Eating Takeaway In A Hospital Waiting Room Do You See It As Unreasonable

[Warrior96]

So long story short I ended up with an infected ear piercing and had to see an out of hours doctor at the hospital. My life medical problems always seem to happen on a Saturday or Sunday! Due to it is known to be a nasty infection I was admitted onto the ears nose and throat ward, it was average time 5-6 hours to see a doctor it took me 5 hours. In the meantime in the waiting room a couple sat next to me bought a KFC into the waiting room. I can understand people can get hungry with the long wait but there were a number of nauseous people in that waiting room. I feel they were being a bit selfish and could have bought something more appropriate.

AIBU?

Why does your nausea trump my migraine from not eating?

It was a chemo ward FFS.

There is a special place in hell for people who heat fish in communal workplace microwaves!

My local A&E has a Subway. People will check in and skip down to Subway and wolf down a sandwich like they’ve not ate in a week 😂 I think you can’t be that unwell then 😆

Antiemetics (anti-sickness) drugs are often given as part of chemotherapy regimes. I agree with pp, why does someone’s nausea trump that of someone’s migraine from not eating/not wanting the hospital food.

We were waiting 12 hours recently, the hospital canteen was shut and the nurse suggested deliveroo. You just have to MYOB and make the best of it.

did they go out to get the KFC or bring it in with them as soon as they arrived?
If the second, they could have waited 5 minutes and eaten it in their car, they obviously can't have been on death's door if they managed to call in the drive thru!

A lot of people are acting as though it's a choice between eating in the waiting room itself or starving, but given there were two of them they could have taken it in turns/told another patient or the nurse they were just popping out for a second (as they would if they had to go to the loo or something), or at least stood by the door so it is less smelly.

I spent 24hrs with my mum after an accident and was really hungry

I think you'd have to be particularly hungry to want to ever eat anything at all in a&e. Maybe some our nicer than the one near me, but I barely want to breathe in the air/sit on the chairs, let alone snack!

If you're in a&e and so hungry you're happy to eat in the waiting room then good luck to you.

I don't know why we need to be so concerned about takeaway etiquette in a crisis service, it's not like they bring round a sandwich trolley!

People need to eat.
Waiting times mean you could be there nearly a day
You are permitted by the nhs to eat in A & E
So it’s all good.

A hospital not far from me has/had a burger king in the actual hospital so I don't think people can complain about people eating fast food in hospital! I haven't been there for at least 6 years so don't know if it is still there.

You can't imagine having a broken bone, or accompanying a child or elderly relative?
Hospitals give out egg mayo or Tuna sandwiches which smell far worse if a patient is feeling nauseous.

No, to be honest, I can’t. If I was taking my nan to the hospital, eating a kfc would honestly be the last thing on my mind. The same with a broken bone and a sick child.
There are a lot of foods that don’t smell a strong.

Which you cannot assume were available or suitable.

Most people will accept that someone who's in A and E long enough will have to eat eventually, especially when they're not unwell themselves. Ideas of smelly are subjective, people have all kinds of health conditions and there's wild variation in what might be available for delivery.

Don't be daft. Of course there is every reason for eating hot food in such a location - if one is hungry and that's what is available and it's what you like/want to eat. A little judgemental to say there's NO excuse.

Or they are with someone who is unwell.

Why should they eat in their car or outside? And you don't know whether the people were, in fact, waiting for a patient who was being seen - maybe a stroke victim etc. I certainly needed something to eat the day my late DH went into A and E (and to theatre at once) with a cardiac arrest, whilst I sat in a sterile waiting room, having had nothing except a bowl of cereal several hours before. Someone got me some sandwiches. A KFC would have done fine (alas, it was not offered). I'm polite, so I wouldn't have said 'I'm starving and my husband is dying, but sorry to inconvenience you...' had someone moaned about it.

It's also assuming that the person has a car to sit in.

That's your choice. I haven't let a KFC near me for 40 years, but I recognise that other people don't necessarily share my preferences.

You're projecting anyway. You don't know whether you'd feel the need to eat in either circumstance if you had been in the hospital for hours upon hours.

Toddler DD was admitted to hospital many years ago. It had been a long day since I took her to the GP who told me to take her straight to paediatric A&E. Her admission wasn't until the evening and by then I hadn't eaten all day and I was 6 months' pregnant. I think only because of the latter a nurse took pity on me and got me toast and Ribena. I'd have probably killed for a Kentucky fried rat that day!!!!

So many people are overweight and diabetic young and old. Times have changed and a long wait in a&e in the normal over four hours at least. So when the vending machines only offer crap like sweets and chocolate that’s not helpful. It’s not nice to be eating smelly take away foods in public places. But what options have people got. It’s more for the people who are waiting with the sick people who get hungry. So why can’t they have vending machines with more healthy options. Just plain sandwiches would be more appropriate. Bringing a hamper would be ideal with the so long waiting times, but hey who can predict going to a&e. 😳Sad times now.

If there isn't a vending machine offering healthy stuff, the reason is there isn't a profit in it - either people don't buy the product or it costs so much to stock, that even if they do, it doesn't make financial sense.

As I said earlier, one of my two local hospitals had a hot pasty/pie/sausage roll mahcine, they also had a sandwich machine - which offered sandwiches of the worst dried up curly breaded kind, at a higher cost than the hot pies/sausage rolls...

Thats now gone, replaced with a chocolate/crisps machine. The hot pies are as popular as they ever were and really smell pretty rancid.

The sandwiches did include cheese and onion, tuna and egg, all of which smelt pretty bad.

Vending machines are supplied by businesses who rent space to put them wherever they are, they need restocking and emptying of cash often. If they don't make money, they don't cover the rent/outgoings, just like any other business.

But how are you going to get those foods whilst stuck in a and e? You could get pizza delivered but that generally smells stronger, other than that options are fairly limited.

Also given the waiting times you'd likely change your mind if in that situation.
If a relative had a fall at 5am, you rush over without eating first and are still in at 3pm but the relative is anxious of being left alone then you're hardly going to be happy to sit there starving.

This! If you get a sandwich or a salad it won't bother everyone around you. It's like public transport, I get it that people are busy and sometimes need to eat on the go but don't take a hot take away meal that stinks. It's really disgusting when cramped inside .

Okay so how are you getting that sandwich if the cafe is closed, there's no vending machines and you can't leave?

Some posters seem to believe in Magic Universal Sandwiches.

Always available, always suitable for any food requirements even when posters have spelled out that they're unable to eat them, and never smelly enough to bother anyone else whatever the contents.