MIL has been in A&E 17½ hours. AIBU to think this is totally unreasonable

[PearlyShamps]

MIL has pain shooting from her groin, down her leg. Cannot walk or bear weight. GP advised to call 111. They advised to go to A&E. There, at 6pm yesterday, she was told 5 hour wait. She and her husband (both well into there 70s) have now been waiting almost 18 hours. She has been triaged, but not seen by a dr. They have missed 2 meals and a night's sleep. We feel useless and unable to help. Its utterly ridiculous!

@Overthewine the tests they are running suggest something significant, perhaps just ruling it out. She was marked as a priority and given a "red card" when she was triaged. She said there were several other people still waiting. When people arrived this morning they were being told minimum 12 hour wait.

This long wait was nothing to do with us not being there to advocate, it is due to the NHS unfortunately being on its knees. It's a massive worry

@rnsaslkih apart from it being inappropriate to refer to any part of the world as the ‘third world’, it’s also complete nonsense isn’t it. The UK’s healthcare provision isn’t anything like the healthcare provision in countries like South Sudan and Somalia.

It's crap isn't it. My mum was stuck on a trolley in a&e for a similar amount of time. She couldn't mobilise to be able to go to the toilet so had to wet herself throughout the night. The indignity of it all is just too much.

NHS seems rather broken to me.

@Galaxyrippleforever oh that's just awful. Where's the dignity?? Your poor Mum. Hope she's doing better now x

Ah good glad she's been seen at least.

My friend spent 8 hours (11pm-7am) in A&E the other night to get a wound glued. No one was called in for 2 hours so she went to ask what was going on. At first the receptionist didn’t believe her, until other patients confirmed it was true. Then the staff came out and said “everyone” was doing paperwork….. at the same time…. for two hours. Ridiculous.

I recently waited over 15 hours (inc overnight) in A&E with acute cardiac symptoms. It was freezing cold, there weren’t enough seats for everyone, the vending machine was broken, no cafe or food shops open, so there was nothing to eat or drink (except icy water from a water dispenser). The staff were lovely, but literally rushed off their feet. There were elderly people sitting stoically all night. There were people crying and groaning with pain. There were people in mental health crises. It really was a very upsetting experience.

Sadly 17 1/2hrs is nothing. The other week I was in a&e (a very short 12hrs), the person next to me had been there 26hrs, woman next to her 28hrs, bloke next to her 2 days. This was the waiting room that they were using as an over spill treatment room.
They were coming round with sandwiches as everyone had been waiting so long.

Please op, just bring them food and drink and check they are ok. I honestly can't believe they haven't eaten, when FIL popped home and there's a shop nearby. Please bring them food before he becomes a patient too. The reason 'there's no doctors in sight' is because they are busy working behind the scenes, they don't hang about in the waiting room. Poor staff, really do feel for them.

I haven't been to hospital in nearly 8 years but my DD has been in over the weekend and it was absolutely awful. Went to A and E on the advice of 111 waited 6 hours to be seen, even though she was seriously ill. Sent home, to receive a phone call on a Sunday to say we must come back immediately as blood tests have shown meningitis. Got there at 1.30 in the afternoon, no beds until 8ish, we are left with her lying in two chairs in a corridor. She finally got a bed at 10 and she hadn't been given anything to eat or drink by the hospital. Luckily I had packed water for her but I had to ask for some toast as she hadn't been given anything. They had an empty childrens ward but not enough staff to open it. Absolutely awful and I will be looking at private healthcare even though we can't really afford it

I know I will be flamed for this, and am not comparing like with like, but in Ireland with private healthcare (affordable and necessary most of the time), my relatives -in -law can ring the A+E of the private hospital, be given a slot and will be seen within a half hour of that. It is a general hospital that covers all specialties.

They also have access to public health A+E care free apart from some charges if you earn above a certain amount. Public A+E would be necessary if you need an ambulance. If admitted the rest is free for everyone, but like UK, the wait times can be long also. It doesn't just happen in the UK, but it is definitely not as bad as is being described here for A+E waits and access to emergency care. Ireland is in EU though and the health services are manned by a huge number of EU staff.

It is a very long wait but they are probably seeing emergencirs first. It is an emergency department. I would contact the gp again.

Last week I was blue lighted back in to A and E the day after having surgery to remove a cancerous bladder tumour - day surgery that should have been straight forward only it went quite wrong due to hospital negligence.

I was left on a trolley in a corridor with suspected sepsis, in terrible pain from 9pm to 6am the next morning when I collapsed in a toilet.

Spent a week in hospital and witnessed such terrible practice around infection control (I was discharged with an infection and no antibiotics) that I've made 2 formal complaints to each hospital I've been in.

I'm afraid the NHS is totally funked.

It's sad there are so many similar stories, it's awful the nhs is in the state it is. It's been a clusterfuck over the years.

My mum had similar, was left on a trolley in a corridor for 16 hours, in incredible pain and unable to move or sit up. No painkillers or even water were given even when she asked (and later begged). She later needed 2 massive operations which were delayed because of dehydration and uti. The young girl near her had been spiked and assaulted and was also left the whole time crying and ignored or shouted at when she was sick on herself (because she'd asked for help and was told they were too busy to pass her a dish).

I'm so pleased your mil is finally being seen, I hope she gets a much swifter service now.

The UK is third world for medical care. It has been for some time. Society needs to admit this because it would be the first step towards solving it

Third world would be having avoiding that lump because your insurance premiums would go up. Or more accurate only providing healthcare to those who have the money.

The NHS needs fixing.!It is being run down because the Tories want it privatised, for their own personal gains.

How offensive can you be. As one of the NHS staff how bloody dare you insinuate that a patient dying would be a win for us, you have no idea. I and a lot of wonderful people that I know slave my guts out on incredibly long shifts looking after people of all ages as best we can and fighting an underfunded system. That comment is a right kick in the teeth. We as individuals do the best we can, take your fight up with the twats in power who have run healthcare into the floor.

Lady year i was in A&E from 10pm until 8am, I didn't see a member of staff until 5am when I went to the desk to see how much longer I needed to wait (after quite a few coming in and being seen before me from about 4am. At first I just assumed their need was greater, but one woman I'd been talking too had just hurt her wrist banging it against a door - meanwhile I had life changing injuries. Paramedics had left me well painkillerd up!!)

so no, absolutely no guarantee staff would know they were there.

Eventually I was seen & then had to wait hours for a bed - but once I was placed on a ward, the surgeon was brilliant & operated the same day.

What I am amazed at is 11% of people have voted YABU

As a nation we should be absolutely outraged by this.

The fact it is common, and we probably all know someone who has been waiting that long or longer should not make us 'accept' it but make us angrier that it is just 'normal'.

Same with waits for ambulance (or police for that matter - although that is probably another thread).
Shocking that our front line medics are expected to work like this.
But also appalling that so many struggle to get a GP appt.
Or any mental health support - even when suicidal.

@PrivateHall they have eaten. They've had sandwiches and snacks from the shop there. They just told me that the reception staff have been amazing and have given everyone toast and tea/coffee this morning.

'Third world' is really not an appropriate term to use these days.

Aside from that, I'm sure we are all ready and waiting for your suggestions for solving the problem...

And this is "summer" (IE the time A&E usually has significantly less demands)

NOW is also when lists of late, (long awaited by urgent patients-in-pain) medical investigations and surgery theatres are being ramped back up to pre-pandemic levels ( as rightly demanded by the public and politicians).

This means that operating theatres, surgeons, anaesthetists and theatre staff are working at full stretch catching up with the backlog , and so are the wards that receive their post -surgery patients; high dependency units, intensive care.

Your MIL can only progress when there is a ward , facility and staff to receive and assess her problem. I'm sorry she's in pain and you're desperately worried. But so are the families of patients who've been immobilised/ttraumatised by pain for a long time, on waiting lists for surgery that;s been delayed by the pandemic. It's a shitstorm, but don;t blame A and E.