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 👍🏼

The ban is usually words to the effect of 'if you attend with your typical complaint/minor illness then you'll face a criminal charge, but if it's a real emergency i.e. hit by car then you can attend.'

Whenever I've seen/read through history of someone who has been banned their attendances are extreme. Talking multiple times a day every day, often abusive, going on for months/years with all avenues to rehabilitate/educate/warn exhausted. People do get sent to prison for this.

Prison? On what charge?

Surely this is to do with mental health rather than physical health

Please don't worry about this!
It sounds like you have a very genuine reason to be there and if you need medical help, please don't put it off in worry of this, they won't turn you down!
I have health anxiety and use to be a regular attender, I was never put on any frequent attender list. If you need them, they're there and if you have a health concern you should be seen. I think it would be more for people that went for things that should be a Gp thing x

It's not uncommon to be arrested or even go to prison for suicide attempts or "wasting emergency services time" iv been arrested from a&e for refusing to leave when I was suicidal once

A massive number of crimes relate to mental health, it doesn't distract from the crime they're committing.

I believe the common charges relate to malicious communications (much easier to prove as all calls are logged and recorded), or they've breached the asbo/cpn in attending a&e in breach of it. Theres also a specific charge regards being a nuisance on NHS property.

Like others have said, the point of keeping FF lists is to try to figure out what can be done to meet patient needs better, not to stop meeting their needs.

I dunno about bans. My informed guess is that it would only be applied when patients threatened staff with violence or probably only actually attacked the staff (repeatedly), and not because of painful delirium, either, but rather bec they are aggressive people didn't show contrition about it, too.

I have a friend who is a GP and said the vast majority of his patients are the same ones over and over.
He said there are periods where people might attend regularly for a problem but they should be referred to somewhere else for proper help. He said there are people who come about every tiny issue, it’s not a mental health thing, they think they are there to fix them, literally aches and pains and headaches etc. My sister in law goes to the doctor when she has a cold because it ‘makes her feel better’

Absolutely this is the majority of people I see (I work part time in a hospital minor injuries dept and also in a GP surgery). At the hospital the majority of patients coming through are coming in 4-6x a year wanting to be better checked out after a minor bump/soft tissue injury, 'i stubbed my toe 2 days ago and not quite better yet so thought I should get checked out, my knee clicked walking down stairs a week ago and Ive been wondering wgat caused that,I'd like it checked with an x-ray to be sure it's ok'... then at the GP multiple attendances for sore throat, cough, a twinge in my stomach that lasted about 4seconds what do you think it could be.... They just come in for the it'll be alright service.

I imagine it’s for the time wasters who go to A&E for sunburn or because they don’t want to speak to a pharmacist about their cough.

How can people attend A&E 'multiple time a day' when it takes 12+ hours to be seen the first time?

Because it doesn't take 12 hours to be seen first time. Edit - in the vast majority of cases.