It's not A&E that's the problem - it's people!!!

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Was in A&E last night. Busy east London Hospital...
3 hours in and out. Staff amazing. Tests done etc... Facilities (not pretty) but fine. Had a seat. Seen in privacy and treated with respect and care...

However the people waiting were awful.. one woman kept coming in a racially abusing the reception staff... security kept taking her out. Stopping the staff from getting on with their jobs.

Entire family (6 of them) eating a curry and having very loud family time up the back of the waiting room - so loud that the Dr.s calling people's names were not being heard... causing delay.

2 homeless people sleeping across multiple chairs (not begrudging them a warm spot to sleep.. but they should not have to be there.)

2 woman came in just to charge their phones up!

It's not the NHS that is on its knees it's society. And A&E is the harsh reflection of society!

Completely agree. Some people do just rock up without an emergency for things they ought to see a GP or pharmacist about.
A relative is a paramedic and they are constantly called out for things they shouldn’t be called for. One patient had called for what was believed to be an emergency and they gave it high priority - when they arrived they couldn’t get in, no answer to door, and she wasn’t answering by phone. The police were called and gained access only to find her in bed with earplugs in. Apparently she felt better and went to bed. Totally sound of mind, but didn’t give a toss for all the resources she’d wasted! Or the people in genuine need who could have suffered a life threatening delay thanks to her.

As a family we've always received amazing care from the NHS, including short waiting times. Both DH and I have had a few health scares over the last 5ish years resulting in scans and minor procedures. We've never had to wait for more than 2 months.

Last time I used a&e was a few years ago and I was going home after 3 hours max. I had allergy induced asthma so quite easy to treat but I couldn't breathe well on arrival.

I do agree that some injuries require a bit of common sense. But I think it's unfair to blame drug addicts and drunks. Yes it's frustrating but where do you draw the line? What about people with sports injuries?

I've had the misfortune to have had to use A & E a few times over the last year or so with elderly relatives.
My experience is similar to that of the OP.
My gripe is people who are misusing the service and turning up with routine things.
At our latest visit - with my Dad, who has dementia (on blood thinners and had a fall/head injury) - a nurse asked a family if only one person could wait with the patient due to lack of space; they just ignored her.
I saw a news story the other day where there was a trial in a hospital (Derbyshire, I think) which would have patients triaged at the entrance to A & E and people directed to more appropriate services (Urgent Care/opticians etc) where possible.
I think it's a great idea!
Incidentally I'm in Scotland where we don't have an Urgent Care service so if folk can't get an appointment with their GP they tend to present at A & E.

My experiences of A&E have never been good. Actually on one I would have died if my husband had dine as he was ordered, by 2 nurses amd a doctor, and taken me home, dtoo making a fuss. Lack of care, compassion and professionalism.

On the other hand, during some interminable waiting times I have seen & heard threats, aggression and foul abusive language. Some due very obviously to too much alcohol.

So yes, it is partly the state of society but it is also partly due to an NHS which is both greatly overstretched and staffed by human beings.
Some people are superb at their difficult job, in difficult circumstances but some are utterly awful and shouldn't be allowed near a patient.

They do this at my hospital already have done for years it is annoying sometimes though because you will get sent to urgent care wait in there get seen and they send you back to a&e so it can take longer. But overall works better.

I think sometimes people need to be mindful and less judgemental of why others are in a&e as without knowing someone's full medical history you don't know why they are there plus there are a lot of reasons to be a&e where you can look quite well and healthy on the outside but something is actually seriously wrong . I get a lot of blood clots have a rare and complicated vascular condition, I'm sure lots of patience have thought there's nothing wrong with her as I'm sat scrolling my phone.

My dad was taken to A&E a few years ago. They called me to ask me to come in and keep him company as he was constantly asking them things - he has mental health issues and OCD. I went in to sit with him. We were moved a few times to different spaces and then he was eventually put on a ward for a few days. Each time I was in I couldn’t believe how some of the patients and their families were speaking to the staff. I was just so thankful to them for their care and respect to my elderly dad and comforting how anxious he gets he was actually quite chilled when there.

When I have been classed as high priority, the handler kept me on the phone until paramedics arrived.
I guess though that even high priority can take some time nowadays, so they don't stay on the phone as it could still be hours. Last time I called, that was what happened. I did call back and cancelled as I felt better. Ambulance still turned up anyway (and I bet they thought I was a time waster too).

Whole families turning up is my bugbear. Should be one person and a helper id needed max. They take all the chairs when people with a genuine problem need one.

Best start saving up !!!

Why not? Maybe they'd learn to behave with a bit of basic decorum.

Same for me - 4 hour wait at Reading Royal Berks - homeless people coming in and out and occupying the toilet for 30 mins at a time and annoying people waiting to be seen. Guy on the front door didn’t seem to care.

Yes! The waiting room in our a and e has been smaller to allow more rooms. So it's been a case of less waiting here but lots of waiting in the rooms, which is so much better as patients can lie down and be seen to privately, food and drinks, monitoring.

The only times I've been in a and e the past few years has been for emergency treatment for my elderly parents in ambulances. They were admitted quickly to a side room (sadly DF with terminal cancer and urgent case of hurting arm given a drink he unable to reach, different story) and long waiting to get a bed. Staff were brilliant, but it was only when they both had an infection due to lack of hygiene care while in hospital their conditions (and so ill) were taken more seriously 😕

Then they got better care, sadly it was too late for my DF as his immune system was too weak, had he had a drip and antibiotics earlief it would be different. Thankfully Mum was treated and could return home.

The NHS is wonderful, staff amazing, but coming back to the point...

All the times I was waiting there, yes there were big families coming in, taking up the whole seating area and ordering curries, also one kfc to be delivered.

It's well known in our area that locals will just walk to a and e rather than to their Doctor's surgery due to convenience. While waiting for hours to be there for my parents I saw Mums taking their children in for coughs and when questioned had been a couple of days; a young man complaining of back pain who went out to smoke every 5 mins; a Mum with a child with a small cut to finger, which had been seen to by school.

Not being judgemental, just my pure observation, they were all ethnic (but not able to speak English) so maybe don't realise how a and e works? I have colleagues whose first reaction is hospital for any ailment, again just an observation.

Triage is good but it doesn't stop the time wasters coming and they will complain, some hostile etc. Xx

The NHS is bloated with non-medical middle managers on good salaries.

Is it, though? I’ve worked in the NHS for almost 40 years and from where I’m sitting the problem is poor managers, and not enough actual skilled managers.

Totally agree.
A&E is for Accidents and Emergencies if people can wait 12 hours is it really appropriate to be seen in A&E ?
If people used the correct services, then the waits would not be half as long.

I recently gashed my leg open and needed stitches. I drove myself to hospital (blood everywhere despite a dressing). I was triaged and stitched up within an hour and a half.

i used to work for ambulance service so know I was very lucky as spent many hours waiting to hand patients over. But I was so impressed this time

I have been waiting in A&E and heard many a person go up to the desk and start with "I can't get a GP appointment so....".

Hmm… people are dying or deteriorating significantly in A&E, so I don’t think it’s always a matter of waiting because they can, rather because they must. And everyone knows access to timely primary care is a thing of the past, surely?

It’s totally broken across the system because of 13 years of dreadful political choices.

My brother goes there if he, or one of his kids, has a tummy ache.

There's no telling him.

One of the main problems I find is GP’s where we live seem very keen on sending people directly to an and e !! Not treating them at the surgery !!! I know sometimes this is necessary but it’s happening more and more . Then if you ring 111 they almost always suggest an and e with an ambulance!!! It’s madness

A large proportion of the NHS issues could be solved by eliminating time wasters - learning what an emergency actually is, accepting your cough does not need a gp, realising ambulances are for very sick people, not something that’s been going on forever and you want to jump the queue.

Yes. I think it's GP services that are the problem. SIL was saying the other day her mum was really ill, she called the GP who gave her an appointment for a week on Monday. Her mum was dead by then.
It's no wonder people go to A&E after that sort of experience.

I've always been in and out in under 4 hours. last time it was 90 minutes, on a busy saturday night. socialised health care isn't what causes long waits. in private health care, they'll still be triageing and prioritising those with most urgent need, I HOPE.

when I've needed stitches (I'm quite accident prone) if I'm not bleeding particularly, they make sure it's clean and covered, and back in the waiting room until I can get stitched up. those take the longest, and like I said. four hours is about the limit. (dog bite to the face, accidentally putting my had through a sash window trying to open it, and nearly cutting off the tip of my finger)

with the dog bite, within less than half a week, I had an appointment with maxillofacial for surgery to the area to minimise scarring. you can hardly see it now. it just looks like my glasses have been pinching a little. nobody notices the scars unless I point them out.

my most recent visit was because me hand had swollen up and I couldn't get my rings off, so they needed cuttting off. very quick triage, about 20 minutes in, I was getting them cut off, and went home without being there a full 90 minutes.

You could have got a jeweller to cut the rings off.

Nor jewellers will do this. The one I use state that it's not something they do. It also depends on the reason they need cutting off.