A&E 30 hours

[justasking111]

Yesterday morning neighbours OH seemed off vacant advised them to go to the hospital. By the time they got there speech was slurred. Checked in sat down and waited plastic chairs so not comfortable. They were there all day and all night. I think bloods were done. They were moved to a more comfortable area this morning given something to eat and drink. Finally tonight a bed was available. They'll do tests tomorrow to see what is going on. They think everything is going to be okay because hospital knows best. This evening A & E was even worse there were police there with miscreants who needed treatment. As well as many other sick people more than yesterday
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Am I overthinking this to me it looks like a stroke but surely the staff would have been more concerned and taken action sooner.

YABU hospital would have acted with urgency
YANBU it's more serious than they think

YANBU

Strokes should be investigated and treated within 4 hours max from the first symptoms. So many people are being made to wait so long that there is nothing that can be done to help them.
I was just having this conversation with my GP the other day but unfortunately, the NHS is on its knees so nothing can change.

It definitely sounds like your neighbour was having a stroke. Let's hope it was a minor one that didn't need treatment.

Sorry I keep repeating this but...yeah.

mum was in 16 hours after a suspected heart attack. She was on a trolley in A&E. she's 83.

I was initially told I wasn't allowed to go in but eventually just went. I think she'd have been waiting longer if I hadn't gone.

I am not in a position to comment on what staff are doing. I could see a lot of staff but an overwhelming number of patients. I overheard two saying they had come in desperation because they couldn't see a GP.

I don't know what's happening.

I hope your friend is okay, I thought it was important to get seen asap if a stroke was suspected.

I’d be shocked if they hadn’t followed the stroke treatment pathway with those symptoms but who knows these days. I was only in for 8 hours for something my GP insisted I attend with even though I thought it was pointless (I was right but I understand why he sent me) but maybe my area is quicker than others. I certainly wasn’t in dire need of quick attention but 8 hours seemed quick to me

You're not unreasonable but equally the NHS is in need of serious help and I feel so sorry for the doctors and nurses who have to triage more emergency patients than they can actually treat within the timeframes they need to be treated in. I can't imagine how hard that is for them as well as the people sitting waiting and worrying. I have a friend who's a gp and I know she has really struggled with feeling powerless to help people properly these days because of how bad the waiting times are because she knows things will get worse before the patient she's referring is actually seen. It's so grim and people going for minor issues that could wait for gp or even pharmacist makes it so much worse.

Thanks for this.

We're no wiser the tests have ruled out a stroke. But there's no improvement. Slurred speech, confusion over birth place, as in different place, different country. I'm hoping it's a bacterial infections causing this now. Oxygen levels are low. Had mild covid a few months ago was triple jabbed

have they checked for meningitis? I have very similar symptoms after having covid and it turned out to be meningitis - with the absence of temp and rash they didn’t consider it straight away. They did a lumbar puncture as a last resort (I’d deteriorated quite quickly hence not being sent home). Very weird and the doctors were flummoxed but it can happen! Hope you get answers soon

This is currently the reality in the NHS now. No-one working at the coalface thinks it's good, or even acceptable, but if there is no bed to put a patient in and 20 patients in front of them waiting to be seen (some of whom will also have urgent conditions), then there is nothing that the A&E staff can do - they are trying to get through the queue as fast as possible without compromising too much on safety.

T.I.A? Water infection? Your poor neighbour. Poor anyone who needs urgent medical help tbh x

A friend was recently admitted through a and e with sepsis. She was in an a&e chair for about 36 -40 hours after they said sepsis. No beds. She ended up being kept on the ward for a week and then kicked out as soon as humanly possible.

Could be a urinary tract infection or potassium or folate deficiency?

Been moved to a stroke medical ward. He's walking fine, no drooping or loss of use anywhere. He is on water pills for lymphoma. His legs swelled up some time ago which also baffled them.

Speech therapy ceased said they couldn't do anything. I will look up potassium and folate deficiency thank you @CherryRipe1

When my dad went in with all those symptoms and they suspected a stroke it turned out to be a brain tumour. They did a lot of insisting he was fine and his bloods were normal before we pushed back and the tumour was found.

Your update about a stroke being ruled out, by default makes you unreasonable. The hospital didn't need to act more urgently from that perspective so yes YABU. However, YANBU in that your friend did wait way to long, but unfortunately the NHS is on its knees

They've done an MRI and ruled that out. Looking at the diuretic pills Sheesh the B12 deficiency is possible. Also interactions with other drugs even ibuprofen

I hope your friend is okay and makes a full recovery. 30 hours is not acceptable to anyone

I hope he is ok. My uncle was like this & it was folate/folic acid and potassium deficiency down to poor diet, medication, other health issues and alcohol abuse. Many elderly have these deficiencies along with B12 & D. B6 is another one but also too much causes nerve problems & it's often added to foods, energy drinks and supplements like magnesium! Yes do check any medications as some can affect vitamin absorbtion as can other health conditions. Good luck op.

Oh it is so sad to hear these stories, I feel desperately sorry for people caught up in this nightmare. It's like state-sanctioned abuse of the most vulnerable.

Well if they've ruled out a stroke and a brain tumour then that's why there's no urgency. If it was still undetermined after all these hours then fair enough but they aren't doing nothing if he's had an MRI and stuff.

www.webmd.com/drugs/2/drug-19345/diuretic-ap-es-oral/details/list-interaction-details/dmid-77/dmtitle-thiazide-diuretics-lithium/intrtype-drug

The contra indications such a long list of possibles. Never mind the folate issues.

I mean this kindly, but every drug has multiple interactions and side effects. Health professionals train to make decisions about how to balance the risk/benefit of prescribing a drug, and there are very few cases where it is absolutely contraindicated for a specific combination of drugs.

There are also multiple potential reasons for your neighbour to be unwell, most of which are more likely than a drug interaction. Please don't go in all guns blazing diagnosisng from afar.

Well I don't intend to go in all guns blazing but knowing nothing about diuretics was interested in the side effects. My MIL wound up in hospital from drug interactions. She had a silver tray where she kept all her current prescription so she didn't forget them. The consultant was furious with the GP for adding more and more drugs until she was bleeding out. So no they're not infallible. Another friend nearly died when his heart meds together with a prescription for gout almost saw him off. It was the heart meds that caused the gout like symptoms. Again the consultant was not impressed.

So I shall continue to check prescription I get for side effects and interactions

I wouldn’t rely on the hospital being as concerned as they should be, my ex had stroke symptoms and I made him go to A&E where we waited hours to be seen and to be told in a very blaise manner that its possible he might have had a TIA and they would refer him for a check up as an outpatient and to wait to be contacted and sent on our way. They failed to notify us that a TIA results in a 3 month driving ban and not to get behind the wheel, he insisted since they didn’t seem very concerned or certain of his diagnosis on driving us home and he had another episode on the way back and nearly killed us! We went straight back after I’d got us safely pulled over and taken over driving, tests showed he’d had a full blown stroke.

They're trying to discharge him now decided it's Alzheimer's. He was absolutely fine six days ago. Can it happen overnight?

A very sad update, I’m sorry to hear it

Poor thing. I've not heard of Alzheimer's happening so rapidly but it may do. My dad's was a slow decline & he was still 'there' at the end. I think it was diagnosed with a simple memory test & a brain scan, can't remember if CT or MRI. There is a thing called hospital delerium and UTI's can look like dementia but I guess those have been ruled out. Good luck, I hope they get a confirmed diagnosis.