Families in a and e

[stormynight1]

Currently in a and e waiting to be seen and the rules at the moment are no one with you unless vulnerable etc. I was dropped off and partners now gone home and will come back later to get me. But I’m amazed at how many people are here with Someone there’s a lady in her 30s with both parents i had to stand for 5 minutes in pain until someone left as all sets where taken. Why can’t they read the rules or go wait in the car one couple have just got out a packed lunch type meal.

I'm suprised my Mum a registered carer for DDad had to really fight to stay with him in A&E recently.

Unfortunately DDad can get very confused easily - also his med and blood sugars - he's diabetc- were all over place due to surgery and the none stop peristant bleeding was why 111 sent them there. It was a good job they had food and his meds with them as at one point it was 11 hour wait.

I don't doubt there's some piss takers - there are everywhere -but seems very odd to treat it like a day out as some PP are claiming rather than a frustrating and worrying wait.

@CatsandDogs22

People judge in the waiting room because they are stressed, bored and in pain.

I have both judged and been judged in the emergency waiting room. I’ve seen the stares from people as we get rushed through ahead of them (because my baby desperately needed oxygen), found myself wondering why they are there when their “so sick it couldn’t wait for the morning” child is bouncing around the waiting room happy as a clam at 2am.

Truth is none of us know what is going on in each other’s lives or how or why we came to be there. And we are all far too bored to mind our own business

So true, I remember the side eye when I was in a&e with my then 4 year old charging about like she was at Alton towers and there was nothing wrong with her whilst I desperately tried to get her to sit still. She was in surgery to remove a foreign body from her foot an hour later requiring hundreds of stitches. She also has ASD and ADHD and as such her pain threshold is through the roof and keeping still is an alien concept to her. The doctor even said ‘I’ll be honest I thought you were being ridiculous bringing her here until I saw the X-ray’. You can just never tell.

Don’t eat with a broken bone as it might need surgery. In fact don’t eat if you think you might need surgery. You’ll just delay any operation.

@Dinoteeth so your parents drove you to the hospital but possibly didn't need to stay there, unless you needed extra care. That's what I meant. 😉 Actually my mum has taken me before to AandE but because I could barely stand

In the current situation of Covid, we do need to reduce the number of people sitting in a closed space in a hospital 🤷🏻‍♀️ that's the idea of this post

@grey12 both my A&E trips were precovid. Possibly they didn't NEED to stay but both my trips were potentially life threatening, burst appendix and a much more serious life threatening infection while heavily pregnant. The second time they got taken into the wee room, DH was called for too.
Not a chance would they have dropped me and run.

But bottom line you can't judge when someone is in A&E. Nobody knows why someone is there or what conditions carers might have.

I've had a sick toddler dehydrated but so excited by the hospital that the nurses did his blood sugar twice as the low sugar levels didn't match the excited child in front of them.

My son went to a and e this week. He is 4 and I packed him a packed lunch. I didn't know how much of a wait he would have and it was over lunchtime. I would have liked to have gone with him but I had to be on hand to collect my eldest from school and dh wasn't keen on bringing our baby to a&e.

@Spikeyball

"The patient takes priority I'm afraid, they are there to be treated. The carer isn't, they are there to assist the one they care for."

I would ask reception to sort out more chairs before I would be asking an 80 year old to move from the seat next to partner with dementia that they care for.

Well yes, that's an example where their need is probably greater than yours, but it's not the case for many people accompanying patients. If I took my DH or one of my teenagers to A & E, for example, I wouldn't need a seat more than another patient (or an elderly person with their partner).

Yeah of course able bodied companions shouldn't take seats. I felt bad taking one myself when injured too but then the person hopping on what seemed to be a bad ankle was given a wheelchair so I felt ok not giving him my seat.