I get that a&e is busy, but was not expecting to be spoken to so rudely

[mitsicar]

Went to a&e tonight. I have a foreign object stuck in my ear. I did not know it was in there until someone looked last night before I left my house and said i should get it looked at. Wasn't able to go to a&e today as my son had his own medical appointment in another city that I have waited months for and we were in a hotel for last night. There was no way I was cancelling it for my own ailment.

The pain has got significantly worse. Have shooting pains into my jaw and cheek bone and my ear is making clicking noises. This is since about lunch time today. Went to a&e this evening and the triage nurse asked me how long it had been in my ear. I said I suspect a few weeks, but I thought I just had an earache and it went away after a while so thought it was gone. Got some new foam ear plugs last week (which obviously pushed the foreign body in further!) and am now suffering for it. I hadn't finished when she cut me off and said 'well I don't really understand why you have picked this evening to come to a&e' and told me I would be better off going to my GP. I am in some pain but ended up leaving because she just made me feel like I had done an awful thing by heading straight after my son's appointment. I spoke to 111 earlier in the day and they told me to go to a&e asap because I could risk my hearing and that whilst it isn't life threatening, it is both an accident and an emergency. I asked if I could wait until morning and they said no. This was the 111 dr not the triage staff. I have no idea if this is the correct advice.

AIBU to think I didn't do anything wrong? I told her a medical professional has looked at it (a friend of mine who is a dr of 30 years) and said it needs ent because of how far in it is and she actually rolled her eyes at me and said I should see an actual GP (I suspect by that she meant my own GP?) and that a&e were sending everyone to minor injuries and that cases like mine are the reason she now has a 6 hour waiting list.

Is this normal for a&e now? Is it so awful working there that being rude has just become the norm or do most people have a better bedside manner? I haven't been to a&e since I was a child and was really shocked by the way I was spoken to, after being advised to go there by 111 and a trusted friend who is a medical doctor (GP).

To add, she didn't look in my ear.

Would you have done anything different? Am I missing something?

This 100%

This below is what the OP did. She followed the advice of a doctor. She did nothing wrong. Can people not read??

I spoke to 111 earlier in the day and they told me to go to a&e asap because I could risk my hearing and that whilst it isn't life threatening, it is both an accident and an emergency. I asked if I could wait until morning and they said no. This was the 111 dr not the triage staff.

I have just spoken to my GP practice, who have told me I need to go straight to a&e. They are not able to refer me to ENT and said it doesn't work that way, and it is for a&e to triage who gets seen when. I asked about the walk in clinic and they said they do not have the right equipment and send all foreign bodies to a&e. So for those who say this is neither an accident or an emergency, and I shouldn't be in a&e, what do you suggest I do now?

Foreign body in ear or any orifice is very much an A&E/minor injuries scenario.

Would suggest daytime in future as you may need ENT input and they might not have onsite cover at night.

I've recently had the pleasure of attending our local ED and was also made to feel like crap by the triage nurse. This was for an allergic reaction with facial swelling.

If you have left something for weeks, it can in turn become an emergency. Because you thought it would go away by itself.
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One thing for sure, if you are in screaming agony because of whatever it is, don’t walk away from an emergency department. Do get someone to look at whatever it is.

Well done OP! Get yourself to A&E and get sorted. Do not let anyone speak to you again like they did and please put in a complaint!

So you wait another 2 weeks for it to get worse before you get to see a GP thus taking up a GP appointment somebody else could have had (hence the 2 week wait)when the GP will send you to A&E / MIU triage anyway.

That’s ridiculous

Why is that answer the right one when other medical professionals have said OP did the right thing?

This is exactly what would happen where I live to, hope you get sorted soon.

Exactly! You can’t ring our GP anymore now!!!

If there's an A&E there will be an ENT department (separate areas obviously). All ENT OPD will have a walk in session, may be limited sessions you may have to go in the next day. Not signposted like A&E but 9 til 5 'ENT A&E' will be available.

Ring a GP, seek advice.

Exactly. The OP has had ear symptoms for a while but put up with it. Then only yesterday did she discover that there was a foreign body. She was right to seek help as soon as she could after her child’s appt.

If you're in the UK am surprised your GP can't do a direct referral to ENT. I have never worked anywhere where GPs couldn't make speciality referrals. Either way - sounds like a trip to ED for you!

Does your GP surgery have an online referral system. Ours does and it seems to work well. I did an online referral with a very painful foot and was called a few hours later by the surgery to make an appointment with a prescribing physio.
I appreciate it is a very different situation but they might refer you to the correct place? Just a thought and hope you get it seen to soon!

Hope you get it sorted

I look toward to responses from some posters.

People need to realise we don't all live in these big cities with all these extra services. People saying things like just go to your walk in ent clinic have no idea how lucky they are. We all pay into the nhs but its not shared equally dependent on your postcode

Yes. And here we have it. Every GP and area will have different systems. I wonder what the ignorant armchair experts with countrywide NHS knowledge will say to this.

Some of the definitely A&E responses wee from doctors and those who work in A&E!

100% agree re making a complaint.
As I said in an earlier post, the nurse who turned you away without examination was borderline negligent. At the very least she should have looked in your ear. This absolutely needs to be raised with her.

And your outcome also completely proves my point that people on here spouting all sorts of nonsense with zero clinical or medical experience is not only foolish, but could be harmful.

As someone who works in an ED, this is something that probably does need to be seen in ED BUT we would likely need to refer it straight to ENT who are only there Monday to Friday 9-5 so rocking up on an evening we wouldn’t be able to do anything and would need to get you to come back the following day. This is presuming that it is all the way in the ear canal near the ear drum as we don’t have the equipment in ED (or my ED) to get something out that far in, if it’s only just inside we can get stuff out. We’d probably tell you politely that you need to return the following day though. The nurse shouldn’t have been rude at all but as someone who works in that environment I can say that she was probably having a crap shift, having people have a go from all sides and probably just very frustrated…it doesn’t make it right of course.

I also had a bit of silicone ear plug stuck in my ear. It was not an emergency so I went to the GP first. The practice nurse tried to retrieve and couldn't. I had an urgent referral to ENT by the GP.

So I disagree with you saying that you shouldn't go to the GP. The GP is able to get a fast referral and then you would be able to get an appointment quickly. No waits in A&E needed. The problem was dealt with efficiently by going to the GP.

Here we do have it, she rang a GP and sort advice. Next time do that first.

Mind, I bet it was a receptionist who seem to attend the same training as 111 and send everyone to A&E.

It’s only sense if the consultant would have been willing to take responsibility for any subsequent damage to the patient’s hearing while they waited for a GP appointment and were then referred to A&E or walk in again, because a GP won’t remove a deeply embedded foreign body from a patients’ ear. We seem to be going round in circles with this when it’s not the question OP asked. Her query was whether the nurse should have treated her so rudely that she left without treatment. And the answer is no.

No ours doesn’t. There is no ENT walk in- the advice is to go to A&E/MIU triage.