A&E time wasters.

[ConfusedMumma99]

I don’t know if I’m just thinking like this because I’ve not been in a situation. But are people genuinely being ridiculous for the reasons of going to A&E

a friend took her son (20 months) to a&e because he got a temperature of 38.8. By the time the nurse took it at a&e it was normal and she said it was because she’d given him Calpol??????? She then said he was running round the waiting room eating snacks.

am i a cow???? Or why would use a&e for this? I appreciate lots in the news about strep A. But surely you would wait and see if temp came down with Calpol/nurofen? That’s what I’d do with my child.

however I am a first time mum so im worried I should take illness more seriously? Do you really need a hospital visit just for a temperature?

our local A&E had wait times of 14 hours the other day??? Is this a combo of lack of
staff or people going unnecessarily.

I know GP’s are notoriously bad for appointments?

how are people seen in A&E? By time spent or by severity?? It seems scary that if you actually needed a&e that you might not get seen.

Also, my fil had private healthcare all his life. Almost never needed a doctor until he got old by which time nobody would insure him anymore so almost all his medical care was through the NHS anyway.

Well, I really meant that wouldn't people normally give paracetamol BEFORE a temp gets so high, and see if that then brings it down. It would be unsual for a temp of 41.6 to come out of nowhere, surely? There would be signs of illness before that, and a chance to see if paracetamol and brufen would have the desired effect in reducing the temp to a reasonable level and letting the virus run its course. And THEN if it wasn't coming down, to seek medical advice.

I don't know, the poster didn't say what they had done before the temp got so high, what the circumstances were etc so it's not a good example really.

That is really shocking. What is the point of all the FAST media campaigns if that's what you're faced with when you try to act on it?

Yes good point @MissLucyEyelesbarrow . I just wanted to highlight how it works in a different country where healthcare really does work. We lived in the UK most of our lives before moving to Switzerland so we have been able to compare the two.
When we lived in London my husband paid 45% income tax. We had repeated terrible experiences with the NHS but maybe we were unlucky (both in London and Wales). We didn't find private healthcare much better, yes it was quicker but the level of care was poor compared to what we have experienced in Switzerland.
My husband had an opportunity to move to Switzerland so he took it. Cost of living is very high, but his salary doubled and we pay 22% income tax. We pay £885 per month for basic health insurance for 2 adults/1 child. But it has been incredible. And one of the reasons we want to stay in Switzerland.
I just think we have reached a point where the NHS no longer works, it can't continue like this.

some people need to learn that A&E stands for Accident and Emergency, not Anything and Everything.

@EmmaAgain22 we have ooh in Surrey. It's staffed by salaried gps and/or locums. It's available between 6pm and 8pm Monday to Friday and 9am-5pm on Saturdays. I have only been once when I had an ear infection. It's at a surgery in the middle of town - probably not so helpful for the elderly or those with tots and no car.

Oh, we have that sort of - sorry, to me OOH means cover at all times. I took a friend to OOH at Archway about 15 years ago, in the middle of the night, maybe 3am? She had an emergency hysterectomy next day. Pretty sure that would now be sent to A&E for the 18 hour wait.

I remember docs seeing me for home visits at night when I was a teen .(pneumonia). Again, think that's now A&E.

I personally wouldn’t go at 38.8 but my 6mo baby had covid and a 39.8 fever, 111 said if it goes over 39.5 then hospital so off we went to A&E. It was 39.5 and I had just given the last dose of Calpol I could give for another 7-8 hours then it went to 39.8. They mainly just monitored him before sending us home in the morning, but multiple people had scared me with talk of seizures and the like so it was comforting to know we were there if that happened. I pay a lot of tax and can count on fingers our hospital visits. I’m not sorry we took him.

Nope! I was there recently with my son all night and all the following day. Majority were little kids with a viral infection whose parents were worried about strep. Definitely didn’t need a & e. My son was last to be seen and was the only one who needed further interventions/admission.

So many parents don’t seem to give nurofen either I noticed 😂 of course they were given it and were right and rain!

Just like benefit fraud, time wasters are only a teeny tiny tip of the iceberg.

The NHS is severely under funded.
The population and demand are growing faster than the increase of services and supply.
People are living longer, the care system is struggling and discharge delays cause a back up in A&E.
There are more severely overweight people in modern society which cause more health issues.
Increased awareness of mental health issues, men encouraged to seek help for anxiety and depression, social media making many women realise they probably have adhd/asd. - Mental health was not so important 20 years ago, it's a whole other thing added on which just wasn't there before.
Lack of education around appropriate services.

Society has changed and the NHS has failed to keep up, it's no longer fit for purpose.

My local hospital had over 100 people waiting to be seen in A&E. I'd love to know how many of those really should have been there

Insect bites can become infected and result in cellulitis, so people absolutely need to see a medical professional when that happens

Most shouldn't be in A and E. but there's no education anymore . I rang 111 when my son hit his head, for advice really. They tried to insist on sending an ambulance: I refused but took 6 hours before a nurse could ring back to give me some advice. All I wanted to know was if I needed to keep him awake or how to deal with it accordingly. But you can't trust instincts anymore or get any advice, this is why kids are in A and E all the time

So frustrating the way some people continue to blame the public when they should be blaming the dire state of the health service caused by the government. Of course people use A&E more now than when x or y poster was a child because you could get seen by a bloody doctor in those days!

I waited 9 hours in A&E with my DC recently. Was sent by GP because they were concerned that something needed an urgent ultrasound scan. If we had a decent referring service that meant my child could have got a scan within a few days, we wouldn't have needed to go to A&E. Or even better, diagnostic facilities like ultrasound and x-ray machines more widely available.

You are not being unreasonable for your point??? But you are being unreasonable for using so many question marks??? Where they aren’t necessary??

Or maybe, like in the cultures of the people you mention, we should feel able to seek healrhcare whenever we feel the need. Clearly in other countries you can do this. In Britain the culture seems to be that you should only seek medical help if you are at death's door.

Agreed. I was in A&E last weekend and saw 4 people who shouldn't have bern there. 3 x People not getting their prescriptions in time, baby with high temperature that had now gone down.

Also, it’s because fucking 111 just sends people there as a precaution. If you even get a call back that is. It’s an absolute joke.

People are scared and not taking chances with young children. You used to be able to call your doctors surgery out of hours and they’d send the doctor round. Then you had local out of hours which also worked well. Then 111 was introduced and everything seemed to get 100 times worse.

I’ve had the misfortune of visiting A&E with a young child a few times recently and have never seen anything like it in real life. In the children’s waiting room there was nowhere to sit. Kids lying on the floor, bright red and seemingly semi conscious. Kids vomiting repeatedly into the little cardboard bowls. Parents in tears. It was a few hours to get triaged each time and then 5-7 hours to see a doctor after that. Terrifying.

Lots of people are unable to assess risk, there is plenty of advice on what to do if your child has a fever- a very small amount of which says to run to A&E. If/when people have to pay to be seen im sure people will take a lot more self responsibility, sadly this means though some people who really should be seen will be missed.

There absolutely isn't a culture of that here, many people go to A&E for ridiculous things, there should be a balance between routine illness that requires zero medical monitoring and deaths door.

And the blue H on signs stands for hospital not Hilton.

There have always ,for years and years , been people that turn up to A&E for trivial reasons.

I do sort of agree OP, but round here you can't get a drs appointment, so if it's a child, the GP tells you to take them to A&E. back I October, my son had had a temperature for five days. I wanted him checked over in case he had an infection, as he was pretty poorly, but the Gp couldn't see him so told us to go to the children's A&E. He didn't really need A&E but he did need to see a dr and that was the only way of doing so. So yes, people are going to A&E that wouldn't normally need to, but often it's because it's the only way to see a dr!

@EmmaAgain22 Sheffield

A & E is being used because people have no alternative and are worried.

For instance my daughter in law. Migraine that would not go, not a chance of seeing GP. A visit to the walk-in centre, resulting in antibiotics for an ear infection.

She died Sunday, a blood clot on her brain, mid thirties with a one year old.