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.

A friend lost their daughter to a ruptured ectopic last year. Please take care

If you call 111 they'll give you an appointment with an OOO GP who'll send you to the EPU.

OOH even

I'm a bit late with this advice today but my GP told me if you attend around 5am and you'll get seen pretty quickly (not sure if just our local hospital though).
Did you let them know you were leaving?

I honestly don’t understand people that leave a&e because they can’t be bothered to wait. I was sat in a&e from 10pm to 9am (when I was sent for mri then emergency surgery) and watched so many enter, and then leave because the wait is too long. If you think you have an ectopic pregnancy, you stay, uncomfortable or not, long wait or not. You waited only 5 hours which is shit I know, but you were in the right place if you are having an ectopic pregnancy.

Arrived at 5.30
left at 10.30
Started a thread at 11

Either you weren’t really someone who should have been at A&E
or
Your started a thread thirty mins after leaving A&E still in agony, in which case - a skewed priority

Take an old duvet and pillow and camp out on the floor. Too late for that advice now but useful for others in the future.

Hope op is ok.

So many arseholes on this thread. It's not true that if you left due to being in too much pain for hours that means you weren't that ill. Really everyone saying it could rupture at home is correct, although id say there's a chance that could happen in the waiting room and nobody would notice anyway. The system is completely fucked. I'm so sorry OP. Call 111 and hopefully they'll send an ambulance and at least you can wait on a trolley instead of a chair. I hope you're feeling better soon

How are you @Saltandpepperchipss ?

Yes yabu,I realise here are long waits my 81 year dad waited all.night to be seen when he had a fall at home at Xmas but they have to prioritise
when my son collapsed in February,with Diabetic ketoneacidosis which is life threatening,he was rushed through to from the ambulance and attended to immediately as his blood sugars were through the roof and his Blood pressure was dangerously low.

I walked out of a&e with my ectopic, it was a Saturday tea time and I was being ignored. I waited until Monday and rang epu and they couldn't get me in until Thursday. By this point it had ruptured I was in agony but somehow I kept going, my surgeon said I was very lucky to be alive i had so much internal bleeding. Go back please, it's not worth the risk.

You’re being unreasonable. I once had a 9 hour wait in A&E for walking pneumonia when I was in early stages of pregnancy and couldn’t get my temp down. I then had to immediately go to children’s A&E as my child
was brought in by ambulance with breathing issues. All told I must have done a 12 hour stint in A&E. It’s shit but you shouldn’t have gone home! I hope you go back and get seen today. Take snacks, pillow, blanket, phone charger and any other home comforts. Wishing you well.

Am sorry you endured this at the hospital. Good ideas here especially about going to the EPU. If you go back to a and e, take a pillow or cushion, water to keep hydrated, snacks, a book or tablet/phone to keep your mind off the grinding wait. Esch time you go to the loo ot to stretch your legs, put bag n bottle on your chair so no one sits there.
It shouldn't be this way but it is and we have to find ways if coping until the system is fixed

The problem lies with the fact that we have three routes to care: the GP, 111 and A and E.

I hope you are more
comfortable at home, however, ectopic pregnancies are serious and if that is what you suspect you have I think you should return to A and E this morning.

I have just experienced similar. EPU sent me to a&e for ectopic pregnancy. I was sat there for 8 hours. Four weeks of intensive blood tests and scans follwed which showed it was a baby who wasn't growing properly. I waited in a&e because that was the only choice I had. By the time I'd seen the consultant my blood pressure was low from lack of food and water. Take a bag with distractions in it. I took a book but couldn't read any, but wish I'd been a bit more organised for my own comfort.

@Saltandpepperchipss is there someone at home with you?

Honestly the NHS is a joke. It's absolutely not fit for purpose. People are left waiting hours or days to be seen on an EMERGENCY. And nobody is checking on the people just sat in the waiting room once they've been triaged. There's plenty of news stories that come up of people who have sadly died while waiting to be seen. OP please go to the EPU if there is one. You will be taken more seriously there.

I hope you've already gone back. Waiting times don't improve in the daytime.

Last time I was in A&E I couldn't help thinking about those Brexit ads when they showed us an "after Brexit" picture of A&E with people swanning into half-empty A&E departments with smiling HCPs ready to whisk them off to be seen almost immediately. The way things are now, even the "before Brexit" version in those ads looks bloody fantastic by comparison.

Happened to me 4 weeks ago suspected ectopic. Was agony lucky it wasn't. I would go back to A&E. Tell the desk suspected ectopic be clear you had a positive pregnancy test. The notes should be flagged. I've also just walked through the curtain area once. It's a complete shit show. You have to be really form. Even if you just sit there screaming and collapse on the floor you have to make a fuss.

Have you had a positive pregnancy test? If yes and in pain you really need to go back.

I agree with the comments if you can walk to a and e then you are not ill enough.

My husband had a heart attack and drove himself to the a and e- was told he should have called an ambulance (2hr wait)

Myself,appendicitis, pain vomiting fever etc called myself an ambulance as husband was away for work, got told off by the paramedic that there is nothing wrong with me as i walked to the ambulance myself and ambulance is not a taxi service- bloods in hospital showed i needed appendicitis but infection count was too high to do the operation so had to spend the night on antibiotics iv and they operated first thing in the morning.

Meant to say if yoy can walk to and a e then you are not ill enough is nonsense

As someone who's had an ectopic pregnancy it gets serious very quickly. I was being scanned one minute then rushed into surgery the second. You need to speak to the hospital about an emergency scan with the early pregnancy unit ASAP. Tell them you are in pain and you think it's ectopic. Also if you get any heavy bleeding, severe pain/light headed then ring 999. I don't mean to panic you but ectopic pregnancies are very serious. I hope this isn't the case for you. Take care of yourself

When posters ask ‘why didn’t you go to the GP?’ I always wonder what civilised foreign country they must be writing from.