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.

well most people on here would have not experienced care in these countries so they have no idea just how bad the nhs is by comparison.. so they are ‘protecting it’ at any cost :). i highly doubt it will ever change. people who can afford will pay for private and the others will just continue to wait 9 months for a hernia surgery

About three years ago, my knee gave way, with a crack, and an enormous amount of pain. I couldn’t bear any weight on my leg, it was agonising. I rang 111 and they told me to go to A&E. DH drove me, and got me into a wheelchair there, then went home. Very fortunate, as there were few seats, family groups seem to be the thing at our A&E.

After five hours, I was seen by a nurse who gave me two paracetamol and discharged me, and was very dismissive. I asked for a crutch as I couldn’t walk. My GP then referred me to physio, I couldn’t do the exercises, I was sent to various physios until one suggested an x-ray or scan might be helpful! At last someone with a brain. Severe osteoarthritis, never going to repair itself. Basically my knee had disintegrated. I saw a consultant, who was amazing and within a few months I had surgery. He agreed I could have had the op much sooner if A&E had just sent me for an Xray instead of discharging me. I suppose it shortens the waiting lists, or perhaps I’m being cynical. I’m eighty now, very mobile, relatively pain free. Thanks to the consultant and his team.

Idiotic post that makes me so angry.
It’s not ok to wait 9 hours for emergency care.
I’m not even going to describe my experience trying to get care with my mum. She’s dead anyway.

9 hours is absolutely disgraceful.

You must realise that the first step to solving a problem is to simply admit it exists. Posts like yours set us backwards OP. Total denial of a problem.

That’s no disrespect to the staff that cared for you - but even they would admit that their hospital would benefit from double the amount of space and staff. At the very least.

FFS. I just said what we experienced.
I am grateful for the care that my DM received, on a very busy, hot, understaffed day - what on earth is wrong with that?
Clearly it’s not the gold standard for emergency healthcare. It would have been easy to complain about then &
now but what’s the point?
Clearly the NhS needs massive improvement, you’d be blind not to see that. It doesn’t have the space, equipment, management structures, clinical & support personnel for the current population levels of this country.
Obviously in some other countries it’s quicker / cleaner / better etc. But it is now what it is now, and can’t be allowed to deteriorate any more than it has done.

She didn’t wait 9 hours - most of it was treatment apparently.

Well they seem to have put people off seeking their assistance so i suppose that’s a start 🤷‍♀️

DD broken ankle:
Check in, consultant, x-ray, boot fitting and out in 90 mins.
Everyone kind and attentive.
Amazing.

You got lucky then.

I am reliably informed that I looked about 10 years older after one night in a corridor.

YABU What a ridiculous post

Nope. This has been my experience at every a&e vsit.
Lucky to have this particular nhs trust maybe.

Possibly. People are dying in corridors and more will die as a result of not being prepared to engage. I’m on the verge of disengaging from all medical care because the combination of hospitals, GPs and the people that deal with my medical condition couldn’t organise a piss up in a brewery.

That’s sad, to put it mildly. Surely though, the only person who will suffer is you? And the Health Secretary, NHS management etc won’t have a clue.

Cracking bit of analysis there. Thanks for your contribution!

Total time in hospital was fractionally under 9 hours. Obviously much of that was waiting (apologies for not timing it versus treatment time).
Your use of “apparently” is somewhat patronising, love.

I haven't had much experience myself and like hospitals but at work we have been doing the Oliver McGowan training and I was in tears about the way he was treated. Now I worry every time I have to attend one of them

I spent a lot of time with my mum in them and staff were always nice and attentive

No it wasn’t patronising - I was relaying that it wasn’t a 9 hour wait. It was ‘apparently’ in the sense of ‘that’s what was said’.

I have no reason to doubt you, I was just explaining to someone who hadn’t read the full thread.

Bit prickly, aren’t you?

Are you fairly young and generally healthy? Anyone who isn't doesn't seem to have anything positive to say about our AE.
Old man left to sit in a chair for 2 days (GP said it was urgent for him to go). That wouldn't be nice for a healthy 20 year old to manage. If his family hadn't intervened, how long would he have been left?
Cancer patients left in agony when they had to use AE.
Woman forced to lose her baby in AE corridor. Those lucky enough to have healthy pregnancies get a delivery suite to themselves.

I think my local A&E have got it pretty well sorted, although they face the same time pressures everyone describes.

• On arrival, book in at desk
• Triage 1 is within 5-15 minutes: Sats probe and describe reason for attendance. They decide if you're fit for triage 2, or if you need RAT (Rapid Assessment and Treatment) or Resus

Triage 2 probably 15 minutes after that: More detailed history and full initial obs. They decide what initial investigations are needed. They arrange initial pain relief as needed Initial assessment: They take bloods/insert cannula/do ECG, get urine sample as needed.

Then you are filtered to majors/minors

Once there, you sit in chairs, waiting for a doctor. Obs/pain relief/fluids are given as required.

Depending on how busy they are and how ill you are, they may take you around to a trolley, but they only have about 12.

Oh yes i had pain relief several hours after getting there. I also had a drip and got bollocked by the nurse for not keeping my arm at the wrong angle (having never had one before)

Having been to A&E far more than my fair share, I have some pretty strong opinions about how terrible it is and now I think I would actually refuse to go unless I was unconscious and someone made that decision for me. My personal experience is that it gets worse the further out of London you go.
Chelsea & Westminster - usually quite fast and efficient
Epsom General - more relaxed but still good chance of survival
Poole - congrats you’ve just died

Receiving the healthcare you need is the bare minimum we should expect. A 9 hour wait is NOT. Neither is the service that a lot of other people have had to deal with - waits even longer that, including for ambulances in life or death situations, months long waits for appointments that again, should not be delayed... It is appalling.

Probably because you are paying for it! Ridiculous comparison

Unfortunately no I am 60 with multiple chronic conditions, a pretty limited life expectancy, and aging parents to care for.
This is why I was grateful that even more sh*t wasn’t added in.

And yes @Anarchy99 I suppose I am prickly; apologies for taking it out on you.

The NHS is falling apart and needs serious reform/overhauling and yes, that could mean an insurance based system like the Scandi countries.

The problem is to say so is practically treason to the left and you’ll be told you hate the poor/are a bigot etc. etc.

What these people don’t realise is the current state of the NHS is disproportionately negatively affecting poor people - most people in professional jobs now have private healthcare included as standard, which ok it doesn’t cover A&E but does cover a lot of other things like cancer investigations, knee ops etc. Also, there’s evidence that poorer people are often less able to advocate for themselves, which is vital in this system which is falling apart, so overall poorer people are typically receiving worse care.

These people who insist on maintaining the NHS at all costs can’t seem to work out there is a middle ground between this and a US system, as is working in many other countries, where the standard of care can be improved for all. Nobody is in any way suggesting everyone should be paying the same rate for healthcare or that poorer people should be unable to afford it - there are mechanisms to ensure its proportionate to means.

OMG, this is awful! Surely brain bleeds need to be identified and treated quickly?
I would ask them to show you cctv footage of alleged assault. The assault will be documented in your medical notes and this is not fair if it’s not true.