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. )

This is the norm in Acc/Em at The Grange in Llantarnum South East Wales .
It's diabolical there . I won't go there anymore.

I hate A&E.Mostly for this reason.Those type of relatives must have very empty lives.
I have a lung condition and sometimes have to go there for a nebuliser when my inhalers don't work.I try to get myself there on my own, if I get driven there by a family member usually the relative goes away as the parking charges are horrendous, we keep in touch by phone until I can go home.
I must say in my situation I get attended to immediately, but it is the wait to have chest X- ray then to see doctor that takes ages.Aftr I have put up with the conditions OP has described I can stand it no longer and tell reception I am going home as breathing normally again.

I've seen similar behaviour and it's beyond ridiculous. I don't understand why they were all allowed in in the first place, frankly.

But it is, actually. That's basically what the security guard should be doing - ensuring that there aren't bloody rows and fighting going on. The OP can hardly order people to leave or wait outside. Or to eat their fucking KFC somewhere else.

The staff on the other hand could make it firmly clear that when A&E is heaving that ONE person accompanying a patient is enough - and that chairs are only for those who are there to see a Dr. That everyone else needs to stand or leave.

YANBU. (A food delivery to A&E FFS?! 🙄)

Hope you reserved the security guard's seat for DH

Not the same thing but last week in the steam room of a posh hotel gym, DP saw a bloke peeling and eating 2 boiled eggs. Weeks previously, there had been a bloke in there having a meal deal and a Stella.

Urgh some people just to love me the characters in their own little dramas. How annoying but not surprising.

England matches are the only time there’s no wait to be seen. Well known.

A&E departments make it much worse by putting on Eastenders on the big wall tv or playing hospital radio. People could actually die in there to the sound of Metallica. Don’t assume I’m exaggerating. I’m picking from two of my own experiences.

Fucking broken Britain, right there.

🤣🤣🤣🤣

They built that one on the basis that nobody would just turn up, they’d either be referred by their GP or get there by ambulance.

Can’t imagine why it’s always at 3 times capacity! 🤷‍♀️

when I was in A&E recently, after triage there were signs stating that non-patients could only stay if there was space, and would otherwise be asked to leave. I think there was a limit on total numbers regardless.
Speak to the staff and say your partner needs a seat.

& I know the availability/selection of food in A&Es is atrocious - but they ought to be chucked out for stinking the place out with KFC ffs.

Why not? It’s the hospital’s job to provide an appropriately furnished waiting room so it’s their responsibility to make sure seats are available for patients and not being hogged by non patients. Luckily they are paying a security guard, so it can be part of his remit to evict non patients from chairs.

YANBU - they sound like a melodramatic family. There should be a rule on this. Speak to staff who should sort it out.

Similar story in antenatal clinic. I've been having to go once a week/fortnight and there's often 1 if not 2 sets of grandparents plus other family members. Perfectly able bodied men taking up all the seats, random relatives giving full run downs on the phone to whoever stayed at home...

I often prefer to stand and have no problems doing so but this specific clinic is for women with complications and it can be a whole morning waiting to be seen/see several different people so some women will really will need to sit.

I never take DP, he really doesn't need to be there! Fair enough if you need somebody to drive you but barely anybody needs to bring more than one person to a hospital waiting room!

I do think the hospital have a duty of care that starts once you arrive at A&E especially as people are there for hours on end.

If they don't want to send people home they need to make it less appealing e.g. the patient can sit with one person on this side and everybody else who's come with you can go stand over there or outside as they'll soon go home.

I was in A&E last week and they asked all friends/ relatives to wait outside as it was so rammed.
I too saw people who seemed to having a night out with their mates there - it was crazy

Of course it's the staff's job to "manage" A&E.

No intention to belittle your experience. And each to their own. But IMHO, there are worse ways to die than listening to Metallica 😂

I’ve done this, ever been stuck at A&E with a hungry five year old with a badly broken arm? We waited for hours to be seen/ x- rayed. It was decided it needed to be surgical but that’d be done at a different hospital the next day.

A &E staff suggested it as it’s not great to be taking painkillers on an empty stomach. Also would be nil by mouth from midnight (a few short hours away at that point) and hadn’t eaten since lunch. I get that s food delivery might seem questionable but actually in the circumstances it seemed like the best thing to do.

Unfortunately the norm sadly.
There are unlikely to be any more chairs anywhere if it’s similar to the A&E I work in. The staff will likely get a torrent of abuse from relatives and patients if they directly challenge people, and sometimes we get chairs and computers thrown at us as well as the verbal abuse.

We make regular announcements for only patients to sit but they make no difference. Occasionally a particularly feisty nurse might make people stand if they’re not wearing a patient wristband but it soon goes back to how it was. Everyone ignores the one relative rule too, basically people are just really selfish!

Ordering takeaways is a frequent occurrence, why you’d want to is beyond me as there’s usually at least one case of gastroenteritis in the waiting room!

Can you actually get food delivered to A and E? That's insane. and wrong on so many levels.

My local now only allows one parent to be present, thanks to Covid. Means we don’t have the whole extended family rolling up treating it like a day out.

This type of thread is exactly why so many people don't go when they need to be seen

I've badly hurt my ankle but refused a&e tonight as I know it'll be busy and I don't look poorly, so I'll go tomorrow morning when it's statistically likely to be quiet - yes I may be able to laugh and joke with my mum when I'm at down but I'm in agony and can hardly walk. Someone laughing doesn't mean they're not in need

YANBU.

and it is the staff’s job to manage the situation - utilising the security guard - to ensure only patient + 1 (and the +1 standing if any other patient needs a seat).

if the waiting area is thronging with entourage you can’t see if any patients are deteriorating and in need of more urgent help. Like the poor woman who died under her coat (reported in press).

my local London hospitals 1) have signs about not bringing more than one person with you 2) make it clear seats are for patients 3) have staff who police rules 1) and 2).

Of course! You can get food delivered to the wards as well, which is why sometimes we have a takeaway on a night shift (on the rare night shift we have time).