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?

Sorry I missed that bit. Even worse.

Omg that’s ridiculous. A serious ear infection could cause so many complications.
So sorry for you ( I have chronic perforated eardrum issues / infections)
This nurse is just the frigging gatekeeper ..
Makes my blood boil .. the idiot

Yes, I have a family friend with hearing issues. Please complain, next time someone might get seriously ill, OP.
And does she think it's 2000? Good luck getting a GP to see you, round here at least. Maybe it's different where you live, but the GPs no longer tend to do things like that, or even blood tests, themselves-they send you to hospital.

Yes but NHS staff are only human- have you never had a stressful day at work and over reacted?

As a medical professional, you should not have been spoken to in a rude way, whatever the circumstances. Regardless of how busy they are, there is no excuse. I am sorry you were treated in such a way, you decided to leave. If you have a walk in centre, l suggest you go there. I hope your ear is back to normal soon

you are right OP, you should not left and shame on that nurse. A GP won't go rummaging around in your ear, absolutely won't. You should have waited to see a doctor.

I’d be tempted to go back. I got sent home from A&E with a blood clot once and decided to go back and get a second opinion and was very glad I did.

A&E staff do get things wrong. I don’t see what a GP is going to do and don’t mess around with hearing. It’s an accident so you’re in the right place. Accident or emergency.

Sorry, did we miss the part where she was forced at gunpoint to do "that job?"

Pretty much every job has slightly annoying customers/Interactions (not that I think OP was one). If you cant manage the absolute basic of being polite to them (and moan to a colleague when they are out of earshot or your partner when you go home if you really need to) you shouldn't CHOOSE a customer facing role.

Just as if you dont like minor injuries maybe dont specialise and apply for a job working in that department!

Im with you OP, if a unit specialising in "minor injuries" is not the place for a....minor injury what on earth is it for?

She absolutely shouldn't have been so rude, that was totally unnecessary. I think the problem was probably more the time than where you were - the minor injuries clinic might be 24 hours, but that's so that things that arise in the night can be treated, not so people can go outside working hours for their own convenience. They will have fewer staff at night and it will be harder for them to get hold of an ENT specialist at night. Again, though, that's not a reason to be rude to you.

You did nothing wrong. The NHS is dire. It really is. I had to wait six hours with my brother in law earlier this year in A&E. He’d had a stroke but because he was an alcoholic (recently died), they thought he’d just binged on alcohol and his slurred speech was due to that. They finally tested him for a stroke two days later. Horrible nursing staff too - rude and just have a can’t be arsed attitude. I’m in pretty good health and just pray I stay that way. I’d hate to be at the mercy of the NHS. After years of being against the principal of private health care, I’m now in Bupa, but obviously that doesn’t cover A&E situations. I’ve had numerous really poor experiences with the NHS over the last couple of years in relation to elderly relatives, and have zero confidence in the system.

Go to a big A&E first thing in the morning. They will have a minor injuries unit, if that's suitable, but are likely to want to call ENT to have a look, which is why it's a good idea to go to a big A&E in a hospital with a variety of specialities. Explain that pain has ramped up suddenly and that it may be due to a lost earring back from a few weeks ago.

Your GP may have a look but is likely to send you to A&E where you can see the on call ENT doc anyway and you can save time by just taking yourself there instead.

The NHS is very hit and miss now..A few years ago I had to take my 89 year old mother to A+E. She had shingles ( which in itself took a few trips to doctors before it was properly diagnosed. Initially they were saying it was an ear infection and giving antibiotics, which was totally wrong). She was in a real state.....she had it on her face. her lip was bright red and really swollen, she had been vomitting repeatedly , had diarrhoea , was hallucinating and in severe pain. ..I had to have a fight with the receptionist to get her to take it seriously because she said " it's only shingles. You shouldnt be in A+E.." I got nasty and told her my mum was talking gibberish from hallucinating and didnt know where she was and needed to see a doctor immediately. Fortunately we saw a lovely doctor who prescribed gabapentin for the dreadful pain my mum was in . Eventually it was all resolved. But the whole experience, moving from one place to another, wrong diagnosis, wrong treatment, lack of help generally , was appalling . I couldnt believe they treated an 89 year old very ill woman like that. Nobody seemed to know what they were doing..GPs getting it wrong, A+E being difficult. It was really awful. I was disgusted.

Of course, but everyone has bad days. Maybe she snapped at OP then felt bad about it after she left we don’t know.

I don’t expect people to be robots just because they are in public facing roles.

I’d go back. You need to say “I’ve been advised by 111 to attend Minor Injuries”. End of. Take snacks and water as you will be there a while.

Nonsense. It is for accidents and emergencies, whether they are life-threatening or not. If you broke your leg tomorrow, that wouldn't be life threatening. Are you seriously claiming that you would calmly wait for a GP appointment and the GP's further referral for X rays etc?

That term includes accidents which have the potential to cause serious damage to a person's hearing. OP followed the advice she received, she did nothing wrong.

Sleep with your ear on a magnet

Given that you definitely have an object stuck in your ear, could you see an audiologist? Or do you need a doctor in case there’s an infection?

If your gp sends you down the referral rabbit hole or if you can’t get an appt tomorrow, is it worth calling an audiologist to ASK if they can help? You’d have to pay, but you’ll be able to get an appt fairly quickly.

If they say this isn’t their area, you can always go back to minor injuries.

@mitsicar Is it set up so that you can only access minor injuries via A&E?

Because that would certainly explain why I can’t find any minor injuries near my area now….

I hope you get it sorted and I’m sorry she was so rubbish. Not even slightly surprised, but sorry for you

Did you bother to read the OP? Judging by the 2 posts you have contributed it seems not.

I don't know if there is another local miu but this one the a&e and miu use the same reception. There is a medical staff member on the front desk and they decide if it is a&e or miu then send you to the receptionist to get your details. Then they send you left or right!

If you left and are ok it’s not an emergency.

But she isn't OK. Read her posts.

We have an ear clinic in our town and you can get same day appointments for micro suction of ear wax. I expect they could suck the back of that ear ring out. There are loads of these places everywhere so have a look online to see if one is near you. Ours charge £40.

A lot are called "Urgent Treatment Centres" now (or "UTC").
Sometimes they are within an A+E dept, sometimes completely separate.