To wonder why A&E seems to be designed to be the worst possible place you could possibly be when ill?

[CassandraWebb]

My GP asked me to go to A&E and while I was waiting I was just struck by how it was a pretty unpleasant environment to wait in for the family members of the ill and injured but utterly irrationally poorly designed for people who are ill or injured.

Firstly you were expected to stand and wait to check in, I explained I couldn't and they grumbled but accepted my explanation but a lot of people with obvious leg injuries or desperately ill were being made to stand and wait and then stand to check in and then move and stand in another line to speak to an initial clinician.

Then there were people clearly in huge physical discomfort sat on the world's most painful chairs with no way to get comfortable for a long stretch.

Plus people were explaining why they were ill and giving their symptoms and contact details and the receptionist was literally announcing them back loudly to the whole room, I think there was some sort of microphone so her voice could be heard through the glass. And no microphone going the other way so she was getting irritated with me because I was hard to understand (my condition gives me dysarthria when I am having a flare).

It just seemed mind bizarrely poorly designed for a place where unwell people go.

I realise cost is a real factor, but some simple changes like chairs while you wait and a privacy screen so the whole room doesn't hear your symptoms and address /living situation would seem like a good start.

Maybe it's just our local a&e but I was totally puzzled by it.

I would love to hear if other places have really good tweaks to make it more bearable though.

(And I would add that the clinical staff were absolutely brilliant and very knowledgeable and switched on about my rare condition and also very kind and compassionate despite an obviously busy evening)

It frustrated me just seeing people suffer but it also frustrated me because the process of waiting and dealing with that made me more unwell

Part of the issue is people go to A and E with very minor things. I see it on here all the time. Should I go to A and E with x symptom. Yes immediately, I knew someone who did not go to A and E and had x symptom and other concerning symptoms, and they died.
Loads of things posted on MN do not need A and E and nearly all the time the person posts some hours alter to say they or their DC have been checked and everything is fine.

In the 90's my mum said her doctor told her he stopped the open surgery and it was appointment only as he was fed up with women with nothing to do with their lives were socialising in his surgery.
Maybe A&E have a similar issue?

It is not people socialising in A and E that is the issue. But that people are very poor at being able to judge when they need to go.

I don't think that's fair either. If you're worried about something and can't get a GP appointment for 6 weeks, where else are you supposed to go? Coupled with months on end waiting for any kind of MH support, it can't be a surprise that people go to A&E.

@Nadeed she's still in, but looking much better thanks, and being very well looked after

Agree. I was in a few months ago. Sat in AGONY for 5 hours waiting to be seen by doctor (as triaged to see Dr due to severity of problem) and obviously in agony whilst others with a broken finger went before me. Fine, but offer me some decent pain relief if I need to wait, it's quite cruel. And I am a clinician myself so don't have delusions of grandeur of what to expect.
I actually think it's quite a traumatic experience, and I don't use that term lightly, needing to go to a+e without the environmental factors going on as well, especially something pain related.

And a big fat YES to the confidentiality side, it's appaling!!! Just having to basically give out your personal identifiable information to a room full of people plus whatever issue you've got going on, like wtf!!!!! Just goes against everything we're taught really.

Oh yeah it was all party party party in the waiting room...

This is really good to read, I hope your mum is doing ok

The well educated doctor knows his surgery more than you.

A&E is not the same as his doctors surgery.

And I am highly educated too thank you very much.

😂

My daughter very obviously broke her arm a couple of years ago. Went to kids a&e, took 11 hours from beginning to end. Waiting room over capacity. When we arrived there was a really distressed mum with her daughter. Covered from top to bottom in chicken pox. She was sent over to opthalmology just was we were arriving.

6 hours later she was back with her daughter, and put in the packed waiting room, at the back of the queue. Daughter was in a wheelchair mum had no where to sit. Mum hadn't eaten anything since they arrived, and had given the daughter all her water. She looked ready to drop. I had to tell a dad to get up and give her a seat and go and get her the last crap sandwich from the vending machine.

In the meantime it was clearly being used as a GP surgery by a number of families. Kids who after a dose of Calpol were right as rain and running around. I don't know how the staff resisted telling them to go home. I nearly bloody did.

You can't know the child is fine in that situation. We once took my son to a&e as his breathing sounded odd and 111 told us to. He was bouncing round playing with toys while waiting to be seen. Within the space of a few hours he was in a high dependency bed and being assessed as to whether ICU was needed. Children often bounce till they crash.

He was also chirpy as anything when we took him to a&e with a suspected broken leg. I honestly thought he must be fine as he was so cheerful and chatty. The x-ray confirmed it was broken.

He's also given steroids quite often if his asthma is bad and when he gets a hefty dose he goes totally hyper, doesn't mean he doesn't need to be in a &e.

We have to leave it to the staff to judge who needs to be there, you can't tell by eyeballing someone. (My condition is invisible even when it's flaring dangerously)

Some of the kids who look bad really are not. Was in A and E and a young teenage boy was brought in by ambulance with suspected broken leg moaning in pain. X rayed, just bruised and walked out of there.