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 crap you're stuck there, but to hopefully put your mind at ease, I get migraines exactly like that. I totally get what you're saying with the thoughts being right in your head but not getting to your limbs or mouth the right way. I was once asked if I wanted a glass of water and I asked to see it first because I couldn't picture it, talking utter nonsense. Fingers crossed you'll be exactly the same and back to your old self by tomorrow. Good luck.

People get seen ‘out of order’ because they go to different areas which work somewhat independently of each other (I.e. for your issue you would have been waiting for majors, the sore finger would have gone to minors or maybe just triage and home, some hospitals now have a GP working there etc). It can reduce the queue to be the seen.

I had surgery recently and the whole situation was barbaric. The NHS is completely broken. So much of it has become unacceptable.

You're entitled to a 'trolley' (that's what they call a bed thing) in your condition and also some water and a snack. However, you probably won't be able to get it.

I am not in Wales, so cannot comment on the state of things there. Here the Conservatives have been in power for how long, and look at the state of the NHS. It is dire. God help people who cannot afford private healthcare, if they stay in charge.

Is there a role for volunteers in the NHS? There’s probably some health and safety reason why not but some of the issues people are facing might be relieved by having a non medical human on hand to pop to shops for people, fetch tea, water, blankets, cushions. Just listen.

OP I am so sorry. I spent hours in A&E a couple of years ago accompanying someone and it’s weird to witness how it works.
Surly and unsympathetic counter staff. Uncomfortable facilities. It feels like the bare basics are being held together. The medical care was great but the waiting area was so poor it must be actively trying to discourage people. The person I was with was in so much pain they laid on the floor after a few hours in the chair and they got told off.

That said, knowing the great British public I guess anything they install would be wrecked by drunks and angry people.

I hope you get seen soon and get home for a rest.

Is your GP open today?

I know whose hands I want the NHS (and Education) in, and it’s never ever going to be the Tories. They don’t believe in taxation or spending on services that benefit everyone so of course all those things go to shit under their leadership.

I agree. And I think that the appalling under-resourcing has led to staff getting burned out and compassion fatigued.

My elderly husband has had three strokes. The observable symptoms of the most recent stroke resolved after around 45 minutes and just before the ambulance crew arrived.

When they got here, despite the fact that he had been able to haul himself up off the floor where he had collapsed, get himself dressed, his mumbled speech and one sided facial drooping had now largely resolved, he was now cognitively alert and able to stand unaided, they still wanted to take him to the rapid assessment stroke unit 13 miles away. Stroke symptoms can unfold slowly and subtly over the course of hours or in case of my husband's first stroke, over the course of a couple of days.

Some types of stroke need rapid administration of clot busting drugs within a couple of hours or a swift intervention to remove a clot and mitigate damage to brain tissue.

And there are two patients here - a mother and an unborn baby.

Yes, it may have been migraine symptoms which have now resolved - but the patient does not know and neither do you.

I'm so sorry you are going through this but in the hope it might help ease your worry, I have also had migraines where I "lose my words" and I frequently have numbness in my fingers and lips during a migraine aura so hopefully that was what it was. You are right to get it checked though and I hope you are seen soon.

Sick people need access to water though. At my local emergency clinic there are disposable cup dispensers outside the toilets so you can fill up a cup of water at the sink, which is obviously much more hygienic than a water fountain so does not have the same infection spreading risk. Cheap and simple solution.

For context im an A&E nurse.

If you have been assessed and triaged, it must mean they have ruled out a TIA/stroke. Chairs have to be hard in a waiting room so they are easily cleanable and sustainable. Water fountains are an infection risk. Staff changes do not delay you being seen or treated.

However!

At 35 weeks pregnant you should have been prioritised on a wait list due to possible complications arising with the baby if youre presenting with an illness not an injury.
Drinks should be offered, our trust has a housekeeper on duty 24 hours a day, who literally circles the department including waiting rooms with drinks and sandwiches all day now due to these horrendous waiting times. We also have stations in the waiting room with jugs of water and disposable cups for patients to help themselves to.
You should have had observations at triage, someone should have now rechecked to your obs whilst you were waiting to be seen to make sure they were still in range if you have presented with an illness - again we have a HCA allocated for this for patients experiencing long waiting times, as well as one to do bloods and one to do ECGs, and one stationed in waiting rooms to assist patients with whatever else they need.

Even with long waiting times, there are things staff and departments can do to make patients comfortable. Leaving patients on cold hard chairs, with no reassessing, and no access to water is unacceptable which ever way you look at it and trusts need to be putting into place measures to ensure these patients are as comfortable as possible.

You do realize that the NHS has never treated as many people, nor had so many staff, nor had so much money.

It needs modernizing. It needs reform. It needs something radical. More money will not solve the problem.

I had a small procedure in a private hospital yesterday. Hardly any patients, loads of staff, ridiculous actually. Way ott for my small biopsy. We got chatting. Most were NHS staff doing extra shifts.

I'm sorry OP, a 35 week pregnant woman should not have to sit on a hard chair for 9+ hours. And I do think pre-eclampsia should be considered, can you mention that next time you speak to someone?

I understand that the NHS is in dire straits, but a heavily pregnant woman who has possibly had a stroke being left in a chair without water for that long is shocking to me. Truly shocking.

Yes I am fully aware of what a stoke it and that there is a pregnant mother here and that if a stroke is diagnosed a clot can be treated within an hour! However the history she provided and her obs etc were obviously not triggering a stroke pathway!

Better than England dd is home from Wales for Christmas asthmatic has a horrific cough that's making her vomit rang 111 hours later got a call back can't help you tonight go to the pharmacy tomorrow they can prescribe antibiotics etc got to the pharmacist she said call 111 I said they sent us here she said all I can do is sell you cough mixture so nearly £7 later she has something that makes her hurl faster

In Wales she can walk across to the hospital and be seen within a few hours and her prescription is free

My elderly fil, now deceased, was in a&e for 3 days before being given a bed. During this time he aspirated food as a result of the family being left to feed him themselves in a totally inappropriate chair.
None of this makes things any better but our a&e units are struggling so hard and it's really hard to see any light at the end of the tunnel.
In the op's case could there be any merit in speaking directly to the maternity unit.

OP I think you need to start making a scene. I wouldn’t normally advise this but this is terrible, especially considering you are pregnant. As other PP’s have said I’d start making a scene about stomach pain. Doesn’t matter at this stage if this is real or not. I’d start crying loudly, holding my stomach and making as much as a scene as you can. You should not have to do this, it’s terrible that you have to have to do this, but as this point I would do this.

You seem to be managing to type OK now.

Can hubby drop you at the neuro hospital?

Did you have your BP checked?

Be annoyed at those who've created these conditions, not the actual A and E Dept. or the frontline staff.

Really?? Make a scene.

This.

The NHS may be on its knees but it’s disappointing that the staff can’t seem to find a shred of compassion.

Wow that is truly awful!