I'm so fucking sick of a and e wait times

[cutrtain]

As a working mother to a toddler in nursery, I'm just fucking done with how long it takes to get help in a and e for my child.

It's starting to make me not want to go, in situations that I would have maybe gone in the past.

I'm absolutely exhausted. It's always 3/4 hours wait, at least.

I'm just so done with it. It's a disgrace.

What did they do with the 40 temp? Just give them more paracetamol?

You do have to take them. Especially if 111 days you do. And they generally always do.

All the ailments you've listed could be seen by a gp.

You must go fairly often if your that pissed off.

Difficulty breathing?

Correct

I've been twice in the last 2 months.

Then probably another time 2 months before. I can't even remember exactly how many times.

I didn't go over the summer months really but was definitely there once or twice towards the beginning of the year too.

Always because I've been told to go by the GP/ 111.

I think the sleep deprivation isn't just because of the trips, it's just the general illnesses combined with the trips to a and e that make it difficult.

Re the breathing issues, 111 always ask to see how he breathes through video and they just don't like it. He's got a few issues that probably warrant better treatment but the GP isn't really actioning it. He very much suffers from severe coughing which ends up in him being sick /and then has trouble breathing because he has these coughing fits. They usually give him steroids at a and e, but refuse to give it to us outside of that context. He does have an inhaler but it just doesn't make any difference sometimes.

He also has really bad tonsillitis which is why we've been twice over the last two months because his temp doesn't come down and he stops eating / drinking / gets dehydrated/ has fast breathing rate / sucking in under his ribs.

All those are possible signs of sepsis. They send us, to rule sepsis out. However now that it's happened a couple of times, I can stay home next time.

I don't know how out of hours works here. All the GP surgeries shut in the evening, and the urgent treatment centre closes at 8pm.

I guess there is an out of hours service, but I have no idea how you access it.

Tories ... they said austerity and they meant it.

@cutrtain you don’t need to defend yourself. Tonsillitis was the reason for several
of our trips. He ended up needing oxygen and he was tachycardic due to the stress of the infection, they admitted him for observation. He was a 2020 baby so when he finally started mingling with kids he ended up in hospital with every other cold. Beds were full of other small children with the same issue. He’s more robust now but at one point we were under 4 different paediatricians. People don’t understand when they haven’t had to deal with small children getting really sick from common illnesses. You are doing the right thing x

Whenever I've been the wait time has been less than an hour

Our GP's clinics are full for weeks ahead. Mostly f2f. So not 'impossible' everywhere.
The fact that you're on here slagging off GP's, that demand was so high that patients were queueing in the car park and your FIL is still going at 90 (and that's not unusual) should give you some clues as to why primary care is on its knees.

The NHS, in every way, is hopeless at the moment.

But, my late husband had to go a few times (always serious stuff) by ambulance, and did get taken straight into ReSus and tested/assessed. No real delays.

The delays getting a bed, on a ward, were something else - but, I guess that’s because they can’t seem to discharge enough people.

Getting a GP appointment is like the Holy Grail though - which means too many people are using A&E for stuff that would, previously, have been dealt with by a prompt appointment with the GP.

Not good, and getting worse.🙁

Your job is suffering because you waited at A&E for 3 hours twice in the last several months?

OP hope you all manage to get some rest today. Tonsillitis is horrible and I think people, due to the luxury of antibiotics, forget how serious it can turn if left untreated.

Typically a high temperature is indicative of a bacterial infection, so one can safely surmise they will rule out and treat any infection.

I am not excusing poor clinical decisions. Of course there are shit decisions made by poor clinicians. I would be the first to raise that where I work.

But there are simply not enough staff. And people rush/do the bare minimum when they have a waiting list of twenty looming. I have seen that happen. It’s firefighting.

Our IT is shit. I work across three hospitals that are very near to each other in London. It is insane that each one has different electronic patient records so we cannot see what has been done in the other hospitals. This is inefficient at best and dangerous at worst.

Better staffing would help with a lot, including staff morale. There is a strong connection between staff feeling valued and the care that they provide, rightly or wrongly. That is not to say there are not some rubbish staff in the NHS. There absolutely are and it is incredibly hard to get rid of them. I wish it wasn’t so.

True, that and Brexit finished the NHS/Social Care.

Two things the UK voted for, so can't really blame the Tories, its on us.

No Tories in Wales

How on earth is a 5 hour wait for stitches EVER justified?? DS needed stitches after a bike accident last year on holiday. 10 minutes wait at the local (French) A&E. You've all been gaslit into accepting absolutely crap service from the health system and thinking that multi-hour waits are normal and acceptable. Newsflash: they're not acceptable in a civilised, rich country.

I can’t believe how many people are saying breathing difficulties and very high fevers are not acceptable for A&E visit. One of my children had temperatures above 42 degrees EVERY time they developed a virus. When a child is that unwell (even though it’s not a serious illness) they need hospital attention. On one occasion we were sent to the resuscitation part of A&E as the docs were so worried. It is disgusting how long people have to wait in A&E, and in many cases a GP will just send you up there anyway- especially if breathing difficulties and very high temperatures. It is always better to be safe than sorry.

I had no idea Wales was a separate country, Tory mismanagement has cost women and children their lives.

Who runs the NHS in England?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-67554554

Just a long line of NHS maternity scandals, along with MH ones too.

Ours is literally next door to A&E and is a 24 hour service. Patients are triaged via A&E or referred by 111.

I was sent straight to an and e after submitting an online triage form to my GP last week for heavy bleeding. I got to a and e, and they sent me to an out of hours GP office in a portacabin set up on the car park. It was brilliant. I was seen by the OOH GP within an hour, she rang a gynae consult while I was in the room and they sent me straight to the surgical assessment unit where I was seen by the first round of doctors. I then got examined and admitted from there to the gynae ward, tested and scanned and diagnosed within 24 hours. Discharged the next day with an action plan, meds and a follow up.

My point being that in a genuine medical emergency and in my case, a level several steps below an emergency situation, the NHS is still absolutely bloody brilliant. It’s when you get sent to the wrong level of care for your situation that the wheels come off. In your case, you described ‘trigger’ symptoms to 111 and they’re not allowed to apply common sense, so if you say ‘my kid is struggling to breathe’ then of course you’re going to end up in a and e. I hope it doesn’t, but if this happens again and you speak to 111, you are allowed to directly request an out of hours GP and clarify with them that this has happened before and you know your son presents like this when he has urgent need for medical intervention but it’s not an emergency.

The other thing you can do is get into the habit of spotting that he’s getting an infection before it becomes so bad that you need emergency care and book your GP appointment immediately. If he is under 2, the GP has to see them fairly rapidly, usually on a same day emergency appointment. Again, make it clear that your son has a history of fast deterioration in these situations and you know he needs intervention. Of course, if these issues have all been viral then that’s a different conversation.

I also think all an and e departments should have an attached out of hours GP within walking distance so you can just be sent straight back out of an and e.

Could not agree more - A&E like a war zone, unacceptable in a rich country

Oh of course Wales is totally independent financially isn’t it? Not dependent on Westminster for a penny! 🙄

Me and DB had one trip to A&E between us in our entire combined childhoods. But both our parents had been nurses, so weren't phased by blood, gore or illness and were more than capable of dealing with a lot of stuff themselves. (I can remember my DF cutting a plaster into thin strips to patch up a gash on my head, which is what they did before Steristrips were invented, and them taking it in turns to check on me every hour or two because I had concussion.)

I totally get that lack of access to GPs is part of the problem, and under-resourcing an even bigger part, but I also wonder if there would be benefit in more education, eg teaching kids first aid, what requires urgent treatment and what symptoms need to be checked by a doctor.