To think if you can wait for a GP you shouldn't be in A&E

[Alfenstein]

Was in A&E overnight last night and was confused and then a bit annoyed about a situation and wanted to see what others thought

I arrived at A&E for 18:00, was told it was very busy (when is it not) and the waits were 5+ hours. I was triaged and sat in the waiting room

At 02:00 a nurse came in and made an announcement. Saying that waits were still really long because they've got 15 ambulances waiting but there is a GP based at the hospital who will be in from 08:00, if people would prefer to go home and come back they would be seen by the GP.

And half of the waiting room got up and left!

AIBU to think that if you can wait until morning you don't need to be in A&E.

Surely the issue isn't that urgent or an emergency if you can bugger off home and come back in the morning!

You'd have hated me OP, when sat with my DC in a&e after he came off his bike. He looked fine. Just a bit pale.

I knew something was not right.

First doctor said it was bruising and was about to send him home - but a consultant happened to stop and commented on his colour. Insisted he went for a scan and he had internal bleeding, within minutes he was hooked up to machines and blood. You would have judged if I had gone home. If I had gone home he would be dead.

Have some compassion and don't be so arsey to people

Given the time it takes in some places to get a GP appointment, or even to get through to them, no wonder some people go to A+E who could be treated elsewhere. That is even before there are those who have let some condition or illness get to a point where it needs treatment there and then.

Why would I have hated you?

Unless you'd accept your child wasn't an emergency and therefore left once given the option to see a GP you're not the type of 'person' this post is about

I'm completed bloody confused why you are telling people that that you have no interest in the medical service they receive but keep going on about your fucking own!

I judge because the GP was the option

As is urgent care which is open 08:00-22:00

If their issues weren't severe enough to stay they should have waited at home until those services opened

That's what it was like here during COVID, had to be given a time to attend A&E after calling 111

You're correct I'm not them

And I'm damn well glad I'm not, would hate to be that ignorant tbh

This is one of those threads that should just be ignored once it becomes apparent the OP is just spoiling for a fight. Sorry you're having such a tough time OP, but I think you need to find more constructive ways to deal with your feelings.

Hardly spoiling for a fight

Merely pushing back on those posting irrelevant crap (although on AIBU 90% of posts come under this category so not surprised)

I've had many good replies which have been noted and added to my comms with the hospital

Goodness, this is still going

OP, I hope you receive the help you so obviously need. Until then, be strong. ❤

Our local MIU closes at 8. You could easily get there at 4 and not be seen... I was 3 or 4 hours with my 6 year old with a broken ankle. Got there around 2pm with non weight bearing child with 1 ankle twice the size of the other. Had other kid too because I'd thought when gym camp called me it was a rest and see how it is in the morning job, not a go to A&E job - she's stoic.

MIU is great because there's minimal triage beyond what 111 do - and most of the triage is at the desk making sure that it's just minor injuries rather than illness. Then it's just a queue so your well but sore child that clearly needs an x-ray (literally 1 minute exam before x-ray ordered) doesn't get bumped (perfectly reasonably) for people who are actually ill and likely to deteriorate.

With 3 year old we had to do A&E because of his age. Took much longer and the consultant obviously did all of the orthopedic cases in order once the stream of sick kids had largely stopped. 4 or 5 babies were triaged after my 3 year old with the obviously broken finger - and went through more or less instantly - all of those waiting ended up on the x-ray, cast/splint, referral to fracture pathway (we literally crossed paths in the corridors).

The weirdest one was when older child put Lego up her nose after bed time - in hours a GP would be able to extract, assuming the right kit but out of hours the only option was minors at children's A&E. They were very pleased we had not tried self help as that's a good way to get a date when an ENT surgeon... It felt ridiculous waiting in A&E with an embarassed but we'll child, but it was the right place to be - and waiting overnight would have been risking more intervention if it had shifted further in. Was dead easy for the Dr to remove with the right type of blunt ended tweezery things purely because DH took one look and went, nope, not without the right toys, which he didn't have... Suspect back in the day a GP would have come out to evict the offending item but that would be a poor use of resources nowadays.

I once used the OOH GP service to bypass A&E waiting - suspected appendicitis - GP prodded and sent me straight to the surgical ward at the central hospital, who were expecting me, which was way more convenient.

That said I'd avoid minor injuries for eye stuff, they're very limited with what they do - both times I've attended minor injuries with a scratched eye I've had to go to the main A&E in more pain later...

Thing is, all these 5 hour+ waits on hard chairs to get GP-level care: what is so wrong with GP surgeries that people think the 5 hour wait is tolerable, preferable to trying to see a GP or seek any other option. There has to be something super awful about seeing GP (or trying to see GP, or looking for any possibly faster option) that makes such long waits seem ok. That's what I want to know, what is it. Something is severely wrong somewhere.

Ha ha because you can’t do this at our surgery. You need an appointment. Queueing first thing in the morning means nothing. You will be triaged first over the phone when they get round to ringing you back, then you get given a face to face appointment if they think it’s necessary.
You are welcome!

Mumsnet has taught me about the existence of walk-in centres and Minor Injuries Units, and now I learn there is something called Urgent Care! We have none of these in my part of the UK 😪

If 70 people show up to 8am gp appointment...how does that work exactly?

You heard there ‘symptoms’ and you dont think they needed to be there…

Who are you to decide that….

I go to the hospital when i know ‘I dont feel well’
All my sats are fine and its literally ‘I feel ill’ but for me and my medical problems i have ‘feeling ill’ is very serious

A ‘cold’ has put me in hospital twice

IF you are still sitting in the waiting room for more than 8 hours, then you weren't seriously ill i presume??? @Alfenstein Alfenstein

let’s not turn this into GP bashing thread.

1. there is shortage of GPs and medical professionals nationwide.
2. People are not as healthy post covid compared to the precovid era. Long covid being one of the causes and cancelling routine checks and delaying opps on patients during lockdown. Both have generally made the nation unhealthier than before and needing more medical care.

let’s not vilify hospitals and GPs and have a look at the bigger picture. Anyway where are the dozens of new hospitals that we were promised?

Our A&E triage and send people to the urgent treatment centre if appropriate. You can't take yourself there. You have to be referred from A&E.

Same here!
I had never even seen my local hospital until I gave birth. When my DS had infected eczema on a Sunday as a baby and it started turning purple I had no idea where to go! I called 111 and they sent me to minor injuries. When he had breathing issues before his asthma diagnosis they sent me to A&E who redirected us to Urgent Care, then we went back to A&E and onto a ward. The next time it was an ambulance. Honestly OP, most people do as they're told in these situations. They were probably directed there by 111. Then someone medical appears and tells them to come back tomorrow, so they do.

There were other areas where efficiency could be improved which I also included. For example there is only one check in desk, but overnight it's used to check out random people from the main hospital. And those people are priorities over new check ins, for example Johnny can be stood there bleeding from the skull and little old Mary being discharge from her 1 week stay in hospital will be pushed to the front and go through a 5 min check out process, including asking all the details of who is collecting her etc.

Where is this hospital which discharges patients in the middle of the night and where doing the discharge admin is part of the A&E receptionist's job? Is it a very small hospital?

Wow these receptionists really are multi skilled. They book you into the ED, they handle discharge admin for inpatients, and they are also fully trained triage nurses.

I would love to be there when someone reads OP’s email of ‘suggestions’ to the hospital. Imagine that will be filed in the bin.

Jesus OP, if someone agrees with you will you let this go?

I mean you clearly want pontificate, so consider it job done. You’ve convinced everyone the error of their ways.

I didn't know there was such a thing, so it wouldn't have occurred to me.

I had so much trouble getting through to the GP earlier this week that I contemplated driving down there and calling in to book the appointment, which would almost certainly have been a telephone appointment.

It struck me how weird that is - to think I might have to phsyically go there to make an appointment to have a phone call - the exact opposite of how things used to be.

Urgent care is just another name for a walk in centre.