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😂

My GP would have fixed that up in no time. You don't even need a doctor, one of the nurses would have dealt with it. Getting a normal appointment? Not a chance, but something like this, the nurse would be with you in minutes.

@cervinia I'm a uk national and say script

6 adults to supervise one child!!!
no wonder the waiting room was crowded

Exactly.
DS at 18 m had same injury, I phoned the GP because I didn’t know what to do and they said to bring him in. Gave him a thorough going over, cleaned the wound and a couple of steristrips, sorted.

@Player001 I'm amazed the GP dealt with a dog bite. I was bitten some years ago and it was only tip of my finger but it bled incessantly.. actually had blood from hand to elbow within a couple of seconds.

A and E saw me within 2 minutes to clean and bandage it then again 20 minutes later to rebandage as bandage number 1 soaked through. They x rayed it then sent me to a different hospital where they administered local anesthetic to in my palm before putting a stich in either end and leaving rest open. Stitches not recommended in animal bites apparently. Sent me home evening with antibiotics, an instruction to go to GP nurse for redressing and checks in 48 hours and an appointment to see hand specialist a week later. He said might have long term interittant numbness in finger tip and I do. If your hand was actually ripped open, based on my experience your GP was irresponsible. However glad it healed up

I do mean 2 minites.. reception even came through to register me while O was being cleaned up Apparently didn't want blood all over their desk 😂

I came to A&E at 9 last night and I am still waiting.

I agree wait times are horrible I was in children a and e for 5 hours on Monday with my 10 month old. We were sent with a gp letter because her heart rate was over 200 . When we arrived at triage heart rate was 187 and temp 39.4 they weren't overly concerned as opposed to the gp who sent us and it was a 5 hour wait to see the dr. Yes the wait was ridiculous but I'm thankful she is ok and obv other children were more urgent than us.

In saying that I was there over Easter with my son for something that could have been sorted by a gp but out of hours were short staffed and had no one available for at least another 24 hours and we were told to go to the hospital which did seem like a waste of everyone's time and resources but It want something that could wait to the following day.

I wouldn’t use A+E for that, walk in centre if one nearby. The wait is also handy for concussion obs as pp have mentioned. Took my son to walk-in for stitches in his foot and was seen immediately, they only had painkiller injections (stuck the needle into the deep cut) he wasn’t happy, a+E have something better apparently, they told me I could take him there but it would be a 4hr wait. We chose to have it stitched in the walk in with gas and air. You should be glad they did glue as stitches hurt, they’re for deep cuts in places where the skin needs to move, my son’s were under his toes.

I was in A+E the other week for untreated overactive thyroid (as GP wouldn’t prescribe medication, wanted to wait for endo appointment). Heart rate was 210 on my Apple Watch. I passed out as I walked in the door, was wheeled straight to resus and treated immediately. I had thyroid storm which is fatal without intervention. They saved my life. If you’re an emergency you do still get seen straight away. Everything else can be treated at walk in / GP / pharmacy.

Something about this doesn’t seem right. 4 (?) adults to look after 1 kid who clearly can’t have been unwell really if he was causing havoc. Do you have a first aid kit at home? I’d probably have steri stripped it and gone to a minor injuries or similar.

You’d have been far better off going to minor injuries, or your GP, as others have said. Also baffled why you needed so many adults with you?
My mum was taken to A&E earlier this week after a nasty fall - complicated by other health conditions. She was seen within 30 minutes and admitted the next day. This was overnight. Staff were amazing.
Yesterday we visited her and had to walk past A&E to get to her ward - people on trolleys in corridors throughout. Clearly very unwell and in need of help.
Then going past A&E itself, the amount of people in the waiting area was a joke - because some people do seem to go en masse. We followed one family of 7 who went into A&E. 7! All adults. What is that bad that 7 of you need to go?
6 hours for a glued cut? Can’t get worked up about it tbh. A&E is not the place - you will be waiting as it’s not urgent.

Although you are in a&e so probs nog great, I hope you are ok

It drives me mad that people get attacked here for saying they went to A&E and to think about all the heart attacks that should be treated first. Health system shouldn’t be so run down that you have nowhere to go with a 2 year old for help. 6 hours is beyond unreasonable and I’m sorry for your experience.

She said her and her DH were there, her in laws AND her brothers (plural) so there were at least 6 people there for 1 child.
Totally insane.

Whenever one of our children have needed A&E, I or DH go alone. It's unfair to take up half the building.

I have sympathy OP, A and E is horrible with small kids and the wait is stressful. Glad your son is OK.

But you do have places. The only option isn’t A and E.

phone your GP (unlikely but may be able to help), go to a walk in centre, call 111 for advice (or look on their website and fill it in), nip to your local chemist and ask them to look at advice.

a and e should be a last resort

I don't think your son really needed to be in A&E.
You could have gone home, given him a great big bandage - which he would have loved - and monitored for signs of concussion yourself without a nurse or doctor telling you to do that.

OP did have options though

Crazy to take all the adults but unlikely OP would have got a GP's appointment for this sadly...our poor NHS is so under resourced

All the walk in centres in our local area say that for under fives, head injuries should go straight to A&E. They won't even see you, they'll just send you on your way so in OP's situation, I would've gone to A&E as well.

That is a long wait but I am always glad they are treating higher priority cases first, that could be you or yours one day.

Please come back and explain what and where the ILs and brothers were needed for.

Our local hospital has a separate section for kids. However taking a cast of 1000’s with you makes me really cross.

many years ago I took my DS in and there was a family of 7, child, parents, granny, other kids. I had to sit on the floor because they were taking up so much room. In the end I asked the nurse and she said they are reluctant to say anything because culturally this is what some families do.

Complete madness and very selfish. I am also surprised they let you do this.

We're told for under 5s to go straight to A&E, they won't entertain you.
Priority order op. So whilst yes a deep cut to the head isn't nice there's a lot of really sick children who attend A&E.
I don't see the need for the full family to turn up and I'm surprised they didn't get turned away.
Our peads A&E have only ever allowed two adults in

Things are just going to keep getting shitter and shitter in this country because people think it's a race to the bottom/they thrive off competitive misery.

Poster after poster jumping on the thread to tell OP off for her and her husband not being able to cope with her child. Yes guys, I think OP has heard that bit- we don't need hundreds more posters jumping on the thread to say the same thing. Can we now talk about the fact that as 'normal' as we've been conditioned to think a 6 hour wait in A+E to have your head glued is, it's pretty unacceptable and we should be asking our politicians to do better? It wasn't like this before the Tories got their grubby hands on the NHS.

Fucking awful dangerous advice. The kid fell down stairs.