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?

@KeepPumping There’s no need to quote the entire OP.

I’d go back and just check in with reception saying you’ve been waiting but not been called again yet. They take hours anyway, even after triage. Ours overspills so last time I went we were far from the actual waiting room, in a section where wheelchairs were parked alongside cleaners trolley.

Can you actually get a GP appointment the next day? If you are lucky in my area you might get a phone consult and that isn’t always with a GP.

That is the reason A&E is swamped

ENT is a year or more for most of the country. I don't think you've any choice than to go back tomorrow and stand firm. Sorry OP. I get where the nurse is coming from but she is in minor injuries so she overreacted. Prob had a shit day and took it out on you.

Thankfully I have a really good GP practice. You can call in the morning, but I always fill in their online form. They always call the same morning to book you in.

I would probably file a complaint and say that you were made to feel like a time waster and went home in agony!
I suspect you’ll see your GP & they’ll send you to minor injuries!! But at least you’ll go armed with a letter from them!

Where l live the GP can send you to "Hot Clinics" to avoid A&E/minor injuries. So when my son had an item in his ear we were sent to the ENT hot clinic and saw a specialist there the same day.

💯. Every call to 111 is told to go to A&E so people feel justified in wasting time there because they were told to.

Its this strange justification by people not understanding that 111 doesnt want to be sued in case of the small percentage of people who actually do need A&E and frankly most people know when it’s an actual emergency and don’t have time to call and speak to a doctor.

Of course you should go to your GP. It wasn’t an emergency and it has been weeks. YABU.

Minor injuries is for people with wounds, acute but non life threatening pain, suspected breakages, injuries affecting mobility etc.

A&E is for people who are suffering following an acute accident or their health is in an emergency situation, such as a heart attack, stroke, seizure, acute respiratory distress, dangerous blood loss, extremely high temperature etc.

You need your GP to look at it, and they will refer you to the next service. The GP assessment will determine the rapidity and urgency. Same as someone with suspected cancer, they can’t just rock up to A&E, the GP is the gatekeeper who needs to assess people first before determining most appropriate route.

Call your GP tomorrow and explain the situation and go from there.

The nurse was rude but correct.

I worked in a public facing role for decades. No matter what was going on in my life I never took it out on the public, no matter how obnoxious they were (and OP was far from that). People who can't deal with others in a professional manner ALL THE TIME should not be dealing with the public.

Something in your ear IS an accident. I went for exactly that last year, was triaged and had it removed. Admittedly, I did go straight after it happened, rather than weeks later, but it is the right place. I would go back to A&E tomorrow morning, when it’s less busy.

Go to one of those places that hoover out ear wax

It’s not the sort of emergency that needs to be seen at 11pm, tbf. A&E is not staffed at the same levels overnight as it is in the day and ENT clinic won’t be running at that time either if it needs specialist removal (which it might if it’s been there for a few weeks and become more embedded).

Your GP should be able to contact the on call ENT team directly and arrange for you to be seen by them in the next day or two. They can also prescribe painkillers if needed.

Jesus Christ the level of reading comprehension on here has reached an all time low! As have the empathy levels!

OP you were not wrong to go to minor injuries for this. This is EXACTLY what minor injuries are there for! 🤷🏻‍♀️Please go back in the morning and try again. Tell them you have been advised by 111 to go. Stand your ground if necessary.

There is no excuse for rudeness either from patients to NHS staff or from NHS staff back to patients. Having a bad day isn’t an acceptable excuse or reason for a nurse to be dismissive and rude to a patient. I don’t give a damn how busy the department is there is no excuse to be rude. From someone who has worked in the nhs

1. it was an accident - that’s how a foreign object entered OP’s ear.
2. It had reached the stage where it needed urgent medical attention. It was causing the OP extreme pain and her hearing was at risk if she didn’t get it seen too. I’d call that an emergency 🤷‍♀️

It is a bloody accident. She didn't stick it in there on purpose.

Not an accident, but if she’s getting pains in her jaw, it is an emergency 🤦‍♀️

She could have at least looked whilst she was berating you. That’s a totally pointless waste of her and your time!
We’re told to ring 111 for advice, you did so and they sent you to A&E, so why wouldn’t you go? They’ve assessed it as necessary, that’s the procedure.

Why don’t you bloody read!!!!

My son had something in his ear and the GP wouldn't even look at him...the receptionist sent us straight to A&E.
There is nothing a GP can do. The nurse was wrong and so is everyone on here saying you shouldnt have gone! Go to another hospital if possible in the morning. Or the same one. Call your GP first as they will confirm thats where you need to be.

I get the nurses are overwhelmed but she was wrong! Good luck.

She was rude and unprofessional. This is why I have private health care. The NHS is a ridiculous antiquated system that needs to be dismantled.

I would go back this morning, this is not a GP matter and it needs dealing with quickly now as its causing increased pain. Do you have any signs of infection like a fever?

Minor Injuries and A&E are not the same thing usually, they have separate receptions with separate triage systems. It sounds like you went to A&E, and triage then sent you to minor injuries, instead of you checking in at minor injuries in the first place? Having minor injury patients being triaged does lengthen the waiting time for serious emergencies. But maybe it's different where you are.

If I was you I’d be putting a complaint in!

It amazes me that some Mumsnetters are so incredibly sensitive. All that mattered was getting your ear sorted. Who cares if she was a bit abrupt? That’s just life. It was madness to leave.