Stop telling people to go to A&E!

[Miriad]

I see it on here a lot. Someone is getting fobbed off by their GP and not getting diagnosed. So they get told to go to A&E, where they have the ability to do blood tests and urine tests and scans to figure out what’s going on.

I’ve been sobbing in agony for three weeks and my GP isn’t helping me, and I can’t get another GP appointment for a fortnight, so posters advised me to go to A&E.

I waited six hours only to get yelled at by an angry doctor, saying my condition is neither an accident nor an emergency. According to him I don’t need urgent treatment even if I’m crying with pain - because pain isn’t urgent. If I’m stable and not at risk then I need to go home and see my GP.

A&E can not be used to bypass a useless GP and access tests and scans. They will not diagnose you or refer you. Their job is to give you the minimum care to make you stable so you’re not at risk, then send you home.

So stop telling people to go there. Maybe in the olden days you could go there for help if your GP was rubbish, but not any more.

Sorry for your experience OP but you're right, A&E is an entirely separate service than GPs. People seem to think they can "escalate" their need but the hospital is not "above" the GP - they have different thresholds, different practices and cannot replace a GP service.

Let's hope we get some more funding to GPs very soon. In the meantime, I understand chemists have now been granted greater powers in treating people too so that's another option.

Hope you're feeling better soon

Well considering most people’s GPs won’t even see them, going to A&E seems to be the only way to get seen these days. But I see it was different for you. Maybe you could’ve asked another GP for a second opinion before going to A&E?

If you are sobbing in agony with pain then no doctor should be telling you that you shouldn't be seen! What is the problem?

I can’t get a GP appointment for a fortnight and I’m crying with pain. But you can’t use A&E to bypass the inability to get a GP appointment. You will just get yelled at like I did, and told if your condition is stable they won’t do anything, then booted out.

I said I can’t get in to see a GP and I’m in agony. They just shrugged and said “pain is not an emergency”. Gave me a painkiller and sent me home.

I will always remember the thread where the OP was having an awful period, lots of blood loss and a number of posters told her to go A&E. She was hesitant but went along. She was incredibly ill and the advice saved her life.

I really hope your health improves OP, but a blanket ban on telling posters not to go to A&E isn’t the way

if I was in pain to the extent I was in tears I’d be going to a&e. That indicates something seriously wrong

Severe pain is considered a emergency usually. I'm very surprised you were treated that way. I suppose it depends where your pain is, but recently my father had severe neck pain and the GP himself sent him to A&E.

Often A&E is necessary for severe pain to figure out what's going on. I'm surprised they'd just send you away without checking there isn't something serious wrong?

They checked my heart, temperature, blood pressure, said I was stable and told me to go away. I was crying with pain and they didn’t even examine me. They said we don’t know what’s causing the pain but we know it’s not life threatening, so go home and see your GP, even if you have to wait weeks.

An angry A&E dr, yelling at patients crying in pain? He needs some retraining.

where are you going to get seen then if not at the GP (and not at a&e)? Really sorry about your experience. Intense pain should be helped in a&e. I have been myself for severe endometriosis flare ups where I was treated with morphine. Just because you don't die, it doesn't mean it's not a case for a&e. I would be tempted to complain to Pals tbh

They did check you over, reassured you it wasn't anything life threatening.

STOP telling others not to get that reassurance.

where is the pain?

I went to A&E with extreme pain, got fobbed off with some codeine which didn't touch it. Got worse and worse so rang 111 and they said i needed to be seen within 2 hours and made me an emergency GP appointment who examined me, found blood in my urine and sent me straight back to hospital with a strongly worded referral for a scan. I was there 2 hours before I got taken through but they gave me the good drugs, did a CT scan, diagnosed me and made an urgent urology referral.

So they will treat you but you have to be insistent and stress how bad the pain is and if necessary 111 WILL help you access their services. I think they see so many time wasters that you have to really argue your case to be seen.

They didn't do bloods ecg or a scan? What does your gp think is causing it?

Severe pain is an emergency. It could be any number of things that would be life threatening.

I would urge anyone with severe pain to go to A&E

What part of your body was the pain in OP?

Different areas are treated differently. For example, Chest pain = emergency. Something like leg pain = not so much.

Agree. I don't think they should have sent you away, or 'yelled' at you. I know they're incredibly busy and stressed but constant severe pain is very debilitating, as well as worrying. My GP surgery always tries to fit in cases like yours as an emergency and will usually see a high priority person within a couple of days, while 'normal' appts take about 3 weeks. When this is all sorted Id be looking at changing to a different surgery if you feel your GP is useless.

A&E need to understand why patients are presenting there. If you cannot see a gp when you’re ill what else are you supposed to do?

Pressure needs to be put on GP practices to start seeing patients again (my GP surgery won’t see you at all since covid, and if you’re very ill they send you to A&E, you can’t win!).

I’d complain about the dr who was rude to you. In your situation I’m not surprised you went to A&E, I would have done the same, and I would advise it to others.

I didn’t get any help or treatment though. If you’re not at immediate risk there’s no point going. I already knew it wasn’t life threatening so apparently I shouldn’t have gone. They will not diagnose if you are stable and can not replace a crap GP.

A colleague of mine is having issues with her knee. She hasn't had an accident or anything, it's just very painful, swollen, hard to walk especially in the mornings. She called her GP, and over the phone was told it wasn't something they'd look at, and to go to A&E.

So while I get what you're saying, there is hardly coherent messaging, so would my colleague be wrong to suggest A&E to someone else experiencing similar symptoms, since it's what her GP has said?

I think you've been unlucky, most people can get an appointment on the day with the GP if they have extreme pain or if they went to A&E would at least get some strong painkillers and advice on what to do next.

Doctors in A&E don't normally shout at you and they will believe its bad because if you've waited 6 hours it must be bad.

When I was in A&E the person in the next cubicle had a lot of cotton wool in his ears that he stuck in there while trying to remove wax, pretty stupid thing to do but the Drs and nurses were very kind to him.

You should present at your GP surgery without appointment if you are in that much pain. You should also try every over the counter painkiller you can.

I would have thought A&E is full of people in pain. I’m surprised you were treated like that.

Is the pain part of an ongoing condition you know you have? That’s the only thing I can think of to explain why they didn’t try to find out more and help you.

What kind of pain? Where is it and when did it start? No Dr has the right to shout at any patient. And it's not your fault that primary care services are fucked.

It feels like a severe UTI but all the tests and swabs done by the nurse at the local surgery are clear. She said I will have to see a GP for further examination, but there are no appointments for another two weeks.

I haven’t slept for nearly a month because the pain is so severe. I can’t go to work, can’t sit on a chair, and I’m sobbing in agony. So I went to A&E and was told I’m not at immediate risk so I just have to wait for a GP.