To think this is a fucking joke - A@E wait?

[CanNeverThinkOfAName]

So our local hospital serves 350,000 residents from a large area.

Arrived at A&E at 11pm. Expected it to be packed and to have a long wait. There were around 15 patients waiting. At 3am there were 4 still in the waiting area plus us.

From that time only one person has been called to see a doctor and at least 10 people have gone out after being seen.

Ambulance staff check patients in near where we are sitting and only 3 have checked in since we got here.

Obviously not a busy night.

AIBU to think this is totally piss take and the staff must be on a bloody go slow or something?

We can't force people to leave A&E or reduse treatment despite them not really needing it and being able to offer them an appointment with a GP at an urgent care centre or westcall.

If they decline to go elsewhere after being triaged we still have to see them (this is paediatric ED).

Even of they have something minor such as an earache that starte an hour ago (yes this happens often) they still take up around 20-30mins of Dr's time of taking a history, examination, answering questions/concerns and prescribing meds. And if they are waiting for results they will still need obs or pain relief which may only take a few mins, but it all adds up.

So yes a person that doesn't need to be there and doesn't require much treatment, still takes up a minimum of 30 mins.

When you have about 20-30 people that don't need A&E when you average 150 people per day, that's a minimum of 10 hours spent on patients 'that don't take up much time'.

I agree that most adults could pay for their own contraception but I suppose not everyone. I think pharmacists can provide the pill now can't they? Not needing to see a GP or go to a clinic must cut the cost down a lot.
Treating infertility is a hell of a lot more expensive than contraception - and since it very often doesn't succeed is just so much money wasted.

The OP had a family member in A&E with suspected intestinal bleeding, which the GP thought could be a medical emergency, so may have more important things to do than come back on the thread (though it would be good to know what happened).