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?

Re the child running around..

im sure most parent can relate to this. When my kids were small and I was seriously worried about a temperature or similar, it was always 111 who advised me to take them to a&e, so was always just doing what was suggested. They would invariably, after a few hours waiting, perk up and run about etc. the amount of times I’ve said to the nurse ‘I feel like they are ok, should we go home?’ And the response was ALWAYS ‘that’s your decision to make, we can’t make you stay, however we think you should be seen’. therefore we would stay 🤷‍♀️

Is there a guide as you enter on time for triage and to see a doctor?

My Dad was taken in via ambulance, down a trauma corridor, so we were allowed in for a few minutes to see him. It was very busy behind those doors but very little going on in the waiting area. Luckily this meant Dad was lying down on a bed.

However there was a poster when we arrived with the two times on and they were pretty accurate. We.then left an hour after the doctor had seen Dad as he wanted an hours further obs, which was 7 hours after arrival.

I can't thank the nhs enough.

I called an ambulance yesterday for my 9yo. It arrived within 6 minutes and we were in a&e 15mins later. Immediately triaged and in with doctors. Private bay. Phenomenal care.

"Not calling another one for half an hour" - I'm not sure why you're so horrified by this?

In that half an hour they will have taken a history, including collateral if needed (eg calling care home or relative), examined the patient, checked past medical history on system, written up medication, requested scans/investigations, handed over jobs to nurses, spoken to colleagues/referred on. Sometimes performed investigations themselves, eg bedside ultrasound.

Plus also checked back on results of investigations for the 3/4 other patients still on their caseload.

Plus written a discharge summary for any patient now ready to go home. Plus done some adhoc prescribing for other patients - fluids, analgesia etc at nurse's request.

A&E is relentless. You have no idea how hard the staff work.

I find it astounding folk who have never worked in A&E before can ascertain how busy it is because they can see the ‘walk in desk’ and have absolutely no idea what’s going on behind the doors. In fact, have no medical knowledge whatsoever.

Staffing increase and decrease in patients- behave! Have you seen the waiting lists and the ‘freeze’ in recruiting into posts?

From my experience of recently being in A&E with my child and also as being a paediatric nurse who works in the hospital I took my child to….

There are 6 cubicles in A&E and children can be in them for an average of 3 hours, usually more, regardless of what they’re there for, and for those who need admitting they can sometimes remain in their cubicle for up to 8 hours whilst waiting for a hospital bed.

Until a patient in the cubicle is treated and fit to go home, or the patient has been transferred to a ward, then unfortunately it means the patients in the waiting room have to just sit and wait until an empty cubicle becomes available and it is usually for many hours indeed.

When I recently went to the children’s A&E there were about 11 families in the waiting room and we were told there would be at least a 6-8 hour wait to be seen by a doctor. It was nothing to do with doctors being lazy or being on the “go-slow” it was simply because the cubicles were all being used and the 6-8 hour estimate wasn’t about the doctor’s work rate, but how long it was estimated to be until a cubicle came empty (with me being 11th in the queue). I imagine those who were at the top of the queue had already been sitting there for over 5 hours themselves.

It is crap but it’s the state of the NHS.

My grandad recently had to go to A&E for a bad fall and he spent 8 hours sitting in an ambulance outside the hospital before there being space for him in the waiting room where he then spent 12 hours sitting on a waiting room chair - so a total of 20 hours before he was actually started on treatment. He needed to be admitted but as there were no beds available in the hospital he spent almost 24 hours on a bed in the corridor just outside the main A&E department before a hospital bed became available for him.

He’s 92 years old and this is the treatment he received.

It’s really shit.

I hope your child is treated soon, or has now been seen, and they are on the path to recovery.

KTSI1964 you’ve just proved my point beautifully… half an hour 😂have you ever seen admission/discharge paperwork

Probably being unreasonable op as you don't know what's going on behind the scenes. There was another thread recently how a lady was on 50k+ a year, WFH and worried that she wasn't really occupied during her day. Lots of people jumped on saying they were also well remunerated for doing very little. And yet people are waiting hours in A&E and we know the NHS is massively understaffed. In the UK we just don't have people doing the jobs that are actually needed and providing vital services to the population. Everyone wants to use the NHS but hardly anyone wants the responsibility of working in it.

It’s really frustrating to read people denigrate the A&E process by saying “the doctors just sit around / I can see there’s only one doctor and they haven’t moved” etc

how on earth can you know what is happening, and who has been seen, and what that doctor is doing? Paperwork is a thing, blood work is a thing , processing times, etc.. but more importantly; a lot of posters have been shown up by others who explained where urgent serious patients go, and why it’s not through the front door.

its the equivalent of saying Argos is understaffed because one person is visible on the tills. Or Screwfix can’t possibly have any stock because there’s just a tiny counter with a few drills on display next to it.

the arrogance of some posters to think that whatever they can see with their eyes, is the entirety of the NHS A&E process, and they are then fit to judge it accordingly

I don't blame the staff but must be lack of doctors or beds.

10 hour wait on a Wednesday morning this week for a head injury. I was sent to hospital by the ambulance (driven there by friend). Scared confused and in pain.

They then tell you that you have to stay even though they won't see you.

There were not 10 hours worth of people.

I left and saw my GP the next day. A&E should have sent me home not expecting me to sit in pain for 10 or more hours. They need to be honest and say we can't help you. I needed rest and to be comfortable with someone keeping an eye on me. I talked it through with a doctor family member before I left and they said to treat as concussion.

I really hope you've been seen by now. I'd assume your DD has been triaged as needing to see Gastro. I know in our local hospital theredoesn't seem to be any speciality doctors as such in A and E. They are working elsewhere in the hospital and then "pop" down to A and E as and when necessary / they are able to. I've had a horrible wait before but sometimes I've been whizzed through. If you havent been seen I'd push for her to be on a trolley at least due to pain.

You simply don’t know what is going on behind the scenes. People will be working incredibly hard, to suggest they’re on ‘go slow’ is insulting. Seeing your adult child in pain is hard but your frustration needs to be towards the government who have allowed the NHS to get into the state it is in.

We recently had to use A&E for my 7 year old, they knew we were coming thanks to staff on 111 who advised us to go. We were in and out in 1 hour once my child had been checked out and confirmed that they were okay. Not everyone gets amazing service like this and I’ve had my own issues with the NHS recently regarding my own health but I will never blame the staff or suggest that they’re not that busy so why aren’t I being seen?

Use your vote wisely in upcoming elections if you want an improvement.

“There were not 10 hours worth of people.”

@ZenNudist oh, so you know exactly how long each complaint required for treatment? You know it’s not 10 mins for each like a GP?

Did you know every condition that was checked in that night, how a sprain differs from a head injury or rupture etc? And that one patient could need two or three hours of focus , then others coming in behind the scenes which you have no idea what serious attention this needs?

I just think statements like this are completely ridiculous. You will never see the major trauma patients, the road accidents, the attempted murders, they go in a separate way, so how can you judge what’s 10 hours worth?

Youre judging because you conflate A&E with a walk in GP, and you’re looking around the “waiting room”.

My hospital serves around 300k people and every single day there's at least 120 patients in the department - including on trolleys, admitted awaiting beds, waiting room etc etc.
It's chaos all the time.
It's not all about how many patients have arrived. Likelihood is a lot of patients have been diverted to other hospitals due to capacity issues.

Don’t be fooled by stats saying staffing levels are up. Some will be lower roles staff, who still need to wait on a doctor or senior nurse to make the eventual decisions. The doctor numbers per population in the UK are much smaller than in other comparative countries.

I took DC to optician yesterday. It took an hour overall, from eye test to choosing glasses and paying for the various options etc. I think she did a good job. We should respect other professionals to take the time they need, especially in a situation with vastly more uncertainty than scheduled eye test.

I hope OP’s DD has been seen by now.

We need to keep talking about how understaffed and broken the NHS is.

My
partner got taken to hospital yesterday morning (4am) via ambulance as he has complications related to heart failure. Was put in a bay and given drops more or less straight away. When I went over to see him reception was pretty quiet… inside was another matter completely…. Every corridor had trolleys with patients on, some were one on each side. It was chaos… every single bit of floor space that could be used was being used. They had 3 people with tea trolleys giving out sandwiches and tea/coffee to patients and those waiting with them. A month ago when he was first admitted he was put on the an and e holding ward (like a special ward they have for people waiting to be transferred to more appropriate wards). The corridor into that ward had about 10 patients waiting to be handed over by the paramedics who had brought them in. Never seen anything like it!! People bleeding, elderly people crying as they had no idea what was going on, drunk people with security with them…
I was beyond shocked and really grateful that my other half got seen and treated in the time he did. He’s Still in now, was finally transferred to a ward early hours of this morning so was in an and e for about 24 hours all together.
Hope your child is sorted soon.

I was really unwell and went to A & E..11 hours i waited, but as ill as i was i observed the waiting room.To my surprise whole families were turning up, people were ordering Mcdonalds to be delivered, 1 family even brought their own meal with PLATES !!..i beleive they are so busy because we are unable to get a doctors appointment, i don't know about anyone else , but your lucky to get past the receptionist, who by the way IS NOT MEDICALLY trained to say who needs to see a doc

The NHS has a record amount of funding. It's how it's used thats the problem along with poor management.

I would rather be triaged, sent home, and texted when a dr is finally available. I would be back in ten mins.

You don't see it, that's all. The activity is beyond the waiting room.

I went to an out of hours GP service in a hospital one evening, after phoning 111 because I'd passed out in a restaurant. While I was there, I was trying to describe what happened but I couldn't get my words out, and the GP said, "Is it happening again?" I managed to nod before passing out again. The GP called a code. I was actually still conscious (I could hear them running the code, saying my airway was clear, etc.), I just couldn't move or feel my body, which meant I couldn't tell her I was conscious.

I was taken straight round to majors from the out of ours section. Nobody in the A&E waiting room would have known I was there.

You're only seeing those who are actually in the waiting room though. Some patients will have arrived as an emergency in an ambulance and doctors and nurses will also be treating those patients. I get how frustrating it must be, but I don't think you can blame the staff.

Be grateful you have an a&e. In our town (pop about 90k but seaside resort so very variable) our a&e closes at 10pm and reopens at 8 am.

If you need a&e between those times you can go to either one of two - both over 20 miles in opposite directions.

This isn’t new though!

20 years ago when I was a fairly regular A&E attendee due to a heart condition I would get taken in by ambulance (sometimes to a hospital some distant away rather than local ones due to availability of beds) and sit around on a trolley for upwards of 12 hours waiting to be admitted.

I’d get an amazing response time from the ambulance, but then held up at the hospital. Every time I needed a single injection followed by a few hours observation, so the wait time added substantially to how long each visit was.

On the trolley I was at least within shouting distance of help if it got worse, so better than hanging around at home, but still distressing.

Bless you, hope your better now
Dont go A & E with tummy ache, ear ache or finger ache or if you have the sniffles, They really were run off their feet. Think twice
We need our NHS..but if it's not looked after we will lose it

This will not be the case, it may be that the paramedics go to reception re some patients but they will not check in every single patient that is brought in via reception!
You have no idea what's going on beyond the waiting room, there could be a patient having a cardiac arrest, a patient needing constant monitoring, patients going to CT/MRI that are unstable and need a medic to go with them etc etc