To say stop moaning about A&E

[Darkcarpark]

My son (21) dislocated his shoulder and I took him to A&E. They were absolutely fabulous with him, because it was an emergency! He had bloods taken, X-rays, two doctors and a nurse manipulate his shoulder back into place with morphine and a further X-ray, all in under 3 hours. So I just want to say to all the people moaning about A&E waiting times to think about whether you were a genuine accident or emergency and for anyone what has had good experiences of A&E to put a shout to the staff that are there for us in our time of need.

Ridiculous post. It’s a fact that EDs up and down the land are over-stretched, ambulances queue up outside waiting for space to hand over their patients, and people die while waiting to be seen.

Your good experience is great. Hats off to the staff. It’s encouraging to hear it’s not a shit show everywhere and there is hope that the NHS can be saved.

But how dare you tell people to stop complaining when their experiences have been poor? Should people just shut up and put up? Or are you suggesting they are lying and the newspapers are making stuff up?

I don’t respect a system which allows old people to be cared for in Ambulances or corridors, make people in agony wait in waiting rooms for many hours, who can’t communicate or record basic information well or provide basic care whilst people are waiting. I have had 5/6 experiences which most people would be shocked and saddened by. I’m sorry for people who have lost loved ones because of poor care.

That great you had a good experience with excellent staff but obviously that isn't the case for many, many people.

People are being forced to go to A&E as many (not all) GPs make it so hard to get an appointment with them. Also waiting lists for tests are so unbearably long people end up in A&E as a last resort. A&E are bearing the brunt of an all round broken and underfunded, poorly managed system.

You've gone in with a straightforward minor injury that's easily treatable

The experience for Minor injuries is going to be completely different.

The departments are virtually always split into Minors (where you were), Majors and resus. You won't have seen majors & resus - that's where the very sick & frail patients with very complex needs will be lying for hours (even days) waiting for beds. Often on a trolley in the corridor or even left on chairs on the waiting room.

My toddler son not only had a dislocated shoulder but had snapped his collarbone in half. I ended up having to put the dislocated shoulder back during our 4-hour wait to be seen as he was in agony. And they refused to x-ray him on the grounds that he wasn't crying hard enough to be really hurt.

He now has one shoulder an inch lower than the other.

So, yes, I think some people experience considerably worse treatment than you did. In your shoes, I would be inclined to be thankful in silence.

Your son was very very lucky on this occasion. Do you really think that the numerous people who’ve seen their loved ones left seriously ill in a corridor for hours orwho have waited in the waiting area in great discomfort overnight are time wasters who ought to be grateful?

Glad you had a good experience OP. I’ve been lucky enough to have managed not going very often, but all of my experiences (genuine E.g. broken leg, lacerations etc.) have been marred by the sheer numbers of people that turn up there, for things that a pharmacist should be able to assist with, such as colds and headaches.
My two visits were pre-COVID and both resulted in 9+ hours wait, so it’s been like it a long time, but pleased it seems to have been better for some…

Your original post did NOT say respect the staff, it said stop moaning. I do respect the staff who have to do the best they can in a system so underfunded and badly run that it verges on abuse . Bully for you having a good experience but please don’t insult patients who have suffered or even died in A and E waiting for treatment.

The few times I was waiting in A&E, very few who came in had an actual real emergency / accident. In my local A&E there is an out of hrs GP, so most are sent there. I have always been seen within 20 mins or so, because the times I’ve been admitted were for acute pancreatitis, which can be life threatening. Maybe 2hrs when I had suspected appendicitis (did have it, and was rupturing by time they operated the next day). Even when I had acute pancreatitis, I waited a few days to see if it would resolve before giving up and going in. I don’t understand why people go with such trivial stuff.

This.

I have complex health needs- highest rates of PIP indefinitely, I’m in several online health groups. Every day we have members who have nearly died or left without adequate care due to failures in emergency care. It is absolutely shocking, And a lot of it is sheer negligence, not lack of staff or being underfunded, just inability to do what is required or the bare minimum to keep people safe.

a few months ago I presented to the emergency department with a post-operative infection. I was very poorly and on the road to sepsis.

I was triaged very quickly and moved to majors. Where I sat on a hard plastic chair for 24 hours receiving iv antibiotics and fluids. I’d had abdominal surgery a few days before and have several conditions that affect my spine.

there were no trolleys or beds available. Just a chair in a room with ten other sick people in the same position.

after 24 hours the consultant came down and told me he’d admit me if he could, but there were no beds and I seemed sensible so go home (this was a Friday) and come back on Monday for scans and more drugs.

I was very poorly, luckily I took myself in even though I knew it would be bad. They were apologetic about the situation but every bed in majors had a very elderly person in it waiting to go elsewhere.

singlewhitetrashheap

Far too many people go go A&E when they don't need to be there, staff leaving the NHS in droves, and people clogging it up that shouldn't be there, are why people are on the floor in corridors.

If you look on mn there’s constantly people saying‘should I go to an and e?’ and it’s because they’re afraid to be laughed at and sent away. I’ve rolled my eyes before at being told by the doctors to go to an and e and every single time they’ve been right (kids ending up being in a few days where mn would have said to just give medicine)

In Ireland a few years ago the government put out ads telling people‘better safe than sorry’ which I thought was absolutely brilliant of them, the problem is understaffing, not too many people

I broke my foot last summer two bones in the top, dislocated a toe fractured that several times and fractured the knuckle. The person on reception said that looks broken! The toe was pointing completely sideways.
I waited five hours to be seen then had to hop to x ray the other side of the hospital, because there was no one to help me or even a stick to give me. I then saw a doctor who told me my toe needed relocating but she was a vegetarian and too squeamish to do it. So I waited another hour for someone to do it. I was there around 7 hours in total.
I don't see how I could've gone to any other medical facility, we haven't had a minor injuries unit within a 75 mile radius for years so that wasn't an option.
Yes lots of people go to a&e when they shouldn't and seemingly as a family trip out. I live near a major hospital and have lots of friends who work there. To say stop complaining and just act like it's all fine does a disservice to the awful conditions they are working in, and how under resourced and under staffed they are.

I took my young child to A&E with a wound so deep you could see muscle and bone. There was blood everywhere.
My child was not seen for five hours. When someone finally got round to looking at the injury they were shocked, they were expecting a graze!
In the end the bone surgeon (forget their proper title) came to see them to confirm the wound could be stitched rather that waiting for surgery.
We were lucky and eventually my child was stitched up and we went home.
Most of the staff were really good and I couldn't fault them. It doesn't mean I can't be angry that a young child was left in pain, covered in blood and exhausted for five hours.

My DD dislocated her shoulder twice. No bloods where taken

This whole attitude of the NHS being a sacred cow which should never ever be criticised, and all the people working in it being absolute angels is so toxic.

Oh this 100%. Such a ridiculous cult like attitude to people being paid for what they do, sometimes badly.
my mother was admitted to the day unit and ignored as she lay on the floor in agony. She was vomiting blood, and at one stage needed the loo. Staff vaguely pointed me to a wheelchair and then watched as I tried to get her into it and into a loo. They could not have been more dismissive. Transferred to a different hospital for surgery, forgot to send the medication she needed, that delayed the ‘emergency’ operation she had at 2am. She is convinced she would be dead if I hadn’t been there to advocate for her.

💯

I think you have hit the nail on the head here. It’s the most medically complex patients who have the longest waits (albeit triaged quickly). The OP seems very smug about how her son’s case was “an emergency” but in reality, it was just simpler to deal with than most other patients’ issues.

We were in recently for 15 hours when my husband had a PE. We saw lots of simple injuries like non-complex dislocations come and go. The patients with no visible injuries (the ones who’d had TIAs, heart attacks etc.) were the ones there all night with us.

I am sorry for your experience and I really hope you are feeling better now.

So because you were lucky enough to get good treatment, the rest of us can sod off? I severed my finger in a fall. Six hour wait for an ambulance, then 13 hours in A&E for a single old (67) disabled person. It was only because I had a total meltdown after no treatment that a doctor even looked at it, and then he shouted at me for having delayed so long before coming in - that was after the ambulance was called within minutes of my fall at 10:30 am and the doctor screaming at me at 9pm! There were virtually no staff in A&E. It may not be their fault, but the system is broken and does not deliver the service it should. People are entitled to complain, and complain they should.

I nearly died of sepsis due to an over 24hr wait.

I have several other stories about family members and their experiences that are shocking.

Glad you had a good experience but that doesn't magically erase the negative ones.

Most of the staff I saw were great... But that's the point. The staff are angels, it is the actual NHS that is broken.

We can absolutely complain and talk about what is wrong and what needs to change when ourselves and loved ones are not receiving adequate care.

Your post is just so ignorant.

My mother spent up to 5 days at a time in a&e recently.Sometimes she had a bed, quite often it was a chair or a trolley.She suffered from delirium and we had to stay with her 24 hrs a day, often holding her on the trolley.
She would be discharged from a&e and often readmitted from her nursing home the same day and the cycle would start all over again.
It was a relief when she finally passed away although we know it was due to her aspirating food whilst lying on a trolley being fed by a well-meaning but totally inexperienced member of staff.When they decided to withdraw treatment from her they suddenly found a ward bed for her to die in

People moan when there’s something to moan about. Pretty obvious really. I’ve only been to a&e twice. Once with DD which was great so nothing to moan about.Once for myself , with a broken ankle , which was pretty bad so I did indeed moan. It’s not exactly rocket science.

My mum nearly died in A&E, she had sepsis, she repeatedly used her right to ask staff to consider sepsis (she was shouted at by one doctor she asked), she survived but now has severe kidney damage that will reduce both her life expectancy and quality of life.

For reference, I had a standard referral to a doctor at the hospital (a very good one) last week. As part of our chat, she said she was terrified of needing to use A&E.

If the medical staff in a really good medical facility feel this way, I think there is definitely a problem.