12 hours over night in A&E can anyone beat it ?

In June I rang out of hours doctor with such head/neck pain that had built up over several days. I thought migraine that I hadn't had for several years. I was soaking with sweat around the neck, my hair was soaking. Dr felt it could be meningitis and said to go to AE and he'd ring ahead. I arrived at 7.30pm and was triaged where they took bloods and sent me back to the waiting room. Dh kept going to the toilet to get me paper to try dry my neck and hair. I was weeping with pain.
Dr saw me at 1am. and put me onto an antibiotic drip. I sat in a hard plastic chair in a corridor where dh wasn't allowed. I pleaded with him to go home and I'd send for him. At 7am I was told I'd be admitted. On my third IV antibiotic drip. I got a bed in AE Observation at 3pm. 19.5 hours after arrival. In all that time I had a slice of rubber toast and tea. Being on a chair and drip and with no table it was difficult trying to butter the toast and I spilled my hot black tea down my leg. (White trousers in bin but past caring).
Once into a bed where I stayed for 5 days my treatment was impeccable.
I will never ever forget the horrors of AE and hearing people call.... Please help me.....

I was rushed to hospital before lockdown . It was morning, about 10 am. The ambulance stopped twice on route to the hospital so that the medics could work on me. I was admitted just after midnight. No complaints. They kept me for 8 days, saved my life in surgery and sent me home. Job done ! Love the NHS!

23 hrs is my record

Reading your posts almost made me cry.

And yes, this thread should really be shared with the Press or TV.

I have been sent to A and E by my GP for three varying reasons within the last year. The very first was interesting because they lost me....

I was initially triaged and told that I would need further treatment and should return to the third-world waiting room until I was called. The waiting area was packed with people, some crying, some shouting, some sitting on the floor gently bleeding or vomiting.

After sitting in A and E for six hours I managed to stagger up to the Reception desk and politely asked if they could indicate when I may be seen. A very cross clerk obviously thought that I was trying to push myself up the queue. They asked when I was admitted and I gave the time. They nodded and then did a double-take when it dawned on them that I had indeed been sitting, waiting (in pain) for more than six hours. They had the grace to apologise and explained that somehow I had been lost and soon afterwards I was taken off to a small room where I waited for several hours to see a doctor who ordered tests. Whilst being wheeled for my tests, the porter (must have been new) took a run at a cable under a rubber cover which was across our path. The wheelchair couldn't ride over this obstacle but I carried on, being almost flung out of it. I just managed to grip the arms but was on the edge of the chair. I was in pain anyway but this rather compounded everything!

It was over twelve hours before I was diagnosed and discharged which like no time at all compared to many stories here.

On one of my other visits I was in an ambulance called after my conversation by telephone with my GP. Due to the enormous backlog of patients, I sat in the ambulance with very pleasant Australian paramedics for over two hours until there was a knock on the door and someone called my name. A Consultant (consultants running in and out of ambulances?!) entered, examined me, then took bloods. An hour later I was admitted and the staff could not have been better. This part of the hospital was clean and appeared well run but A and E, well, it really was awful.

Another visit was a day jobby. Sent to an A and E part of the hospital that was by now expecting me, I had bloods taken almost immediately but then there was rather a lull - of 9 hours where I sat but no one offered any food or drink, As I had come to hospital from the GP's surgery, I had not brought my own which, from past experience, I try to do! I was eventually seen and discharged some ten hours later.

All of the above, whilst not as dreadful as others, show that our NHS is on its knees. It runs on the goodwill of most of the staff. A and E is for what it says on the tin. The country needs educating that minor conditions are not for A and E. People are very entitled now and feel that they deserve to be seen and that is not the case.

Just as GP's are not an A and E service, A and E is not a minor service. If the public could be educated as to where they should go and for what, a little of the chaos could possibly be avoided.

One other thing: whilst in the main A and E waiting area I sat in front of a couple with a child. They were complaining to each other about the wait (and really, who can blame them). After half an hour or so they had a discussion and concluded that they didn't want to wait any longer (as they were becoming hungry) and agreed that they would leave now and perhaps return in the morning if their child was no better. I watched them walk away and they did not speak to the Reception staff to explain that they had decided to leave so that must have caused problems for the poor doctor due to treat them. They had been in Accident and Emergency! If their child was ill they were in the right place but surely needed to see a doctor. If not, they should not have been there. I rest my case!

More use of pharmacy’s could be the answer. My granddaughter, aged 9 at the time , was playing in my garden with her 14 year old brother , they went for the same football at the same time , and she was yelling in pain. This was on the eve of their Cornwall holiday …and they had come to get thier ‘ice cream money’ that I always give them for holidays. I told thier dad to take her to pharmacy at top of my street as a longish wait in a&E didn’t seem plausible on day before holiday.he took her and she was told that two toes were broken and nothing a trip to hospital could cure . They strapped her foot up ….gave a printed sheet on how to treat while on holiday …and also told to go to a&e in Truro if she got worse or felt too much discomfort. Excellent service and all was well in a week. People should look to more self-help and pharmacy and solid good sense.

Where DD2 lives in London she has a brilliant Indian pharmacist across the road. With the babies and children he has saved her several unnecessary trips to the GP or A & E on occasions because the natural instinct is to panic when your child is ill or injured. If we had double the number of pharmacies, and I mean individually owned ones, not the chains, then I'm sure people could be encouraged to use them first.
The chemist I spoke of above is also by the tube station and people coming home from work can call in there and get advice or help before blocking up A & E for the night.

Bella23

I think we are both coming to terms with living in an area that cannot recruit or retain staff. I should have phoned for an ambulance anyone brought in that way certainly jumped the queue. There were people rolling around on the floor in pain others vomiting and running to the loos and of course the usual ones high on drugs
Most calmly waiting like we were.
I couldn't fault the staff when I saw them but they gave no indication of how long the wait would be. The message board on the wall said two and a half hours. The consultant was very apologetic for the long wait for results he was actually a surgeon helping out in A&E.
At least it was only my foot, I am just so glad it was not one of my GC who had been with us the week before.
If this is why Dr,s are striking and the conditions they face every day I am with them all the way.

When I went in we'd called 111 who'd called an ambulance. I was examined, told I needed to go in and be checked out but they said it would be quicker if I took myself in. Did this and didn't leave A&E for 12 hours!
The department was full, drunken and/or druggy young people being sick and passing out all over the place which meant that they were taken in immediately. Also several (presumably minor though very bloody?) stabbings where both sides were sometimes there, still quarrelling. Lots of police in attendance - is this why there are not enough police?
There were also many women who were not native English speakers who had brought in small children of various ages whom they said were unwell. After they'd been triaged they were all sent home.
There was a small group of us waiting quietly at one end away from the bedlam. One man obviously had heart problems, blue lips, shaky - he came in by ambulance before us but didn't go in for hours. A woman (ambulance) who had a hospital wrist band on but waited nearly as long as we did.
When we got in behind swing doors it didn't seem too busy, plenty of nurses in particular, standing about chatting or on their phones. Fewer doctors, very good when we eventually got to see one.
The scene at midday when we left was unimaginable, like a football crowd with literally nowhere for most of them to sit down and queues out of the entrance doors.

Using pharmacies is all very well, but one of the central rules of medicine (apart from do not harm) is diagnosis first, treatment second.

Pharmacists are brilliant at knowing about drugs and their dosage and interactions, but they are not trained to diagnose, and nor do they know patient history, which is very important.

It is an indictment of our NHS that we are willing to accept this "second best" approach.

If you can find a pharmacy open on a Bank Holiday of course 🙂

A friend's DIL works in A&E as a nurse and I know from what she tells us that the biggest problem is lack of staff, where she works they have been resigning as they can no longer cope with the demands on them. The DIL has always worked nights to fit in with family life but has now been forced by managers to accept days, she had no thought of resigning but is having to re consider now as she has no back up, what an earth is going when dedicated nurses are treated like this.

My DIL's friend is a well-qualified nurse. As soon as she had reached a high enough level she took shifts in one of the many local private hospitals. She got much better pay, but more importantly for her, she could choose the shifts that she worked so that she could manage her own childcare better. In her case she lived with her own mother and could work nights more easily than days. The NHS changed her shifts with little notice and her childcare had been so expensive that it had sometimes not been worth working.

A while back I had a medication review with a GP who said that he was "worried about" my liver function and wanted to send me to the hospital for further investigation - which probably means a scan of some kind. Shortly afterwards I received a letter from them stating that I would hear further as to what course of action would be taken.

That was back in June. The letter said "It you do not hear from us by August 20th ring this number".

I have tried several times ringing the number but its either engaged or just rings.

My nephew has regular check ups there after a stroke and he never waits more than 10-15 minutes to be seen and is out within 30. It seems that once you are in the system for some treatment or procedure things go more smoothly. The problem is getting in.

Unless of course you are one of these illegals (aka asylum seekers) then you get immediate assessment just after you stroll up the beach. Something wrong somewhere.

Fleurpepper

Reading your posts almost made me cry.

And yes, this thread should really be shared with the Press or TV.

I've got a couple of things published by being persistent, do you have my permission to share the thread? I suppose it is public anyway?

I think that the thread belongs to Gransnet, MadeinYorkshire.

Even if we paid for private health insurance, as Fleurpepper has to do where she lives, in the UK it wouldn't cover Emergency treatment.
Does it cover A&E where you are, Fleurpepper?

It would be interesting to see a comparison of healthcare systems in countries around the world.

luluaugust

A friend's DIL works in A&E as a nurse and I know from what she tells us that the biggest problem is lack of staff, where she works they have been resigning as they can no longer cope with the demands on them. The DIL has always worked nights to fit in with family life but has now been forced by managers to accept days, she had no thought of resigning but is having to re consider now as she has no back up, what an earth is going when dedicated nurses are treated like this.

There are plenty of hospitals that want to employ A&E nurses for night duty, she should find it easy to move. tbh I'm surprised that her managers want her to do days as these are the shifts that are generally easier to staff.

Callistemon21

I think that the thread belongs to Gransnet, MadeinYorkshire.

Even if we paid for private health insurance, as Fleurpepper has to do where she lives, in the UK it wouldn't cover Emergency treatment.
Does it cover A&E where you are, Fleurpepper?

It would be interesting to see a comparison of healthcare systems in countries around the world.

Oh I don't mean 'publishing it', I meant sending it to them so that they can see the 'stories' - so if they wanted to write an article etc ....

On my experience recently, I found most people in our local A&E(18 miles away) had been told to go there when they couldnt get an appointment to see their GP. I had been having constant stomach ache for over 2 weeks and despite ringing at 8, was unable to get one but was offered a phone back late afternoon from the local healthcare line. When they rang, they said I must see a doctor that day and told the surgery they had to fit me in. When I got there the doctor was very dismissive and off with me and told me to take a stool sample in next day and wait and see if the pain went away. My daughter was worried I could have an ulcer(I've had bad reflux for several years and no investigations ever) and rang 111 who said take me to A&E. After about 4 hours I had bloods taken, 5 hours later saw a doctor who put me on a drip of my usual reflux meds and advised on increasing my daily dose and diet. They told me to go back to my Gp to get them to arrange an endoscopy as they couldnt do it. Still waiting for stool test results and follow up appointment at Gp 3 weeks later, still have stomach ache but now only intermittent. Fortunately my daughter stayed with me and was able to pop out to get some water from 24 hour shop, no vending machine on site for drinks or snacks and none offered. Luckier than most as only 11 hours in hospital in total

Callisremon is correct. The copyright in all posts belongs to GransNet. Sharing a post or thread with another person or body is publishing it, and an actionable breach of copyright. Although we all realise that anyone can read our posts, having them published in an article is something else altogether.

Callistemon21

I think that the thread belongs to Gransnet, MadeinYorkshire.

Even if we paid for private health insurance, as Fleurpepper has to do where she lives, in the UK it wouldn't cover Emergency treatment.
Does it cover A&E where you are, Fleurpepper?

It would be interesting to see a comparison of healthcare systems in countries around the world.

Last year, I woke up one morning to find my elderly husband has fainted and lying face down on the kitchen floor. I managed to help him get up and assist him to his bed.

We were in Singapore. In Singapore, they have a walk in urgent care unit in every district opened from 8am to around midnight to take the pressure off the A&E.

Had a long talk with a nurse in the nearby care unit, she advised me to call the ambulance but my husband refused to go to the hospital.

When he felt a bit better in the afternoon, I took him to the nearby care unit.

Seen straight away by a female doctor who asked him about his health history. The nurses then took his blood pressure, run an ECG test because he had a heart condition, took a blood test to check his blood sugar level and another blood test which were sent to the lab while we waited in the waiting room.

After about an hour, the doctor came to the waiting room to tell us that all was clear and gave him prescription for his giddiness.

Cost us £75. If you are a local, it will be cheaper around £50 but you can claim it back through their Medisave which is similar to National Insurance contributions.

My younger brother had a stroke and he had to stay at the hospital for 3 months and his hospital bill was covered by his Medisave.

Thanks, SporeRB

And to add, I hope they are both doing well now.

This happened to me two years ago. I was ill with covid, had already been admitted and discharged. Then got worse and was told to go to A&E. I was in there 12 hours before they got me a bed on a ward.

Germanshepherdsmum

Callisremon is correct. The copyright in all posts belongs to GransNet. Sharing a post or thread with another person or body is publishing it, and an actionable breach of copyright. Although we all realise that anyone can read our posts, having them published in an article is something else altogether.

Sharing our posts with another publishing body is not right. I started the thread so that all could have a platform to express what had happened to them and the treatment they received. PersonallyI could not grumble at the Dr'streatment or the poor overworked nurses. Yes some of the clerical staff could have been more sympathetic and kept us up to date.
What I feel is we all need to look carefully at the manifestos put forward by the parties in the coming General election.
I have just received a questionnaire from the A&E I attended and answered truthfully about my own experiences.
I also agree we cannot pass care to the pharmacies how did they know how many toes had been broken without an x ray ?Mine is not visible and took three X rays as it is under my foot. I would not like to be the person to disclose what others have told in confidence on GN.

My friend took her daughter to A&E at 02.00hrs she was immediately taken to resuscitation My friend sat in waiting area next to a lady with constipation!!!