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?

A young child and two parents is perfectly reasonable.

But yes, when you see someone and they've brought what looks like the whole family, it's a bit much.

YANBU. It’s not a family day out. Same goes for supermarkets.

YANBU, as someone who works in a MIU it makes the waiting room chaotic especially when busy. We have had to ask several times for all relatives/friends (with exception of parents/carers - and even then only 1 can remain) to go to the reception coffee shop so patients have room to sit.

When my 94 year old father became delirious DH and I drove him to A&E. My DB and DS turned up. We didn’t know it maybe the last chance to see hm

Delirium in elderly people is very common. Most likely a UTI. Delirium doesn't mean you are going to die Nowhere near, more likely just an infection somewhere. Could be a a potassium imbalance or any other imbalance or If it's anything more serious he would be admitted and diagnosed and placed on a ward. That is the time to worry and visit.

Maybe it just comes down to experience. My 98 year old mother in law has had many such phases of delirium and visits to hospital and infections.. and yet she lives and breathes! She'd be astounded if we all turned up at the hospital to wave her goodbye.

Yes it’s annoying. Our local hospital makes announcements saying only 1 carer per patient and can everyone else bugger off as they haven’t got the space!

Every hospital should do this. It is so inconsiderate to take multiple family members with you when waiting areas have limited seating.
Even with kids, both parents do not need to attend. One suffices.

A few years ago DS was ambulanced in for an asthma attack. Fortunately he was past the worst so we then had to wait in the paediatric urgent care waiting area for GP level care. After a couple of hours sitting on the floor with DS(9) dozing on me, the Dr came in and said how many patients he had on the list, it was only him on duty and it would take at least 6 hours to work his way through.

The room cleared. About ⅔s left.

There are circumstances such as the BFed twins and people with complex care needs that do require more support which is fair enough, but it's always surprised me how many families turn up in a mass, and it shouldn't be the majority, particularly when it's children with normal range ailments.

Having got the ambulance in, DH had a 5:30am phone call to pick us up. He was happier for geting some sleep in his own bed than an all-nighter in a waiting room.

There's been times at night that friends and I have done emergency care for each other's children in order to minimise people going for no good reason when a child has needed urgent treatment.

The Dad should've stayed at home with the grandad. Your dm and grandma should've got a taxi. To have 4 adults <one with dementia> because one had a broken arm was ridiculous and inconsiderate for other patients.

I’m with you OP!

When my son was 2.5 he broke his leg.

Went to minor injuries to be checked out (didn’t know it was broken at the time)

It was just me and him, DH stayed at home because there was (supposedly) a strict one companion policy.

I was also annoyed at so many people having more and taking up so many seats.
I had to stand, carrying him for a while (at least an hour) Then eventually got a seat and had him on my lap (about 2 hours)

Yes, some people might have a reason for the need for extra companions, I definitely would have preferred DH there for moral support if nothing else.
But when the majority have extra people, and as many as 4 that seems excessive.

Plus the decent thing to do is give up your seat for an actual patient.

The very vulnerable kids won’t be in a waiting room.

It honestly never crosses my mind to take anyone else with me to appointments. I had my second child and a cancer diagnosis during covid. I had to attend every appointment alone anyway but even then people were trying to sneak people in with them. I find hospitals to be a breeding ground of germs, hot stale air and just vile why would you want a day out there. Yes some people do need support of course. I attended phlebotomy yesterday and the waiting room was full, must have been about 40 seats. Literally everybody except myself and one woman had people with them. It's a two minute blood test, just why?

Regarding chairs being taken up by people who don't need to be there meaning arriving patients cannot sit -

Patients should be given a visible sign to wear to indicate they are a patient.

Then let society and shame do the rest.

The entitlement is staggering.

The family sitting on wheelchairs thought it was a hilarious joke. One of them actually kept saying to the elderly lady he was with, "haha mum see they'll think I'm the patient not you" (she was on a normal chair).

Absolutely agree. It’s not a day trip out and a large number of companions are there to keep company rather attend to any specific needs. It makes noisy and crowded waiting rooms noisier and more crowded.

Can easily spot from this thread the people who take multiple friends and family to A&E!!! Probably all ‘check in’ on Facebook too, then wait for the ‘you OK hun’ messages 🙄

Interesting that so many people don't seem to know the difference between A+E and Minor Injuries Unit.
But then again there seems to be variations around the country to what it's called.
My nearest Minor Injuries is now called Urgent Care. Surely if something is "urgent" you'd need A+E 🤔
(Sorry @BoobsOnTheMoon I know that's not the point of your thread 🙂)

YANBU - I have to attend a clinic regularly to see a specialist, unfortunately I am about half the age of their typical patient. Waiting room full, so I gave an older woman my seat out of respect - about 60 odd. Turns out she was 1 of 3 friends with another patient 🙄

I Agee op it’s too many and I say this as a health care worker. Many healthcare workers benefited from covid guidelines which limited number of visitors or access by visitors. It’s amazing how having a family member in the hospital or seeking treatment is like a fun day out. It’s a weekly occurrence in my office…
having to wake up people taking over the oversized chairs intended for larger patients or disabled patients
family is not permitted to have their phone out while examining or working with patient. You need to be here? Put your phone down and pay attention or if you need to take the call go back to lobby.
being essentially useless for the patient other than hanging around.
I could go on and on.

Absolutely so inappropriate to bring the friends and family in like it’s a fucking outing !!!!

had to spend an evening in A+E a few months ago, hell on earth places that they are, made ten times worse by all the morons sat there chatting / laughing taking up space - utterly selfish and ridiculous

😂

maybe for some people a trip to the supermarket is a family day out?

Took my seven year old son for a minor operation in a surgical day unit. Information pack said patient would only be allowed one person with them due to infection control etc. I followed rules. Other beds in 6 bed bay had numerous family/kids with them - even post operations and recovery -asked staff and told “too difficult to administer rules”! My son picked up an infection and had to be readmitted for 24hours - it was a joke!

I attended a&e a few weeks ago with DH.
There was a family of 8 people plus the poorly lady.
They didn't just sit down there was a picnic being eaten.
This poorly lady was in a mess, of course I had no idea
of her illness but it doesn't take 8 people to sit and ignore her.

I agree, however I have once been the person there with “an entourage”. I was tandem feeding my 18 month old and 6 week old (EBF) The 18 month old was very ill and would only have breastmilk, obviously I couldn’t leave the 6 week old so took another adult along for support.

Do they all go for a day out or something? ... I was in a&e once with a very unwell child and there was another child who'd literally cut their finger but they needed two adults. Waiting room was rammed. It's like a form of family munchausens (sorry cant be arsed to check that spelling).

That said, youngest DC has ADHD can be a tricky patient and assaulted a member of staff at the docs once so I do try and take back-up for any procedures that are going to be a bit tricky.

With all other DC, I've just taken them on my own. Or their dad has taken them.

It is ridiculous. The number of people who turn up to see their GP in couples or groups like it’s a family outing filling up the waiting room is ridiculous. At A&E I get that the patient may need support but I think 1 person for support is plenty