A+E waiting times.

Burnsy2023 · 6 Mar 2015 at 12:46

eatcustard said:
What about concussion then, no blood, but could very quickly turn nasty.
or Meningitis etc etc.

Good job you are not a Doctor then

There are exceptions that prove any rule. His point that A&E should be used for emergencies or serious injuries holds true though.

Flubble · 6 Mar 2015 at 12:48

i had glass in my eyeball once, they saw me straight away and it wasn't bleeding

Clav · 6 Mar 2015 at 13:00

The last time I was at A&E I had a nastily cut finger and when I apologised for bleeding on her floor the triage nurse commented that it was just nice to finally get a real injury in. The amount of time wasters they have to deal with is unreal.

wilber · 6 Mar 2015 at 13:09

I dislocated my knee nearly 2 years ago, Snapped all the ligaments and severed a nerve to my foot.

I waited an hour and a half for an ambulance when i was about 10-15 minutes from the hospital.

When I eventually arrived at hospital i went straight in to a cubicle at around 5pm, At 3:30am I was placed on ward....

25 days later i was discharged and only then due an MRSA scare on the ward...

Whilst delay after delay prolongued my waiting times, my care when I was in hospital was outstanding, Doctor's, Nurses and all the other staff where great.

However, the afore mentioned hospital is 2.5 hours from my home along gnarly A roads and where patients are taken via ambulance. Crazy time/distance for emergency cases and our local town hospitals are closing/having services moved away constantly. 9-5 minor injuries which is 50 minutes away is looking to be closed and moved 1.5 hours away this year.

As part of my recovery I was having to travel 20 minutes for hour gym sessions twice a week (couldnt drive my self due to the injury either), I was also told by my surgeon i needed to visit a hydro pool with a physio twice a week. This was not possible as the nearest was 1 hour 15 minutes away.

Healthcare cuts in my local region are having a massive effect to the local population

Uhtred · 6 Mar 2015 at 13:14

I went first thing in the morning to get a referral to the eye clinic this week, I waited perhaps 20 minutes, the place was almost deserted at 7:30 am. I did try to get a GP appointment on the same day but that was a lost cause and there was no walk-in centre available for eye stuff (despite what the opticians told me).

Ayahuasca · 6 Mar 2015 at 13:15

wilber said:
snip

So basically in your area anyone who has a heart attack has no chance?

Sui · 6 Mar 2015 at 13:17

I pooped blood once so I went, I was seen within 5minutes, my A&E experience has been pretty good!

Caseh · 6 Mar 2015 at 13:31

Burnsy2023 said:
Yes. The vast majority of back pain issues aren't kidney stones and if you went to a GP, walk in centre or minor injury unit, they could have referred you to A&E while keeping the majority of people who don't need A&E in a more appropriate treatment centre.

OK, they go to a GP.. Only the GP has a 2 week waiting time, what now?

Buddy · 6 Mar 2015 at 13:37

CasKirensys said:
OK, they go to a GP.. Only the GP has a 2 week waiting time, what now?

Every GP surgery has some sort of triaging in place for urgent problems. There will be an oncall/duty GP covering these issues daily.

If you feel that your problem is truly urgent then you will either get a call back from said GP or offered an appointment the SAME day :cool:

PermaChanged · 6 Mar 2015 at 13:43

I was in A&E Wednesday night with a dislocated shoulder, I was seen in roughly 2 hours which felt like an awfully long time when suffering such severe pain - the morphine was great when it came!

Burnsy2023 · 6 Mar 2015 at 13:47

Buddy said:
Every GP surgery has some sort of triaging in place for urgent problems. There will be an oncall/duty GP covering these issues daily.

If you feel that your problem is truly urgent then you will either get a call back from said GP or offered an appointment the SAME day

This. Or goto a walk in centre.

ElliorR · 6 Mar 2015 at 13:51

Unfortunately whilst waiting times to see a GP are so long some people will go to A&E. I wouldn't personally but obviously plenty of people do.

This is from my surgery's appointment booking website and the first appointment is 3 weeks away.

Minstadave · 6 Mar 2015 at 13:53

Rusty_Noob said:
I was in A&E Wednesday night with a dislocated shoulder, I was seen in roughly 2 hours which felt like an awfully long time when suffering such severe pain - the morphine was great when it came!

Most evenings they'll be overwhelmed with people dying, trying to die or so drunk theyre being held down by the police. A couple of hours wait for a dislocated shoulder would be pretty normal.

Luke · 6 Mar 2015 at 13:55

If you'd have logged on at 08:30 this morning it would have looked very different.

Buddy · 6 Mar 2015 at 13:56

ElliorR

There will be embargoed slots that open daily - ie if you call in early you can book in to one of those slots for a routine appt.

Also the triage system as per my earlier post still stands

ElliorR · 6 Mar 2015 at 13:57

I'll have my first ever experience of seeing a consultant on Monday and it'll be interesting to see how long I wait for my appointment time of 0945. It's at Stoke Mandeville so thank god Jimmy Saville is dead.

McGraw · 6 Mar 2015 at 14:09

maccapacca said:
Anyone who is able to walk into A&E without bleeding from somewhere shouldn't be in A&E.

So when I "walked in" doubled over in incredible agony (discovered due to a bowel blockage) I shouldn't have been seen? I live 5 mins walk from my local a+e and would have hobbled in had my partner not insisted she drove.

FYI I was in tears soon after I got there, the pain was that bad.

Ended up on morphine in the ward for two nights.

What about pregnant women in sever pain in the middle of the night afraid for their baby?

Ps I went at 3am

TheMightyTen · 6 Mar 2015 at 14:09

Just came back from a meeting with the Emergency & Acute Services Manager and we thought we'd come back through A&E to see what their state of play was (because of this thread) and at the mo they are chuffed because they only have 6 Ambulances waiting to hand over and are at 75% staff level, that is for them, apparently, a good day

. Incidentally one of the cubicles is taken up at the moment by one of the security (The department has a permanent 3 man security team on

) who had a bottle smashed over their head a couple of hours ago by a wasted 15 year old :rolleyes:

One of the Clinical Practitioners described it as "Just a normal day at the office", as I said in another thread the other day that A&E came up in, I would not want their job for the world, the ones who choose to do it are amazing people.

Minstadave · 6 Mar 2015 at 14:32

ElliorR said:
I'll have my first ever experience of seeing a consultant on Monday and it'll be interesting to see how long I wait for my appointment time of 0945. It's at Stoke Mandeville so thank god Jimmy Saville is dead.

I think you're not his type tbh.

Minstadave · 6 Mar 2015 at 14:34

TheMightyTen said:
Just came back from a meeting with the Emergency & Acute Services Manager and we thought we'd come back through A&E to see what their state of play was (because of this thread) and at the mo they are chuffed because they only have 6 Ambulances waiting to hand over and are at 75% staff level, that is for them, apparently, a good day . Incidentally one of the cubicles is taken up at the moment by one of the security (The department has a permanent 3 man security team on ) who had a bottle smashed over their head a couple of hours ago by a wasted 15 year old

One of the Clinical Practitioners described it as "Just a normal day at the office", as I said in another thread the other day that A&E came up in, I would not want their job for the world, the ones who choose to do it are amazing people.

Anyone who can work ED full time is a bloody hero tbh. It's mostly all locums though as it's such an unnattractive career.

I'll be bobbing in and out of ED for the next 7 nights and that's enough for me.