm on a Saturday night.

I don’t think there is any point in pretending that 100% of people attending A&E genuinely believe they have a pressing medical condition that cannot wait overnight, or have no idea how to access care any other way. But A&E is always open, and so it is easier than going the proper route via their GP.

GP's and walk-ins often just send you straight to A and E anyway...... So I can see the logic in missing that step out and going straight there for certain things

@WrongWayApricot I walked around for three weeks on a broken ankle. HTH.