To share ways to make A&E more bareable

[silvershark22]

Given lots of people find the 12 hour plus waits in A&E tough wondering what things make it barable.

Mine is an oodie can vbe warn if in a draftie place or rolled into hood to make a pillow or sat on to make uncomfortable chairs better.

WHY do you think our modern A&E’s need those sort of announcements?

It’s so frustrating that people who have genuine need to attend A&E feel the need to be defensive on these threads. Part of the reason why A&E services are so stretched is because people who do not need to be there are taking up time and resources.

The best ‘worst’ scenario I’ve known was my neighbour who went to A&E with an infected verruca, having refused, (as the GP advised) to see a podiatrist ( which they were well able to afford)

How fucking stupid was that 🙄 …. that would have included my friend who attended after getting a high temp whilst on chemo….no pain as such…..she was finally admitted with sepsis …..she nearly died

verifyinhuman day out !!!

Some really weird responses. Thankfully I have had very few occasions when I've needed to attend A&E - I think I've been four times and only for my kids. Twice there was no time for packing or preparing; one nasty wound sustained in an accident in a park and one (terrifying) episode of anaphylaxis where yes, we rushed in, everything was a blur and we went in the clothes we were wearing with the stuff we had on us and we were seen quickly. But most recently, one child had a non-blanching rash and the out of hours doctor told us via video consultation to go to A&E. It was 10pm on a Sunday night and sure we packed a bag with a warm jumper, a power bank, a book and snacks to make it more comfortable. I think the wait time was 4 hours or so. And yes, child could stand up without pain! But still needed to be seen. What would other posters do - ignore the OOH doctor's instruction to take the child to A&E? Or fly out the door with nothing except their car keys and end up sitting for four hours with a child who is cold/hungry/thirsty/bored?

Terrible, horrible, frightening situations can still have mundane moments and sometimes you still appreciate a snuggly jumper or a bottle of water or five minutes distraction scrolling through instagram.

Really? You can't fathom it?

The last time I was in A&E was with DD2. She was 6 weeks old at the time and ended up being admitted on IV antibiotics for a few days. She hadn't seemed massively ill but I was worried enough to call 111 (it was the weekend so couldn't call GP) and they said A&E, so I made sure the nappy bag was well stocked, added some water and a snack for me plus my phone charger, and went. It took maybe 90 seconds.

I’ve been in A&E with various excruciatingly painful gynaecology issues that needed emergency treatment including a missed miscarriage. Personally I find reading a book or listening to one distracts me from the pain and the fear too.

A road traffic accident my DH was in, most recently.

This! People that don't need to go there shouldn't be clogging it up

You say that, but recently I was knocked over, hit my head and dislocated and broke two fingers, one an avulsive fracture. Standing up made no difference to the pain, but there’s a post on another thread about how uncomfortable A & Es are, which said hands and fingers needed to be dealt with straightaway (words to that effect).

Also, DH is supposed to go, when his angina spray doesn’t work - standing up makes no difference to his breathlessness, left arm pain, tight chest, etc.

Oh God.

@Anewuser thanks so much for your post. I was looking for these sort of ways to make it more bareable.

Having been as both a patient and carer, it is much harder to be a carer! When very unwell I feel I go into myself and don't notice just how bad things are. As a carer you are often uncomfortable tired, running off adrenaline and unable to take a nap because of supporting the other person who may for example be leaning on you napping themselves you know they need pain relief a bed etc. and want to scoop them up and take them home but know they may well die if you do. You can also as a carer witness what is happening to others and the utterly burnt out staff unavle to help.

That’s a very unorthodox approach to managing health anxiety. The lack of beds in A&E generally doesn’t impact the thought processes which cause your anxiety and dictate your responses to it.

You have enough experience of A&E to know what you need to take and I’d gently suggest that this thread is not so that you get ideas and inspiration from other people. Perhaps sharing it with your therapist would be useful?

And then they lost their job?

Of course you can throw some stuff in a bag and it still be an emergency (I’m a nurse with previous A&E and MIU experience), I did a cover shift with the district nursing team and had to call an ambulance for a patient with clear evidence of serious illness requiring emergency treatment. During the 25 min wait for the ambulance, I had time to pack him a bag with his medications, phone charger, pyjamas and pants, feed his cat and phone his son!

I also don’t believe the ‘clinical manager’ story above as it’s just not something I can ever imagine saying, or hearing a colleague say. Someone in a hypertensive crisis, for example, would probably be able to stand without pain, but they really ought to be there.

People can and should use their own judgement to decide whether they need A&E, and still go even if they are unsure! That’s what triage is for. I’d much rather have a horrendously busy A&E shift and see all the people who need to be there than have a fairly quiet shift at a MIU and suddenly have a patient turn up with chest pain that they didn’t want to go to A&E with and it quickly become apparent that they’re actually having a STEMI 😬

But then your weren’t the patient so would be able to leave A and E to get yourself water etc.

I don’t feel I’ve been defensive at all.

As far as others clogging the system. Maybe that’s because they can’t get treatment elsewhere?

Even your example is poor. Clearly your neighbour had been to see a GP, why couldn’t they prescribe and treat?

Yeh…..cos the head injury person with no pain went home and then died in their sleep

I have attended A&E 4 times in the last 8 years, twice for myself.

• DH got fast tracked as they thought he had a brain haemorrhage (but thankfully didn’t)
• I had suspected meningitis and was sent there by out of hours clinician
• My brother was in anaphylaxis and I was with him at the time
• I got badly bitten at work and was sent there by minor injuries as they didn’t do jabs there

There are many people who go to A&E when they don’t need to but I can hand on heart say I was not there for any reason other than genuine emergency, or being sent there by someone else.

However in the case of being bitten there was no need for me to be there, just nowhere else that could do the (very minor) treatment. We need more out of hours services and urgent care centres otherwise waits are going to continue.

There are of course, repeat attendees who seem to make a bit of a hobby out of it but this is the case with all public services.

Well that sounds plain ignorant to me

@Starlingexpress what is your definition of health anxiety? What would you think should be done to mannage this?

Do you agree that sometimes people attend frequently due to a missuse of the service and sometimes there are complex health conditions neaning that hospitals are the only places that can treat certain conditions or diagnose them. Its frustrating for example to need same day bloods but A&E being the only way to get this. When ill i need to be at home able to lie down get drinks heat cold or tens machines for pain relief but this isnt always possible when getting treatment.

Famously this is an urban myth.

Quite because any practitioner who actually did that would be struck off.

Op, I am not sure why this thread has descended in the direction it has.

I always used to have a bag packed for my son and I at one point as he regularly needed trips to a&e.(Until they found the right medication to manage his symptoms)

Accident and emergency !!!!!! So you can't be 'preparing' to go to A&E

Yes, you can, if you think it could be a spinal injury, when DH was screaming in pain on the floor after missing a chair, and 999 told me the wait for an ambulance was going to be 10 hours! I had plenty of time to make sandwiches, pack a bag, etc!

Why would a&e be the place to get same day bloods unless the gp has told you to go? There are usually phlebotomy services open.