Bringing your whole fucking family to A&E

[changedlife]

Waiting to be seen at A&E. sent here by GP because DH has had an adverse blood result that needs to be dealt with.

A&E packed as usual. To be expected. However one family is here with one woman. There are 5 grown adults with the patient who is in her 30s... I don't know her issue but laughing a joking with the family. Just to add to the joy their phones go off constantly whereupon they give a blow by blow run down of her current medical state (she's hurt her foot it seems - from the latest phone update. )

DH is disabled. There is nowhere to sit In A&E. Foot-family are settled in and have actually just had a KFC delivery. I swear it's like an evening out for them.

DH can't stand. So have sent him back to wait in the car - which as he has a blue badge - is quite close. I'll call him when his turn comes. As I can stand.. However .. AIBU to think you don't need FIVE adults accompanying you to A&E. ? Especially with some really poorly older people have had to resort to sitting on the floor ? (And no one has volunteered their seat for them. )

"Kentucky-fried-foot-family..." Hahahaha!

Does my head in !

It's actually this exact shit that puts me off going to a&e
Last year I had crippling kidney pain which turned out to be a kidney infection and it wasn't the thought of a long wait on my own that put me off going in but the gangs of day trippers. Some of them in the past have been pretty intimidating too .
I remember I was there about 10 years ago and a lady in a wheelchair was basically being bullied by drunken louts to the point she gave up and left .
I was in with my toddler last year and this woman with her entire family it seemed was just sitting shouting insults at people

Yep. Same here. Even in pediatric A&E.
Only one person is to accompany the child.

I work for the NHS, and regularly see approx4-5 adults attending with one adult patient. I have always thought they treat it like a day out (plus they obviously don’t work). This is in day time hours.

I honestly think they should run a series of 30 seconds info-mercials during popular chav TV programs so as to reach the target audience.

The info-mercials could model how to behave appropriately at A&E. No shouting, no swearing, no aggression. Only ever one person allowed to accompany the patient. No ordering of takeaways etc.

Great - does the no shouting.and no aggression also extend to some of the nursing and admin staff.

On the two visits to our local A&E I've seen staff being far, far ruder to patients than vice versa.

Had to go to a&e in Portugal and the security guards were completely impenetrable, it was busy and there was only room for patients. Dh had to wait outside all night while I was writhing on a trolly with kidney stones - tbh I couldn't give a shit what was going on but at about 4 a.m the pain suddenly went and I realised how calm and quiet the place was. Lots of patients lots of staff, bit of moaning but no spectators and it was better for it. Hope all is sorted for your dh o.p.

I had to take my 4 year old to A&E in December 20 due to an accident at school. It was the last place I wanted to be after hibernating throughout covid. A woman came in and told reception she was there because she had a strong sense of dejavu - I was just stunned, people are nuts!

wheretoyougonow , you are bang on correct!!

One thing I haven’t seen mentioned but I see online is people making TikTok videos while in A&E and on the wards.
I see it quite often when I’m scrolling as some people see it as content. I find it awful when it’s a mum recording all the details of her unwell child.

I’ve been thinking about this today. I overheard some people talking about going to hospital when I was out at lunch break. I think some people just really like knowing all about others’ health issues, and all rocking up at hospital together is an extension of this. I have certain relatives with whom the conversation always gets onto the health service and their experiences of not very interesting things, and their friends’ experiences. Not just the drama of it, but some like that too. I couldn’t think of anything worse, having to share my medical conditions with other people for their enjoyment.

It's so infuriating isn't it? A few years ago I was at the walk in centre with a hugely swollen foot ( particularly nasty insect bite, very painful and blotchy redness was creeping up my leg) There were no seats, a family of about 8 adults were there with a small child were o ccupying most of them.I spent 3 hours sitting on the floor or hobbling about.

I noticed this too when I went to A&E with a broken arm. I came away thinking I’d do the same if I ever had to go again. You need at least three burley young men with you to make sure no one elbows you out of your place in the queue.

Actually, dejavu can be a sign of issues in the temporal lobe including tumours. - depending on how long she had had it and given the situation with GPS at the time she was very sensible seeking medical help.

They know exactly what they’re doing, they don’t care. The most effective response would be to completely lose your shit at them and start yelling, like really yelling, about how selfish they are taking up 5 seats when there’s people who need them more. A polite word won’t work on entitled shits, and the staff are busy enough. I certainly wouldn’t have the nerve to do it but the spit flecked fury of raving madness is effective over most levels of oblivious twattishness.

Wtf?????

A&E is full of people who have absolutely no need whatsoever to be there. During Covid unsurprisingly the A&E department was empty and my husband who had tried to cut the top of his finger off with a drone 🙄 was seen immediately. A couple of years earlier spent hours in A&E husband had blood clots on his lung, with loads of people who seemed like they were having a day out. 😡

How do you decide who needs to be there and who doesn't?

That’s pretty easy surely? Are you in need of medical help or one individual assisting the person in need of medical help? If not sod off.

Is this a joke question?

The patient, obviously

And only if the patient is vulnerable or incapacitated in some way do they need ONE person accompanying them.

@soupfiend I spent 4 hours in hospital waiting to be seen yesterday, my mum waited for me. Does that mean she should have been told to leave?

There's been so many comments on here about people clearly not needing treatment because they're laughing or joking, which I think is insane too. At the end of the day people think they can gatekeep access to the NHS when they just can't.

If you werent vulnerable or incapacitated (to the degree of actually needing someone there, rather than wanting someone there), then yes she should have waited in the cafe or somewhere else.

Was she causing a problem, was she taking up a chair that an actual patient needed? If not, no real harm done but yours isnt the example being referred to here is it?

"Should have"

Says who? You can't gatekeep people from NHS services. Yes what happened to OP is bad but the classism and racism on display on this thread has been horrendous.