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.

I'm sorry to hear it OP. I agree with you A&E isn't an option in your situation. I think your only options are: change your GP (still it will take weeks) or make a complaint at your current GP practice (still weeks of waiting).

Just seen you have called 111.

what about kidney stones? Has the pain been in your back?

Can you try a different hospital or different GP? Our GP does online consultation and will phone you back and get appt ASAP if needed.

They email notes electronically here but they are approved by the GP. They’re only hand written if you’re in an appointment (and then only signed, the rest is typed on by the system).

Does the reason for not fit to work offer any enlightenment? How long have they signed you off for? Are you getting paid?

Sounds like pelvic inflammatory disease is a possibility to me ( not that I’ve had it myself fortunately ) and I would have thought if they suspected that it would be seen urgently.

I sort of have to agree. This all seems a bit odd. I can believe there's quite a wait for a GP appointment, but you seem to be saying all other avenues are closed to you as well. GP surgeries have emergency appointments reserved daily, 111 can arrange one of these for you if you have no luck with the surgery itself. There are urgent care clinics you can go to. If you turned up at a walk-in clinic sobbing in agony I suspect they'd do more than simply send you home with a single pill with no examination at all - it's not worth their license.

Something doesn't add up here.

It's a vicious cycle. There's not enough GPs to handle patient volume (overall, of course an individual surgery might be better or worse). So patients go to A&E. And because patients are all going to A&E and in many cases being directed there by 111 (so not just going because they're impatient) they can't provide a decent service.

But severe pain and unable to see the GP is absolutely A&E worthy. The British are being conditioned to accept a service that is not working. I will say that with this sort of problem, if I went to the ER here in the USA, there's no guarantee if it would be sorted or not, but I would be seen and I would get lab work done and they would do scans if appropriate. The issue is when it's something outside the scope of emergency medicine -- will they call in urology or gynaecology as needed? Then, of course, I would be charged $150 for the privilege. (I would pay only $25 for the GP for comparison)

If you think it's a UTI, try Cystopurin,you can get it OTC. ..I've had some hideous UTI's and along with antibiotics and litres of cranberry juice it did the job. I now take D Manose supplements and no UTI's since.

I feel for you, it sounds absolutely debilitating.

I was diagnosed with Thrush and given the treatment at a GUM clinic, they don’t only deal with STDs. Just tell them you’re worried you have an STI if needs be to get the appointment, they won’t know if you haven’t had sex (you can get an STI from oral sex too) so just tell them your symptoms and they will be able to have a look at your vagina, take swabs/ samples and hopefully find out what’s happening. At worst even if they can’t diagnose they can rule out any STDs which will be helpful moving forward as it’s one less thing the doctor will need to test for in the future.

Have you had a look yourself to see if there is anything visible?

I would go to a different hospital.

@Miriad do you have any strange vaginal discharge? Or irregular bleeding? What bloods have you had and what did they show? You mention kids, are they yours and when did you last have sex, if ever?

Orange Barley Water

Ring 111 - they can often triage you to urgent care services. I'm amazed that ringing 111 is rarely suggested. My DS rang 111 (midweek) and was seen within 1 hour at our local urgent care clinic - manned ironically by a primary care doctor.
Your pain sounds unbearable OP - it's not an accident or emergency but it is urgent

“The squeaky wheel gets the oil” you just aren’t making enough noise. Either:

• go into your GP surgery in person and explain all of this to the receptionist and ask what to do
• book another urgent nurse appointment and beg for help
• go to a different GP

For either option you should be crying with exasperation and begging for help.

I waited weeks for my GP to send an urgent hospital referral letter, in the end I went into the surgery and just cried at the receptionist until she phoned the GP who wrote it and sent it within 5 minutes!

My gp tolD me it was a six week to three
month wait for an mri, even though the condition needs to be urgently addressed. She told me I should have gone to a and e as that way I would have got a mri immediately.

People have such a low bar about what to expect nowadays. I worked in AE and anyone in acute pain would have been treated for pain relief. Scary that people think it’s ok to be in pain for weeks and see GP .

There are out of hours gp's - to access, in some areas there's a walk in service but in other areas you need to call 111, explain the situation and they'll either arrange an urgent appointment at your gp, arrange an out of hours doctor to call you/set up an appointment or send you your a&e

No, just a knackered and frustrated A&E doctor at the end of their tether in a ward full of patients and not enough staff.

Accident - you’ve fallen or been in a car crash or broken a bone or cut your finger off.
Emergency - breathing or heart problems, head injuries, severe blood loss… literal life or death stuff.

We have pharmacies, doctors surgeries, walk in centres and 111. All of those are in place to triage patients who do not fall into the A&E category. OP is right, but at the same time I understand why people are desperate enough to go there and wait for hours. It’s a mess.

And a blue paper towel?

No walk in centre here and nearest A&E is 14 miles away

Your medical service sounds bad - do you have family or a friend in a different village? You are allowed to see their gp if you are staying with them

Sorry but crying in agony and your GP won't see you, then either a walk in centre or a&e is the place to go.

You don't say how old you are OP?
If you are of menopausal age it may be vaginal atrophy. I was convinced I had a uti and it was actually this. It can be very painful, but is not an emergency. It can take months of experimentation with hormone pessaries and creams to find treatment that works.
You won't be referred to a gynaecologist unless yours is a difficult case to treat. It is an incredibly common medical issue that is rarely talked about - as common as piles on pregnant women. And most women are successfully treated by their GP.
If you think it could be this google on reputable sites for advice about how to ease the pain in the mean time.
Sadly the level of pain of a complaint does not correlate with how serious it is.
Severe pain may mean you need to go to A and E, but it may not. I always advise people to ring 111 so they can be assessed.

Ha. Good luck with that
I've been told I have stage 4 endo, now in the process of waiting for MRI and then surgery

Gynaecology wait list is a year for first appointment. I only got pushed up the list as I'm maxed out on painkillers including oramorph and nothing is touching it

Barley water can help to reduce acid in the urine so may actually help mild UTIs.