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?

It’s disgraceful you’ve been there all this time with symptoms which could be pre eclampsia and nobody has checked your urine for protein yet. Should have been one of the first tests! But I agree the fact your BP is ok is reassuring

Really, really hope you feel better soon fashu and get the treatment you need.
Sounds like you've had such an ordeal. Sending hugs xxxx

@fashu Good to read you are getting some progress. Best wishes to you.

The last chance to vote for a different approach was at the last General election, that ship has sailed.

Hopefully all is OK and you can go home soon back to a comfy bed!!

I always thought if you were over a certain amount of weeks you went straight to the prenatal ward?

Honestly, I’d do this. The baby has been awfully quiet today, hasn’t it…?

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?

It isn't an either /or. Nobody should be in A&E for lengthy periods without treatment if treatment is required. But you the NHS is in a state of breakdown, so lots of people are waiting long periods. A great many of them who are sicker that you. Being pregnant isn't a free pass because most of the people they are dealing with before you will have been triaged as more at risk, more vulnerable and more ill than you. Equally, the main treatment is aspirin (or similar drug) and observation - in an of itself TIA is not immediately dangerous (although it sounds scary when described as a mini-stroke), so the correct approach would not be to prioritise you over those at greater risk, but to look to start appropriate drug therapy, seek to identify the trigger for the TIA if possible, and look at appropriate preventative measures to avoid a possible stroke at a later date - but in that case it would be days or even months later, so there is plenty of time to start the correct regimes.

I would say that this trust system is weakening NHS. It needs to be centralised and run with more common sense. Also - no more intermediary agencies providing staff. You should know how many people you need to run the ward. No need to pay double for the same people just because there is an agency/sometimes two in between. It costs an awful lot of money, plus a bit of chaos at many times.

Probably because NHS England have gotten really good at falsifying the figures.

The RTT figures put out are bullshit, I worked on an NHS validation team where the higher ups would stop the RTT clock for bullshit tenuous reasons. I refused to do it for anything other than a genuine stop but these people were several bands above me and they had no issue in stopping a clock on elective surgery because the date they were offered the patient was on holiday. In no rules of RTT is patient holiday a clock stop!

Being pregnant may not be a free pass to prioritisation in a&e but no one should be waiting for 10 hours to be seen. Comfortable seating (for patients at least) should be available, as should drinking water. These are very basic things.

Been like this for decades, hospital closures, so called superclinics that never happened, failed care in the community , chronic understaffing, pay freezes and now strikes. Somehow they managed to build, equip and apparently staff 7 nightingales for covid though.

Someone said: You are directing your anger at the hard working staff who never stop and have to sustain abuse day after day night after night.

This actually has nothing whatsoever to do with not caring for a pregnant woman properly in A&E, who was also not in any way being abusive. Anyone, busy worn down staff or commentator on the internet, who thinks it is, needs to give their head a wobble.

OP, I haven't read the whole thread yet as my broadband is being very slow, but I hope you are getting the best care now and no lasting damage has been done by the ridiculous lack of treatment and respect you and your baby received. It was disgusting, and I would complain, later, regardless of (hopefully positive) outcome. We can only hope to effect change by making our voices heard, not only at the ballot box, but also with the staff, departments, and hospitals themselves. Politely, very firmly, and repeatedly.

A lot of these things are not in fact due to the (very real) problems with the NHS given as the reason, but due to poor attitudes in individual staff or departments going unchecked, poor training or supervision of those staff, bad management and organisation, and/or corporate ethos. And yes, institutional misogyny.

@fashu fingers crossed for good news. Unfortunately it is often sick, vulnerable people waiting a long time in A&E. You’d have probably been seen much quicker in minors for a cut for example. There has to be some basic compassion as people stuck in a&e for hours unable to eat, use toilets etc are being deprived of basic dignity.

You may have had poorer care by the sounds of things because your maternity unit isn’t on the same site as neurology but the care you’ve had has been shocking really. By contrast, 8 years ago when I was pregnant with my first, I had a fall at 20 weeks, I was sent straight up to maternity where they had me on a bed where they did a mobile scan, patched me up, gave me anti d and were really kind and reassuring. I think most people would expect that a heavily pregnant women with a suspected clot would receive better care.

I'm not afraid to say that as the patient, I would have stood by reception (or staying in my chair if necessary) very loudly saying "give this pregnant woman some water, now! and no, coke from the machine is not appropriate, I'm pregnant" politely but very firmly until someone more senior came to see what the fuss was about and would have undoubtedly dealt with it appropriately. (I also did similar for someone in an A&E when I was there as another patient, about her pain relief, she'd been forgotten about, so I put my money where my mouth is, so to speak.)

(Caffeine and bubbles is going to contraindicated in a lot of patients there, too. Completely ridiculous, and a lot of these infection control things are different from Trust to Trust anyway and so clearly are not a red line; pretty sure ours has a water machine and paper cups.)

Sorry, too many messages to see if this has already been mentioned, but it sounds like you could have Migraine with Aphasia, which affects your ability to speak temporarily...
https://headaches.org/brucewillisaphasia/#:~:text=In%20certain%20disease%20states%2C%20like,attack%20passes%2C%20the%20aphasia%20resolves.

Although I agree with this, at the same time a reverse issue happens for some when people start monitoring their own stats - they get 'health anxiety' and begin to obsess that every fluctuation is an indication of a crisis.

I'm so terrified of needing the NHS, there's no way whatsoever I can afford private treatments, so I'm absolutely determined to be ultra cautious and vigilant in all my health affairs.

Jesus Christ is NHS really that bad now??

We’re in Dublin. I had a suspected blood clot in my lung when I was in my first trimester and was admitted to maternity hospital not general hospital. Didn’t have to wait in ED either as GP had phoned ahead and someone was waiting for me.

Recently took DS to kids ED for RSV. A lot of waiting I have to admit but someone did come around to offer tea/toasts and a nurse even minded bub so I could go to the bathroom (only one parent allowed due to COVID guidelines then).

Can’t believe how bad the UK sounds!

Also to add we always manage to get a same day GP appt for kids and adults too. Sounds like it’s increasingly harder to see a GP in UK!

I guess they’re not bothering with the (very necessary) urine test because they don’t give anyone anything to drink anyway to make it possible.

This is truly awful , So sorry you were left like that and no water! Crazy.

Having said that my DM has just been whizzed through A&E today in a ridiculously busy city centre hospital and is in a resus bed - the care has been so fast and amazing I'm not sure that King Charles would get such a service. However her systolic pressure was 55 at the time the paramedics arrived. When you're ridiculously sick, the NHS is there but I would argue that you should take a similar priority being pregnant.

Totally agree with this.

I was appalled today to go searching for food in the hospital and all that was open was an in house Greggs and no water bottles just fizzies.

Hope all is ok op

I don't understand why they don't have comfortable chairs that slightly recline in A&E. My Dad has leukemia and has had a stem cell transplant so has very low immunity. If he gets a temperature spike, I have to get him to hospital within an hour. He bypasses A&E and goes straight through to Acute A&E. Both times he has sat in a hard chair for 4-5 hours before being even triaged (no temperature taken, BP etc). No water available. He went in with a temperature of 38 and it had climbed to over 40 by the time he was seen. He had severe flu like symptoms and couldn't keep awake. When he was eventually seen, he was put on a bed that was quite literally dripping with blood. Nurse was very apologetic and cleaned it when I pointed it out, but these are really high risk acutely ill patients. A comfortable chair for patients to lie back on would make the world of difference. It's just simple basic care.

This sounds exactly like a Migraine with Aphasia, like to the 'T'.
I used to get them in college when I was at my most stressed, almost always triggered by a specific band of hot chocolate-
Did your vision change at all? My migraines would always start with squiggles of "TV Static" looking things over my vision then progress to not being able to speak or type/write. I'd know what I wanted to say, but my mouth and hands just wouldn't co-operate so telling anyone what was wrong was nye of impossible.

It's super scary when it happens, and it does genuinely feel like you're having a stroke, so I can understand the fear entirely.

Considering you're 35 weeks, it honestly doesn't surprise me - I really would try not to panic too much - You're not being unreasonable to be frustrated, that's an absolutely chronic wait time, especially with everything going on.

That being said - Obviously I'm not a doctor, but I'd personally have gone home by now.
If you're now okay enough to type out a fairly long AIBU post on MN in a way that's entirely legible and coherent, I think it's pretty safe to assume it's just a very bad migraine and get some well deserved and much needed rest!

Hoping you’re getting some answers OP, and feeling at bit better. The nhs is on its knees ☹️