Treated like a bloody leper at A and E

[Heartbeat1]

Asked by GP to go to A and E as I've been having issues with my breathing (due to previous covid) and she said to go and get a scan done as it may be a clot. I have put it off for over 2 weeks as the waiting times are over 4 hours and I've had noone to bring me. Anyway I've just arrived and the guy at the reception asked me to fill out the form, I wrote on there breathing issues due to long covid. He asked me a whole load of questions to which I replied I'm currently negative and have tested negative. He then asked everyone on left side of the waiting room to move asked me to sit there by myself. Like I'm a diseased.

@Babdoc

I’m rather puzzled as to why OP was sent to A and E at all. I was in the same circumstances last year - discharged from hospital after acute Covid, developed long Covid, became more seriously breathless, GP queried possible pulmonary embolus. The chest physicians were phoned direct from the practice, I was given an immediate prescription for precautionary anticoagulants, and booked for a pulmonary angiogram the next day, at the acute assessment unit. A and E were not involved at any point and I simply waited in the assessment unit for the scan result that day.

absolutely this - after 2 weeks of waiting was the OP still breathless ? - no-one would wait that long with difficulty breathing regardless of whether it was a clot or something else. Did the OP see the GP in person which would have determined the extent of her breathlessness and therefore whether a scan or other immediate action was required?

@Heartbeat1

I understand where you're all coming from, yes I may have taken it a little personally. I think I'm just really anxious being here. Hopefully I'll be out of here soon

I hope you're ok. You just sound like you're feeling vulnerable to me. However, the other patients likely are too hence them being moved.

Please don't wait that long to be seen in future, though I understand why you have. It is hell on Earth in our local A&E.

My kid had V and D and we were placed with Covid + people in a and e while he was assessed even though he had come back as negative. His appendix ruptured 3 days later in the same hospital while being treated for a tummy bug.

@Moneypenny007

My kid had V and D and we were placed with Covid + people in a and e while he was assessed even though he had come back as negative. His appendix ruptured 3 days later in the same hospital while being treated for a tummy bug.

D&V is really dangerous for hospitals, usually they'd segregate people off but due to covid it isn't possible necessarily to have a separate area. Surely the bigger concern is that they missed the appendix causing issues, I suspect the sickness was caused by that

In reply to above not all GPs have direct access or timely access to scans nor do all hospitals run a referral service direct to medics or the respiratory team

In our local hospital all urgent referrals/ admissions for things such as ? PE ? DVT have to go through A and E even if seen nd assessed by a GP
I feel really sorry for A and E in our local hospital

Thank you to all the posters who have really helped calm me down with some thoughtful kind words.

For all those asking why I didn't go earlier, it was actually the GP who said to me not to go by myself and to take someone with me, she said this a few times.

My breathing has impacted heavily on my everyday life, I was very honest with my GP and in no way did I try to make out like It was worse.

What upset me was the way he spoke to me, when he told me to 'go sit over there' then how he told everyone else to move. Yet when more people came they still sat on the chairs near me and he never said anything. As a previous poster mentioned it would have been nice to be treated with some dignity and respect. I didnt really mind sitting there just the way I was spoken to made me feel worse. That mixed with the anxiety of being there really didn't help.

I was called to triage after about an hour and the nurse that did the obs was lovely. She told me I wouldn't be able to get a scan done unless I was referred by my doctor. She also said that they have had many people come in over the past week because GPs have told them to go A and E and shes had to turn them away.

@BlameItOnTheBlackStar oh I agree! They need to put her somewhere, but that shouldn’t be the standard we aspire to. It should have been explained to her beforehand or at least made it a bit more clear as to why she was being treated differently. Something like ‘ we will need to move everyone away for yours and everyone’s safety, just in case’. I was trying to calm OP down in a time of stress more than anything.

@Upsielazy yes it was definitely a bigger concern with the appendix. Our hospital wouldn't normally segregate but V and D was a symptom of covid esp in kids. What frustrated me was we were sent for a pcr before the doc would assess us, so 24hrs later we got negative and were sent straight to hospital without being seen by gp, then hospital wouldn't accept the PCR test even through it was done through our health service. He was 7 days from when sickness began until he was operated on. Our local hospital are not equipped to deal with ruptured appendix in kids. Turns out we were the 5th or 6th case in 6 weeks in the same hospital...

@Heartbeat1 I'm sorry they've not helped you. I hope you're able to get through to your GP to get this sorted out!

That's what social distancing is -- we treat each other like very contagious lepers. That's the deliberate behaviour.

Lots of people say they feel safest doing this and get angry when other people don't do it.

For all those asking why I didn't go earlier, it was actually the GP who said to me not to go by myself and to take someone with me, she said this a few times

Do you understand what the implications of having a blood clot are? Do you think if you’d said to the GP ‘I don’t have anyone to go with me’ they would have told you not to worry and to just pop down in the next month or so? I am really shocked that instead of thinking about the absolutely huge and unnecessary risk you’ve just taken with your life, you’re complaining that they weren’t very nice to you. Your priorities seem totally skewed to me.

What upset me was the way he spoke to me, when he told me to 'go sit over there'

They’re busy, I don’t even want to imagine the work that hospital stuff do.

Remember these people were front line in the thick of the pandemic.

When they tell me to do something, I do it, no moaning, no complaints.