AIBU to be angry at A&E?

[fashu]

I'm currently in hospital A&E, I've been here for 9 and a half hours. I'm 35 weeks pregnant. AIBU for getting upset or should I just suck it up?

At 8pm last night I had the oncoming of a migraine, funny vision, light-headedness etc.
I went to tell my husband and called the midwife, then started having a chat with DH. Mid conversation I started talking nonsense. Instead of car I was was saying mayonnaise, on top of other things I was just talking crap.
I tried to Google the symptoms and I couldn't type either. I couldn't think of what I wanted to write, although I knew what I was doing and when I did think of the words it looked like this 'hdhcjsk'

I panicked a bit and went back to my husband and then I went completely numb on in my hands and my mouth. I panicked and told him to call an ambulance. Ambulance came just over an hour later and said I needed to go to hospital as it sounds like a mini stroke.
Queue major panic mode!

Paramedics called maternity unit they said its not for them but keep them updated.

So I arrived in an ambulance at A&E just after 12am. Went to majors and the triage said to wait in waiting room and they will tell senior doctors.

Well I'm still waiting. 35 weeks pregnant on a hard metal chair. For 9 and a half hours. Panicking that I've had a mini stroke.

I've told the reception and nurses several times that my belly is now hurting from sitting for so long and being awake for 26 hours. I asked for water and they said I had to use the vending machine for a can of coke.
Receptionist told me I'm not poorly enough for a bed or the arm chairs.

I'm so upset, emotional and scared. DH has dropped kids off at my mums now as they were asleep and didn't want to disturb them in the night.

But, am I right to be upset or is this just how it is? Surely a pregnant woman with suspected mini stroke should be left for this long alone without treatment?

I had my first migraine when I was pregnant, vision went funny, slurring words, getting words wrong and numbness in my left arm.
Ive had numerous migraines since that one but that first one is scary as it gives all the symptoms of a stroke.

What an awful tale but I’m sure you’ll be well looked after now

This is just how it is now. It is completely unacceptable!

The call outs are all points driven now for the nhs. I was turning blue with shortness of breath, and the 999 caller insisted that I spoke to her when I just could not speak any more. And it took hours for an ambulance to take me to the hospital, and they kept knocking me back if they got a call with more points in a&e.

I live here betsi cadwaladr trust. It's dire neighbours 33 hours in a chair with a stroke diagnosis

I would have thought that ambulance should have taken you to maternity as you are 35 weeks pregnant - as you could have had pre eclampsia then you could have been assessed for mini stroke there - definitely a cause for an enquiry as to why maternity didn't see you or at least send a midwife out to check your blood pressure.

Could they see you in SDEC or Ambi care??

Have they checked blood pressure?

I had this, along with a pounding headache which made me throw up (im not good with pain) , it started happening more often and found i had pre eclampsia :(

Been like this for ages!!! Things seriously need to change in the NHS, it had never been that s bad under a Labour government.

@CHRIS003 I agree. When this happened to me in late pregnancy, the ambulance dropped me straight at maternity and I was admitted there and then so they could keep an eye on baby whilst the stroke team did their investigations.

Why don't staff give short shrift to the obvious time wasting attention-seekers then instead of taking out their frustrations on the ill people who could do with some compassion? I've had enough of seeing brainless idiots going to A&E and pestering staff and wasting their time taking up multiple seats and inordinate amount of time fussing while the genuinely ill polite people suffer in silence wincing quietly and slowly collapsing off their chair in a corner.

The various A&E/ambulance documentaries on TV could do a LOT to help educate people who really don't seem to know how to behave or how to provide healthcare for themselves. On so many of those programmes, people just call an ambulance without thinking. Toddler with a fever - ambulance. Someone with mild chest pain - ambulance. Broken arm - ambulance. Do they never think of taking the patient themselves either in their own car/asked a neighbour or family member or friend to take them/take a cab if they don't drive? They just seem to view it like a free taxi service or something or assume that as they have young kids at home then they aren't able to help the patient.

That may be how it should be, but sadly it’s bullshit.
My DM actually had a stroke and was encouraged to eat and drink even when she was aspirating on everything she tried, after she’d already had scans confirming her stroke.

I also think that many people could do their own obs a lot of the time. BP, Sats, you can buy that equipment on Amazon or in Boots, it should be standard part of home medical kits now.

my sister in law had a cvst, if it is that hopefully this film will help you. Please contact thrombosis uk for support

OP I hope you have received much more information and treatment

Goodness, that's unacceptable. Nobody, pregnant or not, should ever have to wait ten hours to be seen (plus an hour for the ambulance) with a suspected stroke. Absolutely irresponsible. Non-pregnant, you should've been brought to emergency neurology as fast as possible and taken straight to CT. Pregnant and with symptoms in remission, skipping the CT and doing an emergency MR might have been appropriate (not sure, I'm not a doctor). Regardless, this was a medical emergency, not something to wait 10 hours on a plastic chair for.

A CVT is a venous stroke, as opposed to most "normal" strokes occurring in the cerebral arteries (the cerebral arteries lead the blood to the brain, and the venes lead the blood away from the brain). Still a medical emergency.

And making a pregnant lady sit on a plastic chair for 10 hours without being able to provide a glass of water? Yeah, that's not on in any case. Especially if said pregnant lady is not in a position to just leave and go home. I'd have died of exhaustion when I was 35 weeks.

Get well soon, and take care.

And my condolences for the state of the UK health care system.

(Disclaimer: I'm neither a doctor, nor actually from the UK).

Don't be angry at A+E and it's staff.
Be angry at the governments who've caused the shit show.

Throughout Britain, the whole situation with the NHS is dire. I’ve never known it so bad. 🙁

Hope you’re ok, OP.

I'm sorry to hear this.
I note you've been admitted now - and once that happens you should be looked after well.
Sadly, your story isn't too uncommon. I spent 10hrs in a very similar situation back in the summer (even down to the lack of a water fountain...) with suspected sepsis.
I recommend raising it with your MP and PALS when you're home and feeling up to it.
This is what years of chronic underfunding in the health service has led to. The blame lies firmly at the door of the government.

Yes I had heard how appalling it is in Wales. That just sounds inhumane.

Cvts account for less than 1% of strokes so not a major cause of health inequality.

That's exactly how my migraines are. I usually get one a year and they knock me for six. The first one was terrifying.

Hi All again,

I have scanned through your messages again, thank you to those who left kind caring comments. I am still on the ward, just got back from my MRI that was awful, when I lie on my back for extended periods my baby gets so heavy on my back, plus it was really hot. Never want to do that again!

Just wanted to say, Dr's we're extremely upset I was just sitting waiting on those chairs for so long.
I don't really care about the long wait to be seen by a doc, but the fact that I was sitting there on that chair with no water was shocking to me. My pelvic pain was through the roof that it took a good few attempts to stand up.

Nurses were not kind, practically shouting at me, I asked, please I just need to be somewhere more comfortable like a padded chair and at least water. It was not only me they were being unkind to, a woman asked to remove her cannula as it was hurting and they refused.
I understand maybe not a public fountain, but there wasn't even any water for sale in the vending machine, the ' best option' was vimto zero.

In the end I managed to get to the nurses station and a doctor put me on a bed within 2 minutes and I was on the ward within 20 minutes.

Nurses on the ward are friendlier, but again no water after asking twice. Luckily a supermarket nearby and hubby went and got a big bottle for me.

Whilst I understand my condition may not be 'critical' I am still an emotional hormonal wreck! And I think I deserve at least a kind word of reassurance.
Yes, I was triaged, but very quickly, no more questions other than paramedic handover and just blood pressure and temperature.
My BP was 100/60, HR 130 and temp 37.1.
I didn't have a blood test until a few hours ago.

Pre eclampsia unlikely due to low BP and no swelling, although I haven't done a urine sample.

Maternity hospital is only for maternity issues, they dont have a team like this hospital do for neuro unfortunately.

Keeping every finger and toe crossed that this is a migraine like everyone has said.
Will hopefully know within 30 minutes.

Thanks again everyone for your experience and kind words, it's really cheered me up 💞

I disagree. This is not a good idea for acute / emergency care unless you also teach people the diagnostic accuracy of each test, how to use / carry out the test, what can affect the results and how to interpret them in the current situational context. It’s not as simple as you might think.

From a health promotion / awareness or in situations with chronic illness where the patient becomes the expert by experience, some monitoring equipment might be appropriate though.

I said ‘yet another case’ rather than ‘cause’. There is huge inequality within the NHS and wider healthcare that disproportionately affects women and the disabled in particular.