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😂

@Moniq123 don't apologise or explain yourself, some people just love to have a pop at other peoples parenting. I guess it makes them feel superior. Hope your ds is feeling much better now.

Thankyou for being so nice, yes it's ridiculous. There were some unwell patients there waiting hours and hours too, a baby who was non stop vomiting waiting hours too, its ridiculous. I thought those under 2 were seen straight away. They have a paeds waiting room that was closed yesterday. Also, my DS no matter WHAT illness he has is ALWAYS energetic! Even if he's spiking a temperature where normal kids would be unable to get out of bed, hes up on his feet jumping from sofa to sofa!

Its like he has no pain receptors 😂 he never cries either he brushes everything off 😂

I totally get the waiting time is awful. My 6yo cut his lip open when he was just 2yo and I took him to a&e as it was fully open and bleeding a lot. We waited a few hours not too bad but once seen they put steri strips on and told us it would need stitches and to come back the next day at 7am (it was midnight by this time) we took him back at 7am only to wait until midday when they called us in and said it was healing well enough for no stitches to be needed. I was so relieved but also tired and glad to finally go home.

To those who said to steri strip it at home, I would have had no idea I could do that at home. And also would have been worried I would have been seen as neglectful not to get him checked by a doctor. Now I have read this post I will be getting some steri strips in at home just in case.
It doesn't cost anything to be kind, some people go to a&e because it's all they know to do. It used to be fine but these days we do need to be more careful about what we go to a&e for.

Glad your little one was okay tho OP! And you learn something new every day! 😆

It was definitely too deep for just peri strips, it would have gotten infected! I would rather not gamble with my son's health

You don't need to apologise to any of these idiots here

My DH had a running-related soft tissue injury on his foot. Went to the GP who basically told him a referral would take too long and told him he'd get a x-ray quicker if he just went to A&E. I work in the NHS and was fuming when he told me this. A&E were great but obviously not the best use of their time to be seeing DH's non urgent foot! All GPs are different. Sadly ours just palms patients off to the local A&E.

Steri strips and glue actually have very similar, almost 50/50 efficacy as each other when it comes to wound closure- as both are minimal it's more choice than a wound closed with glue means it was 'worse'.

No. You just want him seen first at A&E above actual emergencies

How many people did you take with you? That is utterly ridiculous. I'm surprised they didn't ask them all to leave.

Besides, they weren't in the waiting room, they were outside of the building as DS kept running in and out,

This is something that you as parents should have stopped him from doing, not stationed others outside to supervise.

@frydae @Toddlerteaplease oh ffs have a day off will you. What's it to you if she had help and support managing her child in a difficult situation? They were stood outside so you can't even use the 'taking up space in a&e' justification for your blatant desire to feel superior. So sad to see a post about an issue that effects us all being hijacked by people who just want to shame someone for their parenting.

I have a 3 yo with developmental delays. Classed as additional needs. Constantly on the go. Yet I still could not justify 6 people needing to attend her many various hospital appointments which always run late. I don't actually even have 6 family members as I'm a lone parent. Nor should children be running in and out of the doors. It is a hospital. Not soft play.

@LilyPotter22 yeah exactly. They should be focusing their energy on the health service that effects us all that is so badly managed where a toddler waits for hours that cannot be contained any longer, that needs to run in and out and family to help. I can't imagine this happening in other countries unless a poor country with lack of healthcare. Please be like the French and Italians and demand. You are a taxpayer and you are entitled. Don't be so British moaning under you breath and focusing on the unimportant things like the op's energetic toddler, focus on the big picture on why a small child has to wait 6 hours despite being funded.

I didn't say a thing about space in A&E. I said they should not have been allowing their child to run in and out of A&E. I see nothing wrong with that. The problem here is people like you saying 'ffs' at me for making basic observations are probably very similarly entitled like OP. I won't be told what I can or can't post by anyone, but particularly by someone who can't understand basic parenting.

@frydae I do understand basic parenting and I also understand basic compassion. This doesn't include derailing a thread about a very important social issue in order to try and shame someone who has clearly already had a bad day. The op has mentioned her ds has suspected ADHD and was in a stressful situation. But sure, if slating an injured toddler and it's mother makes you feel good crack on.

Unfortunately hospitals cannot magic more staff out of their arse- it's not good but even agency staff to plug gaps are pretty sparse and it's only going to get worse. It's actually terrifying but in general most people evidently aren't that bothered. It's unfortunate you had to wait so long, but all of those quick fixes add up to a lot so do need to be ordered after being triaged. Guessing paeds was closed due to staffing so it might not be as much of a wait next time- but no there is no magic queue jump for under 2s as such.

This is why minor injury units of which many have been closed should have been kept open.

Also, my DS no matter WHAT illness he has is ALWAYS energetic! Even if he's spiking a temperature where normal kids would be unable to get out of bed, hes up on his feet jumping from sofa to sofa!

This isn't that unusual for most children with a temp. With a serious head injury or whatever it would still be noticeable.

I was taken to A&E by ambulance due to a ruptured ectopic pregnancy, 'skipped' the waiting room queue (wheeled in on a trolley in and out of conciousness) then waited in the general assessment area for what felt like forever (think it was about half an hour) to be taken for emergency surgery, all while literally bleeding to death (the outcome if no intervention). Meanwhile DH, and I could hear other patients who had finally made it through to see a medical professional complain about the disgraceful waiting times to the staff who were flat out, as if it were their right to be seen as soon as they arrive.
I have a lot more patience when any of us attend for something minor in comparison now. If I'd had to 'wait my turn' I'd have died.

You've no idea what's going on behind the scenes, all you see is the waiting room full of walking wounded, very few, if any of which have serious injuries, no matter how bad they may seem. Have some compassion for others, and for the overstretched staff.

Perhaps rather than 'protect the NHS' the Government should have funded them better.

Oh give over! What do you think happened before steri-strips were invented?

Throw money at the NHS all day long it won't improve .
We need 3 things to bring the NHS up to scratch

1. money
2. WE need stop abusing it make better lifestyles choices drugs ,alcohol ,smoking ,weight and exercise this would reduce then need for medical issues
3. The NHS it self waste eyewatering amounts of money with inefficient processes They loose and estimated 6 billion a year through fraud .

we've just been through end of life with my dad whilst the care was fantastic the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing.
lots of stuff duplicated and we must have £1000's of pounds worth of med the never asked for and they won't take back.
Load of equipment they won't take back told to bin . Hoist slings and slips sheet costing £100's told to bin
simple putting a cross in a different box will not solve the problem .

The main issue is staffing, and that's not solvable just with paying them higher salaries. It's actually a global problem so not unique to here, but where we are ahead of the curve as staff have been leaving for years in quite high numbers (now worryingly high numbers) its biting us hard. Realistically even if there was a huge overhaul of training, recruitment and retention now it'd be about a decade I reckon before seeing meaningful change- and I don't mean plugging the gaps with PAs or NAs.

A large part of the inefficiency is changing goalposts and initiatives from way up high, at trust level and below ie the procurement teams it's not that prevalent. There is the issue of a lack of trained staff though, it's viewed as an administrator role but across gov and industry there's heavy investment in CIPs and more stringent requirements for higher levels. If they were to pay a competitive wage and invest in better professional training then things would be better.

the main issue is staffing and that’s not solvable just with paying higher salaries

a really decent pay rise would help with retention and recruitment. NHS salaries dropped so far down thanks to so many pay freezes. It’s one of the reasons so many staff get fed up and leave because they feel undervalued by their employer (the Government).
Its not the only answer but it’s definitely an important part of any solution.

Thank you for asking. Sent home for the weekend with painkillers and antibiotics, in for a surgery consultation Monday. In total 12hrs to see a doctor. Even the staff seemed shocked at the wait. Must have been a major incident but the chairs were so uncomfortable when you are already in pain. Lots of sleeping now I’m home.