A&e waiting times a joke??

[Moniq123]

Hi everyone,

DS (2.5) had a bad accident in nursery today where he fell down a few stairs and hit his head on the corner of the wall just above his eyebrow. His cut was quite deep and wouldnt stop bleeding, he clearly needed stitches or glue. We were sat in a&e foe 6 and a half hours and when we were seen from the moment we entered the room until we left was a grand total of 3 minutes exactly. Dr just disinfected it and glued it and stuck plasters over it. To think that this is just ridiculous?? I know there are other people with emergencies waiting to be seen but he was just causing havoc in the waiting room (understandably so considering hes only 2.5 and gets bored quickly!). I feel like ive been ran over by a truck, at the end of it had to get my in laws and my brothers in hospital to help my DH and I. Honestly can say I've never had a more exhausting day, never going back to a&e again i'd rather spend £200 going private for my own sanity! Didnt even check for a concussion, told me if he vomited or fell ill to come back in, i asked whether we would have to wait again and dr said yes. In my head i was thinking absolutely no way am i ever coming back here😂

You know they're aren't private a&e's don't you 😂😂 absolutely ridiculous getting 2-3 extra adults there for your own child. The doctor didn't need to check for concussion if your child was causing chaos and been there 6 hours.
I completely understand 6 hours is tough going but unfortunately a cut head doesn't trump other life threatening things.
We're not just sat doing nothing in A&e watching all the patients just sit there 😂😂 we can only work as fast as we can, only have so many beds in the hospital and unfortunately lots of people come to A&e unnecessarily!

Look for minor injuries.

We had to go to minor injuries frequently at that age for similar things (except the one rime we were directed to A&E instead as DD was registered at the wrong GP... the hospital complained apparently as it was 45 min drive away). Heads can look horrible for very minor cuts. The only other time we went to A&E was a broken arm and she was seen quickly as she was clearly in pain. (Not crying but, pale and lethargic looking. )

Hope your son is ok.

I’d feel like moaning after a 6hr wait in hospital with a 2yr old- hellish. Not sure what you then needed additional help with.

a&e waiting times are shocking, and of course no one is blaming the overstretched staff but on occasion thought if I go get hit by car I’ll be seen quicker- tempting!

Gp's are not a walk in service. We don't do stitches either.
Not appropriate.

Great, don't go back. I'm sure A&E will be relieved. The last thing they need is extra adults clogging up a waiting room and a toddler who is clearly well enough to run round. I've spent hours in A&E with my elderly dad and nothing annoys me more than families who turn up like it's a day at Alton Towers.

Yes to this. DD is a radiographer with regular stints in A&E, poorly children don’t run around. OP, your DC will have been low priority.

Skin glue on an injury like this is totally normal why would you want to put your kid through stitches if you don't have to? And 4 adults is lunacy.

I’m guessing this poster is US not UK hence the use of the word “script” and the stray dog. We don’t really have stray dogs here.

He clearly wasn’t seriously injured if he was running around and causing havoc.

I’m gobsmacked that you needed to call 3 additional adults to help you to control 1x 2.5 year old. I though there was a rule about only one adult per patient in A&E because of over-crowding? There certainly is in our A&E.

You are being extremely unreasonable to think you were high priority. Next time go to a private urgent care centre if you don’t want to wait.

Maybe it's just here in the country i live in then. Called ahead of course.

They helped me and kept me out of a&e so yes, it's appropriate

All that time in A&E. Theyd have all seen him running around , he's fine ffs

@cptartapp I've had stitches by my doctor before . I went to a different doctor once who refused - my usual doctor said some GPs are unaware of what they can/ should be doing. But GPs should absolutely be able to give stitches. How ridiculous if everyone has to go to A&E. That's why A&E is in such a mess.

OP - buy some steri strips for next time and stop wasting NHS resources.

This is why we need more minor injury units - which could be staffed by specialist nurses. We don’t even have one in our quite big town.
I didn’t read it as OP’s family coming to the hospital to help out? I assumed she meant they helped out at home or with other kids?

Your child would have been triaged. 6 hrs is crap we know it’s crap but if you’re child can run around and you’re struggling to cope that says more. If your kid can run then they are not an emergency and sadly means you wait longer. You sound self entitled. I can’t tell you how bad it is in A&E. our children A&E had 26 attendees in under 90 mins. A large proportion needed extreme care and that delays someone like yourself.

I made it 4 extra adults “in-laws and brothers”, so 6 adults clogging up a waiting room unnecessarily. I don’t believe this post is genuine and if it is, give your head a wobble.

You opted to use a and e, rather than a more appropriate service. Eg walk in centre or similar.

What do you expect?

If your child was causing havoc that's on you and very unreasonable for you to have not managed when there will have been those ill waiting there.

For those saying she cannot get private treatment well that’s not exactly true. If she lives in London she can. Not for life threatening symptoms but there are private urgent care facilities that will deal with minor wounds, broken bones etc.

6 hours isn’t fun I get that but being the ones in the position to wait and watch your child playing while you do is much better than being in the position of the parents who see their child rushed straight through!

sounds like this is exactly what minor injuries, Or even a trip to the pharmacy for advice and dressings, Is for

I am an A&E nurse and agree the waiting times are hideous.
If you wait a long time to be seen it’s as your low priority and won’t deteriorate in that time. Trust me- the staff are not sitting around drinking coffee while you wait!
Its a good thing you were dealt with and sorted quickly eventually! Lots of patients do say ‘oh it’ll just take 2 minutes to sort x’ but that’s not the point.
Im not joking when I say I’ve had patients come in with broken nails, blisters and grazes (adults that is). As a population we are our own worst enemy.
In future a walk in centre might be quicker but depends how busy they are too!

Ignoring many things in the op covered by pp, I was shocked by the state of Gloucester A&E recently. 15 ambulances waiting to unload. People lying on floors trying to sleep. Luckily step dad was sent straight to minor injuries (broken leg) but was still waiting 6hrs.

I’m guessing OP isn’t coming back…

I agree with you OP. In fact it is all over the news! Ambulances, A&E wait times. They are all under pressure.
Lets be thankful your child was able to run around. Not sure if you are aware people are dying due to the long waits. On the news this week a man was on the phone begging for an ambulance. His words were something like 'you are going to need to bring me a coffin if you don't get here quickly'
4 hours later the ambulance arrived to him being unconscious, he died that afternoon.

Your child was able to run around. In a and e it isn't a case of getting the quick easy ones through first. Although YOU may have been worried the team in a and e would have seen he was fine. The drs, nurses are trying to save lives.

I will say, please don't ask for other people to come to help you look after your child. This is chaos for all sorts of reasons. It heightens the risk of infections by 2 people who do not need to be there. It causes stress to other people who are in need of urgent care. I would say learn to look after your own child. It was absolutely normal that he would be getting bored and frustrated, it does not warrant others to come and help.
I remember taking my eldest to hospital. She was so so poorly. We couldn't find a seat as parents of children had aunties, uncles. I even saw somebody bring boxed up food for everybody and a pudding. For 3 hours my daughter slept on a table whilst she waited to be seen. (I was a lot younger and less inclined to ask people to move then)

It is a bit of a thing in our home atm, we are actually very aware of what we are doing, nothing too dangerous. Just so we can avoid accidents. Although my teen seems to manage to hurt herself just lying in bed!

Did you not think to clean the wound yourself whilst DS was running around?

Why did you ask so many people to come and help?

Do you not have an ounce of common sense between you?

I sympathise with your situation, I took my DD to a&e yesterday for the same reason. However my experience was very different from yours. I was in and out in just over an hour. Which included waiting, going to triage, being given calpol, having her head glued and being checked twice for concussion. I was also told if DD showed signs of coconcussion to come straight back in and she would be admitted straight away.

Just shows how different hospitals can work so differently.