No wonder a&e /nhs is struggling (2024)

mandco

I’ve just spent a day in hospital and honestly it’s no wonder the nhs is struggling
I was sent to a&e by my gp with a suspected disc issue when I got there it took 1/2 hr just to check in (4 of the 5 people in front if me were returning with worsening symptoms after having visited a&e in the previous few days)another hour to be triaged (they saw 4 patients in that time)they then took me round to wait to wait to be seen by a doctor. I went in the doctor said the gp should have sent me direct to the spinal department for an mri to be arranged instead if sending me to a&e so they would arrange for me to be transferred- no questions no exam no bloods taken just moved me to the corridor where I sat for the next 8 hrs - finally got transferred to the ward at around 3 am where I then sat till lunchtime waiting to be seen by someone. Apparently I was nil by mouth yet no one bothered to actually tell me I overheard them talking in the morning so I could have been eating & drinking for hours when I shouldnt have. There were hours when you wouldnt even see a nurse and call buzzers weren’t answered for at least 20-30 mins
One poor patient had an accident as they needed the bathroom and no one came to help.

The consultant came around at lunchtime barely spent 2 mins with me just said I see your gp has sent you we will get a scan done(which I’d been told was being arranged when I was in a&e but they hadn’t actually request it yet)and left no exam no questions didn’t even ask where the pain is. Waited hours to get my scan done and Once I was back on the ward I asked for an update to be told the consultant said he’d speak to me tomorrow as he wanted to go home but basically while there are some minor issues there was nothing he would action further at this time just rest & pain relief and return to a&e if symptoms get worse so I asked to go home which they finally agreed to.They kept saying there was a shortage of beds yet would have made me stay another night just to be told i could go home anyway.
After reading my discharge notes today I’ve realised that while they checked for compression on a specific nerve they didn’t actually scan my spine where the pain is anyway

The guy in the bed next to me was discharged at 9am and moved to a waiting room. Despite being told if he was allowed home on strict bed rest he spent the whole day sat in a chair and at 5.40pm when I left despite him asking multiple times and being told it won’t be much longer he was still waiting on the pharmacy to send up his medication so he could actually leave they said if it hadn’t arrived by 6pm they’d have to try and find him a bed for night as they can’t let you leave after 6

Can’t fault most of the staff who are doing the best they can but the serious lack of communication, having to ask for pain relief (a significant amount of time after being told they get me some on several occasions) lack of response from the nursing team and amount of time wasted is absolutely shocking and it’s easy to see why the nhs is in such a bad state.

ClaireNJ

Oh dear what a mess
Hope you get it sorted soon 👌
Dave was sent to A&E by Drs over a month ago for an Urgent referral for a large kidney stone, spent 4 hours there seen by Dr who said he’d arrange a CT scan the next week
As you guessed it nothing happened & was eventually rung 2 weeks later & the scan arranged, just waiting for his “ urgent” results now 🤷
What a waste of everyone’s time he should have just been sent for a scan in the first place without bothering A&E 🙄

__________________
All my trip reports

https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho... php?t=1266923

Gryff

Click to See My Villa!

ERICSMUM

Nomis

Please dont think I ma being rude but I have heard in almost every work place the workers on the "coal face" blaming poor middle management when it rarely has been and they just dont understand their role or what else they have to juggle with.

Mexy02

I agree, I used to work in the nhs and it’s been like this for a long time. Matrons used to run wards like a tight ship but not anymore. We went to a&e and the clinical lead was working from home ! How you can run an a&e dept from home is beyond me . The consultants are a law unto themselves as well .

It’s a very broken System and when it works it works well unfortunately 90% of the time it doesnt work at all.

Floridarules

GP’s basically refer to A&E when they are unsure (and this also ‘covers’ them)
Every time I have been to A&E, they are overstretched and inundated with people with ailments ranging from mild to severe and everything in between. To be honest it’s ‘dirty’ too with litter and a general lack of maintenance (I know ‘customers’ cause this but schools are kept clean for example and there is no one more untidy that children in schools)

It’s a pure lottery who is seen when and there is absolutely zero communication between GP and hospital. I know this as when I took my son 6 months ago (referred from GP), when we checked in, the address they had was over 15 years out of date, even though my son had been seen for a minor ailment in this time.
Also when I took my mum, she ‘should have’ not had to wait in A&E but no one had passed this message on.
It’s definitely broken 😞

YorkshireT

katiec68

I went into A&E 4 years ago after calling 111 in excruciating pain.
After 4 hours at home I was assessed by the paramedics, given a whole vial of morphine & taken to A&E.
had bloods done.
While waiting for results was seen by a doctor who asked me what I thought was wrong with me (at 3am & lots of morphine I had no idea what day it was let alone anything else!).
He then said he thought I had indigestion and said if the pain continues go to your GP & sent me home!
Thankfully we had private health insurance so after an urgent nhs scan the following week I had a gall bladder op 8 weeks later.

Indigestion needing morphine... never heard of that!

jackster14