Exactly this. Close thread
Unfortunately, people can't get GP Appointments, so they rock up to A&E with a "sore" arm.
Whether this step will work, I'm not so sure - but at least it's a start.
Bookings required...for A&E
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Exactly this. Close thread
Unfortunately, people can't get GP Appointments, so they rock up to A&E with a "sore" arm.
Whether this step will work, I'm not so sure - but at least it's a start.
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Unfortunately a lot of people will call the ambulance for very unnecessary or silly reasons. At least my Trust isn't having too much problems with that (yet) but that is changing a bit as well..
This is actually a great thing if its for non emergencies.
I've fortunately only been in A&E a couple of times which were for a cut up wrist and bleeding head. Both quite serious
When I left I remember seeing people who looked perfectly fine, probably with a brusied knee or something.
I thnk some people just like going to A&E for a [day out] scrape on the knee or they think they ar 'dieing' with a sniffle. Similar to people at my work having a week off 'sick' every month. Meanwhile i've had 1 day off sick in 9 years
I've fortunately only been in A&E a couple of times which were for a cut up wrist and bleeding head. Both quite serious
When I left I remember seeing people who looked perfectly fine, probably with a brusied knee or something.
I thnk some people just like going to A&E for a [day out] scrape on the knee or they think they ar 'dieing' with a sniffle. Similar to people at my work having a week off 'sick' every month. Meanwhile i've had 1 day off sick in 9 years
Especially on a Friday/Saturday night, public holidays and Christmas/New Year..
Just to add, I never did understand why we don't deploy a Swedish type system:
Google skills fail me, but if I recall on top of tax, they pay a flat fee (fairly low I must add) to see a doctor, call an ambulance, a specialist etc. This fee is yearly capped and doesn't apply to acute patients. I imagine this will get rid of a lot of the time wasters
Google skills fail me, but if I recall on top of tax, they pay a flat fee (fairly low I must add) to see a doctor, call an ambulance, a specialist etc. This fee is yearly capped and doesn't apply to acute patients. I imagine this will get rid of a lot of the time wasters
Sadly many many people have historically called 999 for non-life threatening issues. Many more phone 111 which is very risk averse and frequently sends ambulances to assess face to face. Given the lack of available GP's at the present time, cancellations of routine clinics etc people are calling both 111 and 999 for things that would typically have been seen in less acute settings.
Due to the lack of available referral pathways such as GP's and community based teams ambulance crews are frequently left with no option but to convey the patient to hospital as there are referral options available from there.
A good number of these patients will be conveyed to A&E but directed to the waiting room, or asked to make their own way there if they feel they can't wait for any other options.
All that will happen is people will start phoning for an ambulance more for minor issues like breaking a bone. They'll lie and say they fell off a ladder and their back hurts too. Ambulance will be rushed out and people that actually need one will be left without.
Was going to post this. My mother practically had an argument with 111 when she called about severe shoulder pain. They thought it might be a heart attack and wanted to send an ambulance. She didn’t accept as she knew it wasn’t that.
I always get the impression 111 are extremely risk averse.
I was instructed to go the A&E a few weeks back (I rang basically for advice on if I should go to the GP's nurse in the morning for an injury/what I should do*), got to A&E at about 2am, was seen by a nurse within about 15 minutes and told "I'm not sure why they sent you here". To be clear, I was given a lift by a friend.
At the other end of injuries, brother in law had a nasty accident at work and because he was ~10 minutes from the hospital a colleague took him by car, so he walks into A&E and the nurse took one look at him with his arm dangling oddly and was like "you came in by car
" (a reaction he apparently got repeatedly).The idea of getting an appointment to A&E is going to lead to a lot more unnecessary ambulance trips, as people who would otherwise have taken themselves (or got a friend to take them) are going to be dialling 999.
*It included the nail on my big toe basically being ripped off as part of it, and I wasn't sure if it was broken (I broke a toe a while back and i thought i'd just stubbed it badly for the first few days).
But this is the big issue, a lot of people in A&E shouldn't be there in the first place.
Because the entire point is for the nhs to be free at point of access to everyone.
Your fee, which is interesting you don’t give a figure for, will be too much for some in society to afford. It will put people off going for medical care because they can’t afford to do so. Is that right?
There is always exceptions, like all things there would be a process in place for those that genuinely cant afford it
Quick chat with my friend, 200 SEK to see a doctor or an ambulance, which is about £20. Nominal amounts really.
^^^ this
Have had to call 111 myself recently, bit of a farce, about 10-15 minutes on the phone, advised to go to A&E within the next hour, 111 person said they'd send over details to A&E so they'd know I was coming... then got a phone call back from them a few minutes earlier... sending over details had failed (computer said no or something) so I should just turn up anyway and tell them I'd called 111....
Sure enough I turned up there (granted this was early hours of the morning) and there was hardly anyone else there, one bloke had just got in in front of me, clearly hadn't bothered to phone 111 at all and when questioned at the window I could hear him complaining about a knee injury... when asked when it had happened he's telling them it happened months ago but it's causing him a bit more pain now... (the guy was standing at the window and had just walked in on this painful knee, which had been injured months ago...).
At least it was quite and he wasn't drunk but could imagine some of the staff have other patients already admitted to deal with and would rather not waste time dispensing some paracetamol at 3am to someone with just a bad knee! Presumably he's after something stronger mind...