Genuinely impressed by Worcester A+E

[kindai]

So this evening I did the rather silly thing of slicing my index finger open, all the way to the bone over the top and across 2 joints.

After realising that a plaster probably wouldn’t be enough and the large pool of blood appearing on my desk, went off to Worcester A+E with a book, some food and drink expecting a 2+ hour wait.

Walked in, hand dripping with blood even through the dressings, receptionist took details immediately.

By the time id got from the receptionist to a seat, was called through to triage.

Triage cleaned it, took a look and booked an xray as the tendons could be seen.

By the time id walked from triage to xray, they were already waiting for me.

By the time id walked from xray back to the waiting room, the orthopaedist called me through, reviewed the xray, stuck stitches in, and sent me packing.

Total time, 20 minutes.

Walked out in shock, how on earth at 8pm on a Saturday night was a visit to A+E so bloomin quick!?

But genuinely impressed, my dinner wasn’t even cold by the time I was home!

 

[Begbie]

Went last month at 3pm, was home at 1am. 5* service.

 

[Mark A]

Completely different story for the Blackburn A&E. Its always rammed and you're lucky to get seen in 8+ hours. They have now started giving you an appointment so you can go back home to wait, instead of sitting in the uncomfy plastic chairs. There are people sleeping in the corredors as they have been waiting for over 12 hours, its ridiculous.

 

[Raymond Lin]

They treat by priorities, as you no doubt aware, unless it was completely empty, if you just got a bruised knee you will still be there now.

 

[Werewolf]

How many times have we told you to not buy cheap cases for your computer? They always cut fingers open.

More seriously, ouch, by the sounds of it they're happy that it's not caused permanent damage, but how'd you manage that?
Hopefully it'll heal quickly and cleanly, I'm guessing you've got some antibiotics?/they gave you a shot of something in case.

A&E can be extremely fast, especially if you've got an obvious fairly major issue, and things like damage to hands/fingers will I suspect get a bit of priority as they can have a fairly limited time to fix the damage before things get worse and the risk of tendon damage is as you say there.

For all people complain about the NHS it tends to be the case that if it's an emergency they are pretty darned good.

 

[dowie]

So this evening I did the rather silly thing of slicing my index finger open, all the way to the bone over the top and across 2 joints.

After realising that a plaster probably wouldn’t be enough and the large pool of blood appearing on my desk, went off to Worcester A+E with a book, some food and drink expecting a 2+ hour wait.

Yeah that's a legit - needs sterile wash, x-rays, doctor etc.. issue - did they give you antibiotics too given it went to the bone?

If it was busy then I'd suspect you were a much higher priority than the usual mundane types they get in - maybe you got lucky too, Saturday evenings are supposed to be busy.

Completely different story for the Blackburn A&E. Its always rammed and you're lucky to get seen in 8+ hours. They have now started giving you an appointment so you can go back home to wait, instead of sitting in the uncomfy plastic chairs. There are people sleeping in the corredors as they have been waiting for over 12 hours, its ridiculous.

Sounds like a lot of those people haven't had an accident and/or don't have an emergency.

 

[Mark A]

Sounds like a lot of those people haven't had an accident and/or don't have an emergency.

I can't speak for everyone else there, but from my own experience, I woke up feeling terrible, with palpitations and my blood pressure was 170/100. I originally tried to go to my GP, but there were no spaces left and i didn't want to wait another night in case it was serious. I phoned 111 and they said I need an ambulance, so I got my brother to drive me to A&E. If people can't get Dr appointments and 111 just type your symptoms into a computer and then tell you to go A&E what else can you do?

My mums experience was far worse, but I don't want to go into that.

 

[Hotwired]

I've skipped the priority scrum both times I've visited an A&E

If there's zero chance of you getting worse from waiting a few hours then you will as anything else more urgent grabs the available slots.

 

[moon man]

i went to Bodmin minor injury's last week, for a start its free parking, triage was 15 mins but i honestly gave a pain score of 3/10 on my leg and seeing as others had obviously broken limbs the 1.5 hours was totally acceptable

 

[Diddums]

How many times have you been told to stop fingering the toaster ffs.

 

[Yaayuh!]

Never been to A&E for myself. But when I took my infant son there a while back, it wasn’t fantastic. But it is Stevenage, so unsurprising.

 

[Nabinium]

Never been to A&E for myself. But when I took my infant son there a while back, it wasn’t fantastic. But it is Stevenage, so unsurprising.

Yep, Lister Hospital is an absolute nightmare. The parking is dreadful too.

I don't have a hospital closer to me, so I have to drive to the one in Stevenage for the couple times I've needed to go, which has been annoying.

 

[Dis86]

How many times have you been told to stop fingering the toaster ffs.

Why do you think the dishwasher went after him with the knife?

 

[tonys]

My son's been to most A&E's around the Northamptonshire area most weeks

 

[~Mike~]

You could trying cutting your finger off and see if that takes 20 minutes?

Give it a try next Saturday and report back.

 

[kindai]

but how'd you manage that

I'm guessing you've got some antibiotics?

Cleaning sprues up and being lazy. I knew the blade needed changing but couldnt be bothered, so when it got stuck and I pushed through it, shot off over the finger. My own stupid fault!

And they did a shot of something near the wound after giving it a wash in some really stingy liquid (it wasnt saline water as that part didnt hurt).

 

[Mekrel]

Worcester are great. My old man, residing in the same town as you, had a heart attack in Sanders Park. The two paramedics, one being the driver of the ambulance, who attended didn't agree on where to take him. The driver was adamant he was having a heart attack so should go to Worcester (instead of Redditch I assume).

My Dad couldn't be more complimentary to the staff at Worcester.

 

[Slam]

Thanks for the tip, have saved Worcester A&E in my Google maps favourites, just in case. I live in Sarf Lundon

 

[bigmike20vt]

How many times have we told you to not buy cheap cases for your computer? They always cut fingers open.

the problem with NHS is it is a postcode lottery.
where my parents live the local GPs are amazing and they had no issues with countess of Chester hospital either (not gonna mention the obvious elephant there!)
where I am getting, a doctor's appointment is insane and going to addenbrookes is a lottery WRT waiting times.

on a lighter note RE computer cases... 30+ years ago I built PCs on the side (and on the cheap). I took it a little too literally with the old saying put a bit of yourself in everything you do thanks to the cases I used, but decided better to put as much money as possible in CPU, mobo and GPU so the case was as cheap as it got.

 

[jpaul]

And they did a shot of something near the wound after giving it a wash in some really stingy liquid (it wasnt saline water as that part didnt hurt).

no stitches ? or did I miss that.
supeglue I keep in fridge has been used several times for finger wounds that re-open too easily - can use it as an excuse to avoid the washing up though.

last visit to AE addenbrookes it was the memorable £35 parking fee that hurt more than the 8hour wait for the maxfax doctor for stitches