To love A&E despite the wait?

[HotTiredDog]

Over 9 hours in a very busy city A&E today with DM, following a fall at home.
They have established that her heart is fine, lots of good blood stuff, X-rays of queries and carried out dressing of wounds.
This was free at the point of need & was carried out by amazing professionals, with the utmost care & thoughtfulness.
Seriously, 9 hours was nothing for all this attention, not really.
The tragedy was on the MH side, with some seriously unwell folk who couldn’t be given the care they so desperately need - I dearly wanted to help but had no way of doing so.
I am so proud of & grateful for the people of A&E. We must keep it safe.

I think part of the issue though is the urgent care/OOH system is so patchy. If there was a consistent system across the country I think that would help a lot.

Some people are time wasters, some people don’t know where to go, some are struggling to get a GP appointment. I doubt many people turn up to sit at a and e for the fun of it even if they don’t really need to be there.

We need to get the basics right of access to care through pharmacy and GP and then we will be able to improve everything else. But while that basic layer is failing nothing else can work.

They didn't wait 9 hours. Her mum was seen, treated abd discharged in 9 hours. Thats very different from waiting for 9 hours to be seen.

Developng world conditions?
The NHS has many many faults but its ridiculous to suggest conditions are like the third world.

Glad you got good treatment in A and E. Many people don't and are made worse by waiting 9 hours. The whole system is deeply flawed. There are some great individuals working there.

The biggest issue is lack of beds due to people not being able to be discharged due to lack of social care so its completely normal in my local a&e to be waiting around 30/40 hours for a bed while sitting in a&e

We have a minor injury section at my nearest A&E and also a GP service
Aa well as the emergency department.

Its often quite helpful to ask the practitioner for their name, and a copy of the complaints procedure when in the kind of situation you were, even when you know tgeir bame and how to make a complaint. It can give them pause for thought and allow them to get their brain and mouth back online.

Where you in A&E for 9 hours in total or did you wait 9 hours to be seen? My mother had a fall, we waited 20 mins for triage where she was give painkillers, another 30 for a doctor to see her and a decision was made to admit after x-ray, ct scan and bloods within 3 hours. Took forever to get her a bed on the ward though. And all also "free" in Ireland.

My MiL won't go to her local hospital in Wales anymore after spending 12hours in a waiting room after a car crash. That was also "free".

It's great you've had such a positive experience but I can't say the same sadly.

My elderly mother has advanced Alzheimer's, osteoporosis and breast cancer. She has had to be taken to A&E twice within the last 8 months. First time was at the end of last summer when she fell and smashed her forehead open and fractured her neck. Despite knowing she had advanced dementia, unable to talk, was in pain, very very confused and disorentated they left us for hours on our own and every medical professional who came to see us was a different person each time, they never read her notes properly and didn't realise each time she had dementia so I had to keep explaining and explaining, after 18 hours she was eventually taken on to a ward which was a complete disaster (but a whole other story).

Second time was in February this year, mum developed an infection of unknown origin. Again same scenario as before, no one reads her notes properly and we had to explain every sodding time that mum couldn't understand what they were saying and can not talk as she is in advanced dementia. This time we had a 36 hour wait on a trolley in a corridor. My elderly father and my sister both contracted norovirus from there so two down it was down to me to deal with alone and it was awful. Every trolley had a very elderly person on, many with dementia and on their own (one from a care home who had come with no one to advocate for her), it was so so depressing.

So I'm sorry to say that I haven't had the same positive experience but then again our local hospital has a poor rating and crap reviews, perhaps yours is more efficiently run?

This. Our so called ‘free and wonderful NHS” is a myth. It’s an expensive shitstorm. 🙄

You are so gaslit to think 9 hours is something you feel grateful for.

9 hours is so long. We had an ankle x-ray faster than that for dc tg

This is what everyone forgets. If you’re not seen immediately, you will be supported but it’s a good sign.

i have kids under lots of specialists and things go wrong now and again so we’ve been in a&e too many times… mostly there has been quite a wait but one time my then 11 month old had sepsis and she was on an antibiotic drip within 20 mins of arriving.

Good point! Although I was there alone, so the power balance was very much against me. I felt so dismissed and trampled upon, I would not have plucked up tbe courage to say something like that. I went home and thought about it for a couple of days and discussed it with others and then decided I had definitely been badly treated. I am single but I suspect if I’d had a partner or DC with me, especially a male, I would have been treated far better. It’s a sad state of affairs. I am polite, always thank people etc.

To clarify:
Total time in A&E: 9 hours.
Triaged within 20 mins.
Within that time, there were:
4 sets of observations
one review with consultant
bloods & ecg
one set of X-rays
two consultations with registrars
one treatment by nurse.

I would not have been so enthusiastic if DM had waited 9 hours for triage or indeed anything else on that list!

Our local Urgent Care is ok and takes patients who aren't quite at A&E level such as minor illnesses and injuries.

I have experienced Spanish and UK A&E.
In the Spanish one I was seen by a doctor within minutes (there was no one else in the waiting room). Treated with various drugs, x rayed and discharged about 90 minutes later. The place was shabby and run down, much like a British hospital and there was no English spoken and my Spanish isn't great but that's my problem not a criticism. This cost me nothing as is paid for under reciprocal agreement.
I've been to a UK A&E several times.
Once with DS after an accident, he was treated and blue lighted to another hospital within an hour.
Once by ambulance taken straight into majors where they dealt with me efficiently but then I waited hours for a bed to be admitted.
Once during covid when I was sent in by a doctor but had to spend hours on a trolley.
More recently again sent by my doctor, triaged and sent to the SDEC. Lots of tests and discharged after three hours.
No complaints really, maybe I was lucky in the timing. It's a small DGH near the bottom in the rankings.

@Vinvertebrategoing to A&E was when my DD’s MS was picked up after three years at another hospital doing test after test and head scratching.

Babies and children automatically get priority though

They don’t. When they are triaged they will of course take into account the fact that as babies and children they can deteriorate more quickly but they don’t automatically get seen before others.

the problem is that so many of the people complaining just don’t need to be there. Time after time people say they waited x amount of hours, gave up and went home. When an and e is used properly it’s great but popping in with a sore throat slows everything down. We need better mental health care, more ooh gps, 111 doing more than telling everyone to go to a and e etc

We need more of everything but the first thing is a joined up communication system. I got sick of having to explain to a nurse what meds I was on, her English wasn’t great so we couldn’t understand each other very well (not her fault, she did her best) then explain to every medical person that came to see me what the issue was, then explaining to my GP a couple of days later…

I honestly think that if I am ever sent to A&E by my GP again, I will take my chances and not go. If that has a negative outcome then so be it. I can’t even watch news items on corridor care without shaking

I disagree, OP. I think 9 hours is appalling. The UK has awful emergency care, long waits, exhausted, burned out, uncaring staff (in my experience). I dread having to go there for any reason at all.

What I cannot understand is how anyone can justify long waits in often dirty overcrowded hospitals. It's clear to me you haven't lived in any other countries OP - it would blow your mind to see how good emergency healthcare can be.

I'd love to be able to pay for a private A&E! The NHS is an absolute disgrace.

same @Anarchy99im so terrified of needing to use a and e I just wouldn’t go. It’s mostly the elderly who are left in pain and with no one to advocate for them. With people living longer maybe we need to invest in medical centres focused on older people with specially trained nurses