I gave up waiting in A&E

[Saltandpepperchipss]

Been in terrible pain for 2 days I’m pretty sure it’s an ectopic pregnancy by going of my symptoms. Excruciating pain on one side, headaches and light bleeding.My local hospital is one of the worst and try not to use it if possible. I sat in A&E for 5 hours and eventually gave in. Tons of people coughing, rock hard chair when I’m in tons of pain isn’t nice. I couldn’t get up to go to the toilet because my seat would be taken.

I’m terrified something will happen to me over night. But at least I’m comfortable at home.

AIBU? Would you have waited? Some people had been there since 1 in the afternoon. I arrived at 5:30.

I’m shocked at these responses. The state of A&E is absolutely shocking and a dangerous embarrassment for a developed country. I’m not surprised that people go home through pain and exhaustion. That said, you will need to fight your way to getting some care, probably by going back, as ectopics can be very dangerous.

Sounds daft and doesn’t solve the immediate issue, but if the chairs aren’t stuck down I pick it up and take it with me. If I need the toilet the chair comes with, that way no one can take your seat.

OP if you think you might be having an ectopic pregnancy then you really should go back to a&e or seek urgent help!

I couldn't sit that long due to existing problems, whatever was wrong with me. Luckily I'm not in the U.K. Terrified to visit my mum in case I need emergency medical attention (have international private cover but I don't think it would save me in an emergency).

OP, call 111, hopefully they'll send an ambulance. If not, go back, take a camp bed, sleeping bag and pillows and as many painkillers as is recommended on the packet. Or, if you can take someone with you to hold your place, could you lie down in the back of a car while you wait?

People in charge at A&E have to make allowances for people who are in too much pain to wait on a hard chair.

I have just had to take my husband by car to a&e with dangerously high blood pressure and chest pains. Ambulance service stayed on the line incase anything happened but had said as he wasn’t breathless yet it was classed as non urgent and could be 6 hours for an ambulance. Thank god it’s not far from my house as I had to leave my kids in bed so as not to frighten them

I agree. The person who wrote "It can't be that bad then" is a twat.

Call 111 - they could call an ambulance

I had a C-section complication a few months ago and was in utter pain - couldn’t even more my neck or get out of bed. Ambulance came quickly as suspected sepsis. Stil took a while to be seen in a and e though bjt at least I was seen by paramedics beforehand

don’t F around with ectopics - my friend had 1.5 litre of blood pooling in her and it could have been fatal. Happened quickly - get seen asap

comfort is not more important than being alive

Could you go to the pregnancy assessment unit? Have you had a positive test? It could be an ovarian cyst, they can cause similar symptoms. Either ring 111 who may direct you to out of hours or send an ambulance.

Which hospital is your nearest? Is there another you could try?
I get a choice between Worcester Royal or Redditch as in kind of halfway, although I've gone as far as the QE in Birmingham as I knew my consultant was there for the particular problem I was experiencing and only 10 min further.
Worcester has always been dire. Too small for the area it covers. The staff do their best but I guess that's the way it is all over, its not acceptable.
How many people are dying needlessly?

Ectopic is an emergency. What would realistically happen if it ruptured? It's not something that would just go away. Sorry OP, but I've been stuck in A&E for far longer while miscarrying. If you honestly think ectopic then why would you leave? You'd be in the best possible hands and rushed through if the situation progressed. It couldn't possibly be rectified by you leaving and getting on with it. It just doesn't work like that.

I absolutely understand why you went home A&E is awful, I had to wait it out with a broken back years ago, and they still sent me home and said there was nothing wrong
There was, I had a broken back, picked up by a different hospital.

You really do need to be seen though, could you go back?

I'm so sorry you're going through this OP. The physical and mental pain of waiting in a&e is really unimaginable and I'm sorry you seem to be there alone, if you go back, is there anyone who can come with you for support or at least check in on you periodically and bring food/drink/moral support?

Honestly, it's mad but for anyone who needs to go to a&e, plan as though it's going to be a day trip at the least of you can, even if it's someone following you up with a few bits whilst you get there asap. Take water, snacks, maybe a packed lunch, phone charger, a book/cards/ipad, cushion, ibuprofen and any regular meds you take. Anything you think will help keep you safe, sane and comfortable for the potentially 12+ hours you'll be waiting.

I don't get the people who go home, especially with things like this.
Ectopic pregnancies don't just go away, you do realise that? What does going home achieve? A soft bed to die in?

If you have unexplained one sided pelvic pain with a positive pregnancy test and have NOT had a scan to place the foetus in the uterus, then assume it is ectopic until proven otherwise.

Go back to hospital and make yourself as comfortable as possible.

I'm not sure what you want from this post. You think you have a life threatening emergency, you left A&E. Are you wanting people to validate you leaving or wanting people to tell you to go back?

These days the idea that if you are well enough to go home, you were not ill enough to be in A&E is wildly inaccurate.

I've spent most of the day in A&E today and both ambulance crews had to plot to work out how i could spend that time on a bed/trolly and not on a chair and it was still a gamble. I can't sit on a normal chair anymore but taking a powerchair to hospital is a logistical nightmare if you need to be ambulanced in. I wouldn't have lasted 10 minutes (though also I wouldn't be able to just walk out either!)

I went AWOL from A&E this evening, though in my case I was awaiting discharge and TTO meds.

I spent an hour waiting an ambulance then another 20 minutes awaiting the right ambulance as the one they sent was not appropriate (which happens but I did specifically say to 111 I would need the ambulance in question, but this was not passed on. Crew 1 did confirm had it been it would have saved them coming out from Far Away Town 1, instead of the right truck from Nearby City 2).

Once on the ambulance I spent 15 mins in transit and 2 hours on the ramp.

3 hours in resus (because thats where there was a space), most of it on a trolly bed that caused me serious pain (I have a specially designed wheelchair to support me, which of course a trolly bed does not have, but you can't take a wheelchair with you).

Then a further 9 hours, mostly awaiting re-tests and then 3 hours waiting for discharge with people ignoring me or running in, saying 'well you can go but just wait a minute for discharge and meds... ill be back in a sec' and then fucking off for another hour.

They could have said 'come back tomorrow for the meds' and could have been honest. I actually told the cardio chap at 3.30pm who said i could be discharged and take home meds, that it'd be 7.30pm before I got the meds and he laughed and said 'oh no you can just grab them and go....'. Mm!

I would estimate that 5 hours of my time in a&e taking up a space, was simply spent waiting a signature and a box of pills, and this is not a good use of resources at all!

No doubt someone will tell me I should have waited but to wait would have meant probably 8pm and likely a 'oh no that dr has gone now have to wait for the next ones rounds, you'll be staying the night' and in my case:

They can't meet my dietary needs (I had two hypos and was verging on hypo the entire time, and starving, as all the food they have is high sugar/carb).
They can't meet my care needs (I spent 5 hours covered in my own piss as a result)
They can't meet my physical support (seating/mattress, skincare, positioning) needs.
Hospital poses a far higher infection risk than home.
Hospital poses a far higher stress risk than home.

So I gave up and went home and I'll sort the meds with my GP on tuesday if OH can't pick them up tomorrow.

I sympathise but please go back.

I think the Op is probably frightened and frustrated and feels uncared for by the people who should be caring for her.
I felt exactly the same when A&E failed me.
I hope she is able to go back to A&E because she obviously really needs it.

This! It really is horrible to be in a&e, scared, alone, sure something is wrong but feeling like you're not being taken seriously because you're just waiting waiting. It can make you start to doubt yourself, surely it's not urgent or life threatening because otherwise they'd be doing something right? When you've clearly been triaged as non- urgent in an ever expanding waiting queue, it's a horrible place to be. (Though obviously I understand the need for triage and that not everything is equally urgent)

I hope he's OK, and you and the kids too.

Exactly this.
It's so frightening and whilst other posters say, "you can't be that ill, or you wouldn't go home", and similar, you start to think you mustn't be that ill or you couldn't just sit there.

It took me five months, three A&E visits, an ambulance and in the end flatly refusing to move to get my back even acknowledged.
I had 5 broken bones and a 6th was damaged.
Many appointments and 6 years later, I'm in constant pain, lost 2 inches in height and have a permanent hunch, possibly some could have been avoided if I'd got treatment when I first went to A&E.

A&E triage cases. The coughers, painful toes and sprained ankles wait while people like you get seen as one of the first.
Makes no odds what time they arrived.
Make sure you tell them what you think the problem is and not just vague symptoms.

I had a painful leg and recognised it as DVT having had it before.

I walked in to A&E looking the picture of health. Told them the issue. Took a seat near a cougher who told me he had been there for 5 hours and was there as he didn't like his GP and had his cough for at least 5 days. I was whisked away in 90'minutes much to his disgust and was out half an hour later with a DVT diagnosed and treatment administered. He was still there.

I'm glad in one respect you're all seeing how broken the system is.

It's awful you have to wait that long, but please go back. Ectopics can be deadly.

Did you give ibuprofen at home? Did you phone 111 and see if you could get an out of hours GP appointment? I don't know why people happily sit for hours when it isn't an emergency, baffling.

OP had you been triaged? Please go back, you could even phone 111 who can sometimes give an indication of whether a different local hospital/setting isn't as busy. It's not unreasonable to leave as it's akin to torture waiting in the waiting room, but you can't be too careful if you suspect it could be an ectopic pregnancy.

Sadly healthcare staff have been shouting about this since before covid yet no one has been that arsed. Its only going to get worse sadly.

We waited for hours to be triaged we made it clear he had drank a poisonous substance they left us there while they dealt with people who arrived before us when it was our turn dr said right what can I do for you I explained she said ok and how much milk have you given him? I said none water? Also none they said not to.....slowly dawned on her that triage had failed and 111 had also failed we were told the wrong advice and left to sit for hours while they dealt with less time sensitive children

The system isn't working and hasn't for some time