Surprised at how I was treated in a&e

[broken86]

This has been playing on my mind for the last week and I just wondered if it was me being sensitive or not.

Last week I had an accident and it was obvious right away that I'd done something to my ankle, I threw up and almost passed out from the pain (which isn't like me, I'd say I've a very high pain threshold and not a drama Queen) I'd never felt pain like it even not giving birth.

Dh ran me to a&e and helped me to a seat and checked me in at the desk. I then told him to leave as there were signs all over saying no one could wait with you.

I felt pretty self conscious and exposed in the waiting room sat with only one shoe on and one bare foot. My leg had really swollen and I was obviously in a lot of pain and while it could just be paranoia I felt a lot of people were just staring at me.

The worst part was when I got called into triage, I couldn't put weight on my sore foot so had to pull myself up using the chair in front then somehow hobble all the way across the room to the triage area. The nurse waiting for me stood leaning on the door frame looking bored out her head at having to wait longer for me and everyone in the waiting room just stared at me struggling

At one point I felt there's no way I can do this but it was such an unfriendly atmosphere I didn't even feel I could ask for help. Once I made it into the triage room and sat down the tears were pouring down my face due to the pain, The nurse didn't even look in my direction just asked me questions and typed into the computer before telling me to go to minor injuries and pointing to an area at the end of the corridor.

Once again I had to struggle down by myself, part of me wanted to ask for a wheelchair but awkwardly thought the nurse must think I'm being a wimp or else she would have offered. I had to support my weight on the handrail all the way down with everyone in the waiting room just starting at me again.

Once I was in minor injuries it was a totally different experience, they couldn't have been nicer getting me pain killers etc Turns out my ankle is broken and I've damaged the ligaments and am now off work and not able to drive etc for the next few weeks which is a total pain but can't be helped.

The total lack of any kind of human kindness in a&e still plays on my mind though, obviously a room full of people at a&e aren't going to be in the best form but a lot of people had ignored the "no family waiting" signs and were sat happily chatting away to each other. I couldn't imagine myself being there keeping someone company and not offering to help someone who was obviously in a lot of pain to cross a room, likewise I couldn't imagine a nurse in a&e not acknowledging when someone is in pain or even just giving them a friendly smile etc.

Obviously I'm grateful for the care I've received so far and that I will need going forward but was just wondering (while Sat with my foot up) if this is what people would expect in a&e?

Gosh that sounds awful. Definitely complain or nothing will change.
I've been unfortunate enough to find myself in A&E twice this year for two different things and I have to say it was a way better experience than I was expecting. All the staff were really lovely and I felt in good hands on both occasions so it doesn't have to be like the experience you suffered.

I've always encountered that same atmosphere of casual contempt and uncaring staff everytime I've had to take an ill child to A&E. It's horrid and I totally sympathise. Sometimes the staff at triage seem downright hostile and scary, I hate going there

I have just qualified as a nurse and have got a job as an NQN in an A&E dept. Stories like this are absolutely unacceptable. I have done around 20 weeks of placement as a student on my A&E and most of it has been spent assisting patients with their basic needs, but where possible, i have always urged a relative or friend to stay with a patient to ensure their needs are met and to be able to go an chase thing where a patient cant. Every dept has burned out uncaring nurses that should have left the role, but i hope they are in the minority.

Ive worked in hospitals for many years, before i started doing my training i was a healthcare. The levels of pressure currently are ridiculous. They are unmanageable. A&E is something else though. In my trust corridors are now bed spaces, they are on the computer system. We have 28 corridor beds. But throughout the whole hospital theres often 100+ too few beds for patients that need them. We are lucky we have other resources on sight where we can transfer patients too. We have a 24 GP for suitable patients, we have various specialised units we can send people to after triage if they are suitable. But even with those, patients waiting as i start my shift are often still there 12 hours later as i finish. We prioritise in triage, which then makes wait times for other longer.

I was recently at A&E with my adult son - not the one i work at. I took him in and booked him in, went to triage, the nurse took one look at his leg/ankle (suspected displace tib/fib fracture) and we were immediately taken to the resus area and he was given proper pain relief and xray within 10 minutes of arriving. Where as another time i took my teen daughter with a stable fractured hand and it took 7 hours to get her seen never mind get her pain relief.

Its a nightmare across the country. Im half dreading starting because of stories like this and i dont want to be tarred as an "uncaring A&E nurse" because im not. Thats not why i chose A&E to start my professional career. I chose it because of the skills, and every day is completely different, because you get to see different people with different needs and conditions every single day and hopefully make a little bit of difference. And because when the big trauma calls come in, watching and being involved in the instant life altering decisions is the the best feeling in the world, and yes we are unsuccessful sometimes, but being able to support a patient and their families through their final moments is a privilege and i hope to make the some hardest moments of their lives, something they can remember where the care their loved one got was enough and it makes it a little bit easier.

It genuinely saddens me so many people have a negative view of A&E, and i hope no one i see, throughout my career, ends up making a post like this

A good point from pp about who you are meant to ask for help for a wheelchair or something.

There are no spare staff hanging around and the triage nurse is trying to get through the queue. The last time I was there it was a Saturday night and she was telling drunk men to put their tops back on and stop shouting. She was completely in control of the whole place while the security guard sat in his office. I thought she deserved a medal by the end of the night.

I do think in your case you were treated badly op.

During lockdown DH went to A&E, he was bright yellow from painless sudden onset jaundice and the GP had refused to see him, A&E sent him away. Little did we know at the time he was bright yellow because he had cancer, his bile duct was blocked by a tumour.

Oh man. I’ve been there alot

i went into A and E struggling to breathe. The triage nurse and doctor dismissed me. I was told nothing was wrong and just to wait (though they did take me into majors) anyway I suddenly developed excruciating pain and went blue. The nurse ran to get the dr who made me leave. He told me I was having a panic attack. I was hysterical which just made it worse and eventually he walked away. I left and ended up collapsing in A and E but thankfully a doctor came to find me as he suspected a PE

he was right. I had a massive bilateral pulmonary embolism….(both lungs) I then went on to develop 8 more clots and a stroke. I spent nearly a year in hospital and 4 months in ICU

that dr sent me home…..I would have died.

turns out being female makes you be more dismissed……

Our local hospital won't allow anyone to stay with a patient, unless it's a child (one person), or someone with Dememtia.

Its dreadful up there - I think some NHS staff have forgotten that they are there to treat patients. 🙁

Took my 5 year old ds to hospital for an injury to his arm. He was crying in pain but made to wait in a massive queue for triage. He actually threw up all over the floor in the triage area from the pain. Obviously I was apologetic but the nurse was not remotely kind to him and was obviously annoyed, rolling her eyes and tutting. We were made to feel like he was making a fuss about nothing. Turns out he'd broken his arm in 2 places. Twats.

I wonder if we have the same a&e, the notices did make it clear someone could only stay if it was for a young child or a vulnerable adult with mental health problems. It just never registered with me to have dh stay and take up room. I think I just naively thought that being in hospital would mean I was looked after 🤷‍♀️

No one with any experience of the NHS expects red carpet treatment. We just don't expect nurses to be dickheads but clearly we all need to manage our expectations a bit better.

OP I'm so sorry you experienced this.
As others have said PLEASE contact PALS. Just google the name of the hospital and PALS and the contact email and phone number should come up.
I work for the NHS too and always encourage patients to contact PALS even if they don't want to complain. It can help highlight an area of a service that needs development/improvement which wouldn't be noticed otherwise.
I hope you're on the mend soon x

Its a&e. Unfortunately the staff have seen some really bad stuff there and are pretty desensitized to a lot. So your broken ankle. though major to you is pretty minor for them.
As an adult, you could have asked for a wheelchair if you needed it.
The triage nurse's job is to examine you and direct you to the correct area so treatment/assessment can commence. If she stopped for every patient to find a Dr to order pain relief, then went and got that pain relief or spent time running around trying to find wheelchairs, she would never get through her list of patients, some symptoms are required to be seen within 10 minutes of arriving in a&e as they are time sensitive, like chest pain, slurred speech etc.
You don't get to see a Dr unless you are triaged or come in as a major resus/trauma so the quicker she can assess people the better.

I’ve been to A&E many times with acute pancreatitis and been treated with great care each time, never waiting once triaged, I assume as it’s up on the list of conditions to fast track. When my DD broke her elbow age 3 I had to submit a complaint, she was treated terribly by a nurse. I got a full apology from the nurse herself and I accepted (ie didn’t take it further) and I’m glad I complained as I know that nurse reflected on her behaviour and how she treated a 3yr old child who was in agony with a broken elbow, waiting on surgery

The incompetence ie is rife yet many people in the media treat them like Gods. Do not get me started on Midwives..

They arent gods, but they are constrained in what they can do by the staffing and resources they have. That triage nurse would have been bollocked if she left her station to go on the hunt for wheelchairs for every patient that came in with a leg injury.

Sorry to hear this OP. I was turned away from A&E when I was dying from infection and was in need of an operation to save my life (won't go into details). Was treated nicely by trainees but ultimately they missed what was wrong with me. Some abnormal bloods were the only reason they allowed me to come back the next day. The surgical ward staff were something else. They made me walk without a wheel chair to a CT scanner outside with a drip on my own, refused me pain relief and after the ct scan the wheel chair miraculously appeared for me and drugs. Horrific. Zero compassion. Wishing you a speedy recovery.

A&E nurses left my mum in a chair for 20 hours with sepsis

She nearly died

I would never leave a family member at alone their mercy

I’m glad you’re OK now OP. I could not have sat there without offering you assistance unless I was literally too ill to move; you must have felt very vulnerable. The attitude of the staff was clearly inappropriate but it’s also so disappointing that no one offered to help, particularly if as you say, family and friends were accompanying patients.

Ugh. Awful stories here. Like cerealkiller, I went in having trouble breathing, and likely WAS only having a panic attack. But the way I was treated was abysmal. Had a nurse order me to calm down in such a mean way, like I was a total nuisance and wanted to be there feeling like I was going to die. Saw a teenager on her own in bad shape and just a total lack of kindness to her too. She was being told she had to make it to another hospital miles away on her own.

someone who had started to bleed and wanted a scan to see if she was miscarrying - now upsetting I know, but a lot of the patients could have waited the next day to see a GP or walk-in service

I totally agree with you that 111 and GP services need to be overhauled, but please do not minimise bleeding in early pregnancy. Ectopic pregnancies are very dangerous and need to be ruled out. Even with a miscarriage, you can haemorrhage, which is what happened to me when I wasn’t taken seriously at A&E and sent home.

OP, do what others are suggesting and go through PALS. I did, and was satisfied with the outcome and confident that they wouldn’t do it to someone else:

I think you should have said "i cant walk, is there a wheelchair" ? And asked dh to stay and push you in case no porters.

Why did your DH not get a wheelchair for you at the entrance to A+E? Or tell the staff at the check in window that you were unable to weight bear? Why didn’t you tell the triage nurse that you couldn’t walk and ask them for help?

Trust me, no one was staring at your naked foot and the triage nurse was probably wondering why you didn’t go to minor injuries in the first place.

I wish this wasn't common but it is. I was hit by a car, bleeding internally, including a brain bleed and was also treated like an inconvenience. By the time I was finally admitted I wasn't even given a pillow and had to use my coat, awful, awful experience and it wasn't my last.

Exactly. We don't want to be treated like honoured celebrities, but I used to expect to not be lied to about my test results or permanently injured through incompetence. Not anymore.

@HelpMeGetThrough Was it at a hospital starting with D in a large city starting with P. If so it does not surprise me. I had to go in years ago with an eye injury which was so painful that forwhatever reason the other eye had also closed - I literally couldn't open them. The taxi driver walked me in and helped me register then left me in a chair which was way beyond his duty. The triage nurse called my name and gave me no help to get to her room - It was only because another patients husband realised what was happening and helped me that I made it in. She then tried to physically drag my eye open whilst I was screaming and told me not to make a fuss. Liquid morphine did nothing but a doctor finally managed to use a local anesthetic to open my eye and remove a sizable piece of grit that had lodged in there - conclusion I'd rather go through child birth than scratched corenea - it was 3 days before I could open the eye properly.

@broken86 Sorry for my rant - that sounds an awful experience you had every right to expect a bit more help and compassion than that. At the very least they should have provided a wheelchair. Hope you're feeling a bit better soon.