Travelling tomorrow and have hurt knee and can’t walk

Are you suggesting that A&E is only for life threatening condions? If so, on what basis please?

The clue is in the name “Accident & Emergency”

Main reason I suggested A & E in the first place was because it was much worse today, so could be much worse than a pulled muscle ... my son had a broken back wasn't diagnosed at first, had it for 12 months

Reason I suggested A & E was because much worse today , so could be something much worse .... although hope it isn't .... cut a long story short my son had an undiagnosed broken back for 12 months ... even after going to A & E when he had his accident

MawtheMerrier

^Are you suggesting that A&E is only for life threatening condions? If so, on what basis please?^

The clue is in the name “Accident & Emergency”

But an emergency need not necessarily be life threatening, and some things can be more serious than a non-clinician can self-diagnose.

agree.
if one waits until traumatic injury/ medical emergency is definitely life-threatening, it may be too late.
trying to put people off from going to A&E can be dangerous advice.
esp with medical emergencies; some people do not recognise that such a thing can be v dangerous.

With ambulance patients unable to be unloaded from their ambulances, and waiting times of over seven hours to see a doctor being recorded (often longer) the last thing I would contemplate at this stage would be adding to that nightmare for the staff. And as this happened three days ago it hardly constitutes an emergency!
A pulled muscle will generally respond to an ice pack, elevation and (my favourite “go to”) a Tubigrip compression bandage.
Voltarol cream or any ibuprofen cream will also ease the pain, but if OP were to go to A&E this evening, I doubt if she would even be seen before she is due to go on holiday.

Pop to A and E. You’re having a laugh!

Can you borrow some crutches or even a walking stick might help?

You do understand font you SD that in the sentence
If you're not in a life-threatening or serious condition, you'll be prioritised by the A&E hospital team along with other patients waiting to be seen
"Prioritised" does not mean "given priority" it means put in a queue in order of severity or urgency.
Heart attacks, strokes, broken limbs, bleeding wounds or injuries ,victims of RTAs will all be far ahead of muscles pulled 3 days ago I'm afraid.

Jaxjacky

A&E is for life threatening conditions, not a pulled muscle.
Pharmacist is a good idea.

Yes. A friend fell recently and in fact broke humerus. They were 11 hours in A and E.

If you phone 111 for advice, they will determine if you need to go to A&E and actually book a slot for you, if necessary.
This system is now in place here to cut down waiting times and filter out non-emergencies.
I know, because it happened to me last week and I was sent to A&E. I was seen immediately, no waiting, because a clinician had booked me in, before I even got there.

I do hope you are able to go. I have had two holidays cancelled at the last minute, due to illness. It's a horrible situation to be in.

Yes, I do understand that If you're not in a life-threatening or serious condition, you'll be prioritised by the A&E hospital team along with other patients waiting to be seen – arriving by ambulance does not necessarily mean you'll be seen sooner than if you had walked in to A&E. does not mean "given priority" it means put in a queue in order of perceived severity or urgency.

Medical insurance will not cover you abroad if anything happens as you travelled knowing you were injured.

It's nothing to do with perceived urgency, patients are triaged by a clinician on arrival in our A&E, which is running a pilot scheme to speed things up and ensure urgent cases are seen first.
This involves patients, causing concern to be given an ECG, BP, oxygen levels measured, a cannula inserted in case needed later and essential blood tests, all done on arrival. After that many were sent for x-rays. I could not believe how efficient it was, compared to the last time I was in the same A&E with a heart attack. My previous blood tests previous scans and x rays were compared and a decision made, as to what was happening.
It was like a conveyor belt, but allowed clinicians to make quicker decisions.

A separate area was designated for less serious conditions. Some of those patients had been waiting for hours and discharged with either advice to see their GP, advice from a physio or a prescription.
I had a great view of everything that was going on from my cubicle in the seven hours I was there and had nothing but praise for the professionalism of all the staff.

Betty, I do hope you have left home and heading for the airport and you have that stick and all the meds you may need. If you are heading off , rest that leg as much as possible, take the meds and enjoy Crete. We had our honeymoon there many moons ago ! Take care wherever you are .

Well guys thanks for all the advice. At 1.30 am when we were supposed to be getting up to travel to the airport the decision was made. Despite drugs, knee support, walking stick etc., I still could not weight bear and the pain was too much. Holiday abandoned now and had to succumb to 6 hours in A&E. It was a sprained knee in the end. Now have industrial size knee support and 2 sticks. Still very painful but I can hobble to the loo now. Im gutted we didn’t go on holiday but the thought of feeling this rough on holiday leaves me cold. When I’m mended we are going straight to the Travel Agents

Oh dear. What a shame. I hope your insurance covers it and you can get off in another holiday soon.

Sorry to hear that Betty, but home is best if you are in pain or feeling ill.

Hope you improve and get on holiday soon.

Hello Betty, such a shame but in the grand scheme of things not the end of the world. As you say even if you had got there you would have been miserable. Rest now and look forward to re booking.

Thanks for the update !

Get well very soon Betty65 ... hope you will soon be up & running very soon ... sorry about your holiday ... let's hope your holiday insurance will cover cost , or part of it ... God bless

I’m so sorry you had to abandon your long awaited holiday Betty65 but it is absolutely the right decision. I hope your knee is soon healed and you can make plans to do something at a later date

Oh, I'm sorry to hear this, but yes it was the right decision. I hope the insurance end of things goes smoothly.

I'm sorry to hear that. You must be so disappointed. Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Thank you for the update, and I hope you get better soon and can plan your replacement holiday