What exactly is A&E for?

[AccidentallyOnPurpose]

Inspired by a current thread , but this has been bugging me for a while.

No matter how serious the situation or symptoms, there are always plenty of people telling OP she's a time waster, she's fine,her kid is fine etc. To stop being so silly and just wait for the GP or ask a pharmacist. If they're feeling particularly generous maybe ring 111 but God forbid they take it seriously and send an ambulance. Then you're the reason an old person is lying on the floor for hours waiting for help and a father of 4 died of a heart attack.

Fainting, bleeding, high fevers, sudden or continuous increased pain etc none of them are good enough. I'm surprised no one suggested to put a wet paper towel on it. It works in schools.

So what exactly is the A&E department for ?

Yes, you obviously go with a child with a broken bone if there isn't a special unit near by

@LaurieFairyCake

Yes, you obviously go with a child with a broken bone if there isn't a special unit near by

Also as an adult.

Sorry was responding to people who wouldn't take their child to A and E with a fracture

Yes, as an adult too

I'm one of those that would probably be classed as a time waster in Mumsnet world. It wasn't an accident or Emergency but I knew something wasn't right.

Last year I'd had what I thought was a reaction to MRI contrast dye. After two weeks, pestering 111, the pharmacist, and getting royally fobbed off by my GP. My urine was ridiculously dark and I felt awful so hubby convinced me to go to A&E.

As soon as I was triaged and actually saw someone face to face and had the most basic of observations done they knew something was wrong, and I was sent immediately to dirty resus. Pneumonia had caused an immune reaction that was attacking all of my organs and causing them to shut down.

I was eventually released from hospital 5 weeks later after spending two of those weeks in the high dependency unit. More CT scans and x-rays than I can count, a bone marrow sample and a chest drain.

Consultants confirmed if I had left it until my next doctors appointment, I wouldn't have made it.

So whilst there are lots of timewasters, until they figure something else out people will generally feel they have no where else to turn. Particularly when front line care isn't done face to face.

Our local hospital has the Minor Injuries Unit and A&E, so in practice it makes no difference. Either way you call 111 these days and they decide. If you're dialling 999 then I'd expect illness at the level of breathing issues requiring an ambulance.

Some minor injury units now have x-ray machines so you go there for broken bones. It will be far quicker. But it does depend on where you live so worth either ringing 111 or googling to find out. Walk in centres are great if you have one for things where you need to see someone, but arent a real emergency like a heart attack. I would go there at the weekend for things like painful earache.

I'll be completely honest, I'm never sure about broken bones. It doesn't mention that on the site but a broken leg is surely A&E?

Walk in centres are great if you have one for things where you need to see someone, but arent a real emergency like a heart attack. I would go there at the weekend for things like painful earache.

DH did that when he had a very bad reaction to statins and the doctor asked him what made him think he was ill enough to go there rather than wait to see his own GP. Unfortunately I hadn't gone in with him and DH felt too ill to say anything.

@LyndzB

I'll be completely honest, I'm never sure about broken bones. It doesn't mention that on the site but a broken leg is surely A&E?

Well, most broken bones aren't done on purpose, so I'd assume it comes under the A for accident in A&E. We don't have walk in centres, or minor injury units and as far as I know, my GP doesn't have an X ray machine. My first port of call therefore, would be A&E.

I’ve only been to a&e once in my life - had been up all night with the most severe stomach pain I’d ever experienced. Really didn’t want to go and waste anybody’s time but eventually at 4am my partner insisted we went. Very glad we did go as I had a severely infected gallbladder - had emergency surgery to remove it and was told if I’d left it and just gone to the GP the next day I would most likely have ended up in intensive care.
Was never once made to feel silly or like a time waster and would have been pretty pissed off if it was dismissed as a “tummy ache”.

Our minor injuries unit now has an x ray machine, so I would go there for broken bones as the wait is shorter. But they have only recently got one, so before that, it was A and E.

Ours has an x ray machine as well but only for certain x rays. Unfortunately they don't bother telling you which ones on the website.

Our minor injuries unit does x-rays. It does say on the website that it’s only for x-rays for limb injuries (elbow and below and knee and below). I would imagine that most are the same?

I took my DS to our minor injury unit for a knee injury, and he was seen, x-rayed, and seen again and fitted with a set of crutches within an hour. A previous simple arm fracture (seen, x-rayed, plaster cast) at a local children’s A&E took six hours.

My husband was losing blood at a high rate due to bladder cancer, while waiting for operation and treatment, causing his blood pressure to be dangerously low. We went to A&E the first time where he was kept in and had a blood transfusion, but was still bleeding, so 3 days later we had to go again, I asked if it was possible to plan transfusions in advance, but no! we had to call 999 or rush to A and E every couple of days, for about 10 days, until they had a bed in the hospital where he was to be operated on. As the district nurses were visiting daily, this often meant wasting their time, as it wasn't possible to let them know in time. It just seemed such a poor use of resources, and was a nightmare for us, which didn't end well unfortunately.

@bigbluebus so sorry for your loss.

I feel like a bit of a fraud when I go to A&E to get my line stitched back into place. It’s four simple stitches but because of the way my anatomy has been reconfigured it is triaged to majors and has to be a doctor who does it. I’m amazed at what I see up there (especially the family outings with a picnic pre-Covid) but others might look at me and wonder why I’m there for something so seemingly trivial.