If you work in A and E, when is the quietest time for a patient to come in?

[applejack18]

I know IABU to ask, as the NHS is unimaginably stretched all of the time.

But if there was a least busy time of day/night, or time of week, which would it be?

Is there a pattern?

I ask because I had to call 111 yesterday at 10pm and the upshot was I should get seen for my symptoms within 12 hours. The clinician said I could go to A and E that evening or see the GP in the morning. I'm lucky it wasn't urgent but it got me thinking.

Early morning, definitely. When I worked in A&E night shifts ended at 8am and we usually handed over a fairly quiet department. About 7am probably best time to go.

I've been in a few times the past 9 months for HG, and found that it's quietest between 5-8am. Once it hits 9am then it's buggered until about 4-5am the following morning.

How could your auntie stand 30 years of a&e it would finish me off 😐

Apparently she only went in temporarily for 3 months after she'd finished her training, as a temp because she wanted theatres and that wasn't available. And just loved it and stayed.

Was seen in Minor Injuries at the weekend within 20 minutes last week.

I don't work there but I've had a few long waits in the last couple of years and found, like some other posters have said, that around 5am the waiting room is much quieter and people seem to walk in and get seen relatively quickly.

We were taken in by ambulance on Tuesday night and it wasn’t too busy. Whisked through triage due to concerns about DH’s heart. Then when they were happy with that we had a 5hr wait in the normal waiting room.

Then they lost his bloods and we were there until 11am, having been taken in at midnight.

They’re over stretched and under paid. I’ve seen it MUCH busier than that

Absolutely! I’ve worked some awful boxing days, sick child after sick child that really should have been brought in the day before.

I had to take an elderly relative recently and the signs said waiting times were 12hrs for urgent and 15hrs non-urgent. Staff said it was unusually busy due to doctors' strike and people waiting over Xmas and New Year the unable to get GP appointments. Luckily my relative was triaged and rushed in quickly

Luckily for me that is, not for them being ill!

I went recently, 4am Friday morning. Full. There were people there that had come in 7pm day before.

Part of my role is managing the hospital as site director.

Avoid Mondays entirely if you can. The hospital is backed up from limited discharges over the weekend and this pushes queues back to ED. If your problem is medical, a wed, thu, fri or even Saturday morning would be good. After 9am to allow for handover and the day team working through the tasks from the previous night.

If your problem is surgical, you'll likely get good attention if you come in overnight as surgery is often busier in the day time. We get a raft of patients come in with GP referrals for abdo pain etc, which compete with the regular A&E attenders. Senior surgeons (reg and consultant) also very likely to be in theatre during the day so can be delayed in responding to ED bleeps. We do very little operating over night (which is a Good Thing) and will have a registrar level doctor as a minimum on site overnight. Busier units will also have a resident consultant.

If you're bringing a child, come later. Late afternoon or early evening is busier. If you're having a baby come in the morning. Labour ward always heats up later in the day and staffing levels often reduced on night shift.

I had to take my elderly father recently at 4 on a Sunday morning. It was just him and three individuals with injuries from Saturday nights out on the town. They'd all sobered up or maybe hadn't had that much originally.

We left at 7 and by then a few more had arrived. The triage system does make wait time slightly random which is absolutely right.

1973

Before the Tories were voted in.

Call me old fashioned, but don't people go to A&E when there is an accident or emergency ?
It just isn't somewhere I've ever thought to plan a time to go.

When we were there a few months ago the receptionist told us Mondays are always busy due to GP’s not being open over the weekend and then no appointments when people phone Monday morning and the second busiest time is Wednesday afternoons onwards when the GP’s close early for the afternoon.

Was there 11 hours on Tuesday night with chest pain. When I left the queue was over 25 people, and hadn't been less than 18 all night.
The previous time I went (tbf that was with ds so the children's one) it was 8pm Saturday night, and bonfire night, and he was straight into a cubicle. We were there 6 hours having tests and treatment and there were only about 6 people in that time. Never seen it so quiet.

If you can wait 12 hours then you don't need A&E. if you can pick and choose when to attend then it's neither an accident nor an emergency

You would think, but no.

I was there one bonfire night expecting it to be filled with burned children (child of the 70's safety films) and they said it was usually one of the quietest days of the year.

@NamingConundrum absolutely this was me the last time I was there. 7pm until 11am

Turned out to be a burst ovarian cyst and I waited 13 hours just to see the first doctor - the poor HCA kept coming round the waiting room taking obs and thankfully I was allowed a few doses of morphine in the meantime after being triaged. Irony is I worked upstairs in the same hospital so ringing in was interesting while my car was in the staff car park downstairs...

We were sent by our GP DC had severe headache vomiting, sensitive to light - A&E 25 mins drive.
triaged in 15 mins consultant seen not long after - blood tests etc all done. Very quickly. Thankfully turned out to be first presentation of migraine - but so quick.

Thursday midday!

What a stupid post. It’s not if you can wait 12 hours you don’t need A&E, it’s that you have no choice but to wait 12 hours if you need urgent medical attention.

I waited 12+ hours with a broken wrist and I’ve waited 6+ hours to get stitches. Both times I needed to be in A&E and both times I was able to wait but equally couldn’t just leave and go about my life.

With the 12hr wait I saw several people flanked by police having acute mental health crises also having to wait hours and hours. Did they not need A&E either?