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?

widowtwankywashroom

Which is why at work I am very different, and reserve my thoughts for here, I often make tea and toast for patients, sit and have a chat with them, advocate for them, chase test results, Dr's etc.
This is why I often get patients who hug me, say thank you, but yes carry on judging me because of what I write on here when I am home

How horrible to learn that this is the kind of thing that nurses might be thinking of us on those increasingly rare occasions when they're saying nice things to our faces. To be honest I think you're in the wrong job.

There's no doubt that some people in A&E behave very badly towards staff, and some people visit A&E with trivial problems, but let's be real. Most of us don't do anything of the sort, and there's no excuse for nursing or other medical staff to be despising us in the way that you appear to do simply because we've had to attend a hospital for help when we're unwell.

Catty oyster, I was a good nurse, it's just so depressing now. I know the job has become more technical, nurses do more clinical work but it's the attitude and lack of basic care that upsets people. There are matrons but nurses roles have changed. I still remember years later a nurse arguing the toss with an elderly man who wanted a bowl of cereal in the night, she could have done that in the time she spent arguing. Nurses are role models, you get one or two lazy, shitty little bullies on a shift and it's a bloody horrible day for everyone.

Oh my god. That’s awful!!!! Sending huge hugs. That’s disgusting

If they're considering a c section at 38 weeks take it. I nearly lost my DIL and first grandchild when they let her go full term despite my reservations because she was having awful headaches, swelling up like a balloon, looked so ill. I silently thought pre eclampsia wish I'd shouted it. They nearly lost them both when after a long labour she started seizing they rushed them to theatre then was an emergency. She was so ill afterwards.

I was more aggressive with other DIL at 31 weeks twins the consultant said it's all going wrong they could die. Believe me I made sure that she was in the hospital the next day. My son was a away on business.

Please don't mess about @fashu

I'm going to assume that many people, perhaps the majority, in A&E are in some sort of discomfort or pain. You'll have been triaged and your medical need isn't greater than others.

And your typing is absolutely fine now so presumably whatever was happening has passed.

Have you read the thread? You can just highlight the OP’s update and read those. The OP has been kept in for tests.

It sounds like you had an hiempeligic migraine. They're so scary when you first have one and not aware of what's going on.
I suffer with them and it's still as scary as the first, I found mine are caused by certain foods and got worse when I was pregnant with my son. Both hormones in my body was an overload and apparently is quite common at causing all types of migraines.

I hope you and the baby are ok now and wasn't anything too serious.

You're right. That is exactly what upsets people.

Thank you very much for the good, kind work you've done looking after people when they need it ❤️

So do you not want me to advocate for you, chase your results, get your cannula in when others fail, respond to your deterioration?

I don't despise patients far from it, I really wish those who criticise, come and see what we actually do.

people are seen in order of urgency and by how long they've been in the department.

For many of us, our experience is that this is simply not true. It would be wonderful for each Trust to give us an honest statement about this.

We recognise - as has been demonstrated by some comments here by committed healthcare workers - that many people in the NHS are heroes who go above an beyond, but there are plenty of others whose carelessness and lack of empathy make them a liability to themselves and others.

Par for the course these days.

The tories have been deliberately defunding the NHS and running it into the ground for years to soften us up for the seeming inevitable privatisation.

They literally wrote the book on how to do this.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/jeremy-hunt-privatise-nhs-tories-privatising-private-insurance-market-replacement-direct-democracy-a6865306.html

It's got nothing to do with the 4 year term system. They want it to fail.

OP, so sorry about your experiences.

It would be nice if you could lay off the snotty messages to the OP though. she isn't one of your patients giving you personally undeserved grief. I know what A&E is like and it's amazing that anyone can cope with working there at all. You deserve our thanks.

However she's alone and sick and scared and doesn't deserve snippy comments. She's a real person behind the screen. Maybe rein it in a bit and take your (deserved) frustrations out elsewhere?

Thank you @crunchermuncher and others who made comments like this.

I am home now, told to take it easy and go straight back if any further episodes. I will get a follow-up appointment in the next couple of days and I have a maternity appointment on Wednesday just to make sure everything is OK with baby.
I've never had an overnight stay at hospital apart from having my babies, it was certainly an experience I don't want to experience again anytime soon.

To all the commenters, who commented things like your ok, you've been triaged and assessed, your on your phone etc. You were not present at my triage, things can be missed, due to many factors. I clearly wasn't triaged thoroughly. I was not spoken to by a nurse at the hospital. She only spoke to the paramedics. Only my BP, HR and temp was taken. Once in the whole time I was waiting. I didn't have a blood test until I was seen by a doctor and I didn't have a urine test at all. I repeatedly asked for water, none was ever given in the whole 2 days, but I was pointed to a vending machine only containing fizzy cans. I repeatedly told them my stomach was hurting, this was not an exaggeration, I suffer from PGP and in the end I could barely stand up. The doctor had to lift my legs onto the bed. It was extremely embarrassing. (Thankfully) DH arrived shortly after that and was able to help out.

You and I don't know why others were there, so we cannot assume who was in a worse position, however, people were seen 'first come first serve' from what I could see. A lot of people were transferred to the walk in centre at 7am and this afternoon when I left, the wait time advertised was 90 minutes.

I understand the pressure nurses and doctors are under, but there should be access to water and arrangements in place to offer those in need a padded seat.

I think this was all down to a mixture of cut backs and the way the hospital is run. Obviously I have attended A&E before in my life. I am aware there are long waits, but this time was just shocking the way I was spoken to and treated, when this is the most serious of symptoms I have ever attended with before in my life.

Sorry for the little rant above, but after reading some more of the comments, some are very upsetting.

But once again, I really thank those who left kind comments, it really means a lot to me, it really cheered me up when I was in there.

This will probably be my last post now, I'm usually a silent watcher on mumsnet, but I will update if any significant updates that may be of use.

I have also researched hemiplegic migraine, as many suggested and I think this sounds very similar to my experience. I will probably bring this up with the neurologist in the next few days. I appreciate those who have let me knkw about this kind of migraine.

Good night everyone and happy weekend, hope you all have a good New Year, I will certainly be spending it on the couch with some nice chocolate! X

I’m glad you’re home, OP, I still find it shocking that you haven’t had a urine test though. That would seem to be a basic with a pregnant women presenting in distress. I guess if they’re not even going to give you water to drink though, they’re probably getting used to not bothering with urine tests.

Yes, they can’t have completed a MEWS score for her which suggests they’ve incorrectly used a NEWS scoring system which has different BP and pulse parameters as well as no scoring for protein.

That is really shocking that they didn't do a urine test, that's the first thing they should always do with pregnant women.
I hope you feel up to giving feedback to the hospital about this, poor triage, no urine test, refused water, and inappropriate seating for a heavily pregnant woman.

You poor thing. Glad you are home. I think your experience sounds so poor, especially for a pregnant woman.

I wish you and the baby good health

@fashu FWIW I think you were treated abysmally and that there is no excuse whatsoever for it. I am not persuaded that more money would translate to better nursing and better basic courtesy.

I very much hope you have a safe delivery and that you remain well. Personally I think you should make a formal complaint, based on the facts of your experience and copy it to your MP. Address it to the hospital's CEO.

Best of luck for the future.

I am currently on placement in my nearest hospital, I sat in on one of the morning huddles where all wards, assessment departments and emergency department are looked at for number in currently, expected discharges and how many minus beds we are in, my mentor described how the flow of the hospital worked and how each thing links and if one part stops working the whole thing clogs, she brilliantly described it as the hospital being constipated. So because the wards are full (mainly with delayed discharges due to social care in my area) it has a serious knock on effect in every other area of the hospital. It doesn’t excuse how op was treated but does explain some of the many hold ups

@AlaskaThunderfuckHiiiiiiiii so in those scenarios there are foreseeable issues that will arise. Can you ask your mentor why there are no mitigating arrangements in place to deal with foreseeable issues. I would have thought that was within the ken of our supposedly highly skilled and post graduate qualified nurses. Or are hydration and kindness and basic courtesy no longer part of the nursing equation?

@RosesAndHellebores i did say it didn’t explain how the op was treated that should all be basic nursing care and I’m sure you know not all hospitals are like that? Anyway my point was trying to explain why waits are the way they are

Sadly @AlaskaThunderfuckHiiiiiiiii my local hospital is just as the op describes. It is an utter disgrace - and has not improved over the last nine years.

The constipation analogy is apt. Many of us become unwilling bed-blockers when someone decides at 11am that we can be discharged, only to wait another seven or eight hours for our discharge letter and meds.
A 'departure lounge' where we could loiter, be fed and watered and charge phones to keep loved ones updated would:
a) free-up much needed beds quicker
b) avoid the wasted time and effort of making a bed with fresh linen at 11:15 because we're 'going' and then having to repeat the process at 19:30 in time for the next patient after we've spent the day lying on it.

To be honest those waiting for discharge aren't an issue as much as those in longer term because they don't have anywhere safe to go. Lots of children now aren't willing to take responsibility for their elderly parents and commit to having them at home; understandable as not many of us have huge houses and can have time off of work to become a carer, but this along with the lack of suitable nursing home beds, carers in the community etc causes major issues. It's also very bad for elderly people to be in hospital for longer than needed, not just socially but plenty of studies have shown it very bad for their physical health and cognitive health. The government have known about the increases in demand in social care services that would come with an increasing in the aging population for decades and no one has done anything about it.