A&e regular attender

[ricepudding4]

I was channel surfing and there was of those 24 hours in A&E/999 type of shows- I watched it for 5 minutes but it featured people who go to a&e regularly and said they had been put on a frequent attender list/service thing, not quite blacklisted but certainly some kind of service where they were recognised as coming a lot and they were trying to manage how often they went to a&e. It got me thinking… is that something that happens to people who go for genuine reasons? The people included in the show were going with things that were not a&e appropriate, but if you do go to a&e regularly but it is appropriate will you still be registered as a frequent flier?

the only reason I’m asking is because I have a condition that requires me to go to a&e a lot. I’m genuinely unwell when it flares up and usually end up in Resus until it’s stabilised. I’ve been to a&e 6 ish times with it this year- I’m doing everything um
supposed to do to keep it as under control as possible but unfortunately sometimes it still flares up

i absolutely despise going to a&e because I don’t want to be a timewaster and it’s so embarrassing to be recognised because I’ve been regularly but I don’t have any other choice. After watching this, I’m sort of worried now that next time I’ll end up on some high intensity or frequent attender list or that someone is going to take me aside and speak to me about my frequent attendances like what happened in the tv programme. Does anyone know? Thanks 👍🏼

I'd assume it's for the more attention seeking type of person.

Or people with poor mental help who are not being supported by services.

If you need the help, please go. They would only ‘blackmark’ someone who was wasting their time, and from what nursing friends tell me, it takes a lot of abuse/ time wasting before they would flag that.

Sorry you have to visit them frequently. But that is what they are they for.

I work for the ambulance service and the people who end up on these lists are not using A&E 6 times in a year, we're talking those who are there multiple times a week / month consistently over some time, if not more frequently! And even then unless they have been abusive / violent towards staff or patients, its not barring them from attending, but to support them in accessing services that may be more appropriate in managing their needs.

I can reassure you that you will not be on one of these lists :)

Our frequently attendees were there multiple times a day!

Did you post about this already, heart arrhythmia or something?

You have an emergent medical need, you go.

I assume many people who do it don't have support networks and are vulnerable in a variety of ways.

I only saw it on couple of people's files and it generally is when attending repeatedly for a symptom which, on investigation, appears to be not an urgent concern. Think frequently attending for shortness of breath and chest pain which appears to be anxiety-related other than heart attack.
And I also saw it for people who frequently attend A&E with MH crisis.
I am not aware of anyone being pulled up on it and, a lot of time, I disagree with it being kept indefinitely on someone's notes. I think it taints your perception of a person and also someone may have stopped attending years ago but notes remain unchanged.

No- more similar to asthma (keeping it anon)

As a PP said, some of our frequent callers are there daily, if not multiple times a day. I've been to one who has had over 300 Ambulance attendances this year.

I work in housing (homelessness) and we attend the frequentvattemder meetings as lots are also on our caseload. Ime there's a lot of people with dual diagnosis and chaotic lifestyles.

Substance misuse and mental health problems do not make a good mix.

Agree with PP. Multiple times a week, or even day. Often calling an ambulance.

Not an expert, but my husband in the NHS has involvement locally and my colleague’s Y6 son (different NHS Trust), has been identified as a “frequent flier”.

I think the approach varies trust to trust, but is very much not about black listing people who need to use A&E regularly. It is about identifying them and understanding the reasons for the visit. Then considering if alternatives can be explored to avoid the visits. For some there won’t be alternatives, for others, eg mental health related, there may be.

In the case of my colleague, son has extreme allergies and the school have been largely ineffectual in managing this - peanuts regularly being thrown at him in school grounds etc (apparently not meant for him and only done in jest), but mum threatened with fine if she’ doesn’t send him in. The NHS has been slow around paperwork to support his allergies to give the mum the weight she needs with school.

The recent regular A&E focus seems to have got things moving in a positive direction very quickly both from the NHS and school, who are the place that call ambulances for him most often.

As a clinician I’d be worrying that your condition isn’t well controlled and/or that you don’t have access to the right sort of support. Having to attend ED/A&E frequently isn’t great from your perspective.

Surely not- your established condition requires A&E visits and you can't help that. I think this list would be for people who keep turning up for minor things

I think they are talking about tjose who make it a hobby to. Go to anevo look i broke a nail/sneezed/bored lets go to ane n check in on fb n say you wilm pm someone lol know of one individual on this list thet make it a family day out at least twice a week they know tjose who are genuine and tjose who are wasting time you are genuine so try not to worry

I really wouldn't worry about this opening poster.

I had a period some years ago where I fell and cut various bits of my body open at different times.

I've got peripheral neuropathy, so falling is not uncommon (though I now use rollators in the house, as well as outside). Also have to use a steroid inhaler, which makes my skin very thin.

Result, I fall, my skin breaks, my skin cannot be stuck together with stitches, and I end up going to the doctors one of twice a week to get my dressings changed.

I once commented to one of the nurses that I was a "frequent flyer" and I knew the NHS was on its knees. She told me it wasn't those like me that they became annoyed at, but it made them sad that it was people like me who felt bad about using NHS, when others were using NHS for things other than medical needs.

I was thinking that when I was watching it, how sad it is for people with MH struggles and having that on their file could negatively influence the care they get

It happened to my friend's daughter. Turns out, yes, there was something really really wrong with her after being fobbed off for 3 years of absolute nhs nonsense.

How? It takes a day to be seen!!

No you are over thinking it. Frequently flyer means frequent attender like those with severe copd etc. it's not a negative judgement more a fact and perhaps alerts staff to think the person could become quite unwell.
Yes ok alcoholics / people intoxicated with drugs etc may also be frequent flyers, but for a different reason.

What should people who are having a mental health crisis do? Chuck themselves off a cliff? The NHS is supposed to treat mental ill health too you know?

FF is just a description of frequent visits but there are many different reasons, not a judgement

We identify older people who are high a&e attendees or who have multiple admissions to see if there is any support (clinical or social) that we can provide to them at home to prevent unnecessary admission.

You will and should be on that list for all the right reasons - to get a thorough assessment to make sure there isn’t anything they can do to stabilise your condition better ( medically or socially )
if there isn’t anything they can do to change it you won’t be “ black listed “ or anything.

You've posted this before?

My Nan had a sort of high A&E attendance but all for genuine reasons - she was very poorly and was discharged a few times from hospital when she shouldn’t have been and ended up back in A&E.

quite a few times she was there we’d see the same people, sometimes night after night. A lot of those people are lonely or have nowhere else safe to go, there’s also people with mental health problems. It’s sad that people like this see A&E as their only option but it is for a lot of them the only way to access a safe space or the support they need.