To think only the patient and maybe one companion needs to sit in the waiting room?

[BoobsOnTheMoon]

I'm at the (very small rural) MIU, on my own, waiting to get a burn looked at. Every single other patient has at least one person with them. There is only one other patient who has just one companion and that's an 8 week old baby!

There's an older baby with 3 adults.

A youngish girl with 2 parents and 2 other children.

A man who has brought 2 young adults (well old enough to leave at home or in the car) with him.

An elderly lady who had 2 adults with her and then another 2 adults came in to join them, but there were no chairs left to sit on so they pulled over a couple of patient wheelchairs and sat in those. The whole group (elderly lady included) are doing the cryptic crossword.

Wtf? Easily 3/4 of the people in this waiting room are not patients. Surely thats not normal, or is it?

I agree with you OP.

Some may need more than one person with them. However, I have witnessed multiple adults and children with just one patient. And they bring copious amounts of food and drink, plus the obligatory iPads / phones with the sound up full blast. 🙄

A few years ago I attended a and e and needed to be admitted to the hospital.
I was in a great deal of pain. In the adjoining trolley, there was a lady who had about 6 people with her all talking and seemingly unaware of the needs of others.
I also work in the NHS and have similar experience of OP's experience

Have you been treated yet?

There seem to be a lot of people with too much time on their hands who turn everything into a family day out!

You have no idea of their background
You sound… unpleasant

You sound ignorant of how stressful it is to be a sick person in A&E surrounded by healthy people who don't need to be there taking up all the space and the seats.

So in an actual emergency, because you had no childcare, you had to take a sibling to A&E. Perfectly understandable.

You didn't however have a nosebleed and take your mum, your DC, your partner and your auntie to minor injuries, did you? So not comparable!

This was a problem in A&E when I was there a few months ago. Multiple people accompanying the sick person; there weren’t enough chairs to go round.

Separately, I had a day case hysteroscopy under anaesthesia. Simple-ish thing but you’re there for a good part of a day, start to finish. Most of the those accompanying the patients had expected to go onto a women’s gynae ward and stay all day and were most put out when they were told they couldn’t.

I disagree. OP has a very valid point. I have also been to A&E recently and it seemed as though people were treating it as an evening social event. Lots of chatting, laughing and photos, stinky food (the smell of which made my very ill daughter vomit). Some ill people were sitting on the floor and an elderly man was standing. There would have been enough seats for everyone if each patient only had 1 adult with them.
Obviously if there is good reason a patient might have 2 adults but needing 4/5 with you is ridiculous, especially when they are all making a racket.

YANBU.
DH had to go to urgent care about a month ago and was waiting for hours. Ended up having to drop in to give him some supplies, it was packed. But then DH posted out that 2 patients had about 5 or 6 adults with them. Not only were they taking up seats that other patients needed, the younger ones were taking loads of selfies and videos about being in a&e and moaning about the wait and how many people were there when they weren't even the patient. Some people seem to view it as a family trip out.

I went through a phase of having to attend A & E due to an ongoing condition, and I can't tell you how many times I sat on a dirty floor while relatives were sat taking up precious chairs in the waiting room. There's now a big sign saying chairs are only for patients and that relatives need to wait in the corridor on the benches unless they are carers/parents.

Totally agree! I've seen whole families ordering takeaways and kids sitting in the chairs allocated for waiting patients. There should be a rule/notice for a maximum number of attendees.

People should have more respect in these waiting areas instead of cackling and having phones on.loud for videos.

Simple respect but as always there are those who have no idea or dont care about basic manners.

My grandmother broke her ribs and her arm.
In A&E she had my grandad (has dementia and she is his carer, so he would have lost it if she wasn’t in sight), my dad (who drove) and my mum (because my dad is ill and can’t always remember everything so she needed the instructions for my Grandma)
That may seem excessive, but what are they supposed to do when they are on holiday together, my Dad is the only driver and my mum is the “carer” for all 3 of them?

I once accompanied my mother who had dementia to A and E and there was a young girl of about 16 years old. She was swearing and screaming and had 6 police officers with her to keep the staff safe and because she’d been arrested. That in itself was fine but there was no where for me to sit as the police officers took up all the seats. Now there is no reason why they should have to stand either but I had to kneel on the floor holding my mum’s hand as she was scared for 5 hours. I really wanted to shout at the girl but obviously she was unwell too .

This makes no sense - one of you should have stayed home with FIL (ideally his son due to the dementia related challenging behaviour) and one gone with MIL in the ambulance. All FIL care should have been at his home.

Yanbu i was in a&e once and the staff had to repeatedly keep doing announcements for friends and relatives to stand up so that the actual patients could sit down. I can understand people bringing one extra person if they really must but when you're bringing 2/3 or even more thats ridiculous its a hospital not a day out.

It depends really. I recently had to take my baby to A&E. I had to bring their twin as they're tiny and breastfed and I didn't know how long I'd be away. That meant my husband had to come to watch twin while sick baby was treated. And that meant older child had to come too initially while nearest family member travelled to collect them

That's totally different and of course you had to. That must have been so awfully stressful for you all. I hope all was resolved 💜

Yanbu. Some people seem to treat an A&E visit like a family day out

For a start your dad could have sat in the car to wait for them? That would have reduced the party by 25%.

Last winter my dad (74 yrs) who had barely seen a doctor in his life, was at deaths door a couple of times, so there was at least 3 adults (adult children) by his side the 2-3 times he was in A&E. Yes, you are being unreasonable.

Surely no one goes to hospital, even as an onlooker, for shits and giggles.

My DP works in A&E and a lot of people bring a ridiculous number of unnecessary hangers-on.

So not a comparable situation because he was at deaths door in A&E.

It always amuses me how so many people on mumsnet seem to reckon they are 'rural', but I'm chuckling at the thought of a "very small rural" MIU having 5 patients waiting at the same time, nevermind a waiting room big enough to accommodate 20 people

I live rurally. There 'are' no very small rural MIUs. Very small rural walk-ins or minor injuries units do not exist. We have to travel 15 to 20 miles to the nearest town. I'm chuckling at the thought that some people think every small village has its own MIU.

I never understand the people who take the whole family I cannot think of anything worse than wasting my time in a&e unless I have to be there.

Normally dh either drops me and child off or he just takes child and pays the parking. Why an earth would one child need multiple adults and two adults and multiple Children again is bonkers, second parent can take what will be very very bored other children home/park anywhere.

If you were genuinely nearly dying or needing fast action you wouldn’t be kept out in the waiting room you’d be in a bay where having more people wait wouldn’t be an issue or taking seats from the sick.

I was at the cancer hospital waiting for a consultation with my dr. There was one lady there who had brought her toddler and 4 adults. 2 of the adults went into see the dr with her when she was called leaving the other 2 to run around after the toddler in the waiting room. I couldn't understand why they weren't looking after him somewhere else.

OP isn't talking about people sitting by the bedside of a dying relative but people treating a trip to A&E (where the patient is not at death's door) as a bit of a jolly and cluttering up the waiting room. There is a big difference.