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Jemisa | 15:56 Thu 03rd Feb 2011 | Body & Soul
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Yesterday my OH had an app't at the local Southend University Hospital, 3.30 at the eye clinic. After a considerable wait he was on his way out at 5.30pm,
Just outside the entrance he tripped & fell,smashing his face on the kerb, he put his hands out to save himself, being as it was a gravel pathway he has got sore cut and bruised & swollen hands & cut knees. He passed out for around 30 secs.
Someone rushed out with a wheelchair & took him to A&E. This was 5.45pm He remembers someone saying "He's come round now" He was then parked there,someone took his name , No one cleaned him up, he had dirt & blood running all down his face & on his hands, He was in shock and shaking uncontrolably, he is a diabetic (the nurse was told) & an old man of 77 years.
Because I was worried I phoned the hospital at 6.30pm to find out if he was there, Yes in A&E I was told.No one phoned me. I phoned my daughter (I don't drive) she said when her H gets in she'll go to the hosp. Its now 7.30pm he's still sitting there. Daughter arrives at hosp & is told he's to be seen next. 8.30pm OH is angry & in pain, hungry and needs his medication, Nurse says it will be 10 mins. 9o/c pm OH discharges himself from A&E
Thats 3 & 3/4 hours. Disgusting
Is your local hospital A&E this bad? I'm naming and Shaming
> > > > - Southend University Hospital.
jem
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I hope hes feeling much better today jem, that sounds awful.

A&Es all work on triage basis, obviously no-one knows what cases there may have been in that would need to be dealt with before your OH.

Ive always had a pretty good experience of A&E but then i have generally been in with the kids. Only time i was annoyed was when we were sent with a child with a non-blanching rash and told to wait in main waiting room even though GP had called ahead. Luckily it wasnt anything nasty but you can never be sure.
Nope, mine is great.

I think it's often hard to judge becasue as red says, you don't know what other cases they were attending to and while your husband was injured and shaken, I guess he was considered more 'accident' than 'emergency' if that makes sense. You could go vial PALS though and make your anger known and that you thought it was shoddy treatment.
Not in my experience. I think the longest I've waited is about an hour.
what i meant to add was that i do think that no matter how long he was waiting somebody ought to have thought to let you know :(
I've had mixed experience of Stoke Mandeville A&E recently. I've taken my boyfriend there twice after spraining each ankle playing football. On both occasions he was in for x-rays within 30 minutes and then seen by doctors/nurses within another 30 minutes. Both trips with him were about as pleasant as any visit to a hospital can be.

I took my Dad in one Sunday morning about 6 months ago with him having suffered a suspected stroke. He had no control of his left arm and we told the receptionist on registering all his symptoms. He was left for 2 hours before anyone saw him. I know 2 hours isn't that long in terms of A&E times but I would have expected when it comes to someone having a stroke they might treat more hastily.
Actually thinking about it, they mis-read the x-ray on the first visit and said it was just a sprain but he's actually been walking around on a fractured ankle since last May which is now likely to need pinning.
Firstly im sorry to hear that about your husband.I dont thinks its acceptable in any circumstances to not at least let a family member know (unless he was unconcious and had no ID -but then that would be an Emergency).
Its generally simply due to lack of communication sometimes .For example -'We'll be with you once the Consultant has finished his rounds' or 'Let me tidy you up a bit until someone can see what damage has been done'
That would help I think -at least you would know you werent being ignored
My serious visits, whomever with, have been correctly treated as emergencies and fast tracked every time so my confidence is high.
Hope he's better soon Jem and I really do understand how you feel as I would feel the same if it were one of my own.
Blackpool Victoria Hospital is the same. I recently had to take my 21 year old daughter there after she had gone missing for several hours (mental health crisis), they left her sitting in the waiting room for a couple of hours and she was soaking wet through, had no coat or shoes and had slashed her wrists. When she was taken through to the clinical area they left her sitting on the bed for 2 more hours after a very brief word with a doctor. She refused to wait any longer in the end and we walked out.
I hope your other half is feeling better!
We had a bad experience with my husband at a hospital in the west midlands. We called an ambulance after he had a serious seizure (he has epilepsy) and completely lost his memory.
The paramedics were extremely rude, and basically commented that he didn't need an ambulance, despite his panic, lack of any kind of memory, bad pains in his head.
Eventually after a large amount of whinging, they decided to take him. This was around 6.30pm. He was in the decisions unit unseen by a doctor until around 11pm, who said he was to be admitted, to be looked at for 24hrs, to which he was then admitted at 2.30am. 8 hours later!
He was kept in, for 3 nights on top of this, due to because he needed MRI scan, and the techician was not available because it was a bank holiday weekend. And the doctor was not available to see him and discharge on the sunday or the monday that he could've been discharged. Terrible stuff!
apoliogies and excuses is that what A&E stand.Our local has no doctors cost about 80 million looks good but no doctors .Think it was built to be a hotel in the near future .
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Weecalf, Thats exactly right 'Appologies & Excuses' is what A&E stands for.

Today with swollen hands & painful fingers (can't drive) also aching all over (impact) he went to the 'Drop in Medical Centre' in town,.They saw him in 15 mins, & had x-ray.
He has a sprained wrist, bad cuts, bruised face & a black eye , They gave him anti-bacterial cream painkillers & a bandage on his wrist & an app't for next week.

After their care and attention he feels a lot better. Thankyou for your interest.

jem
I hope your OH is feeling much better and recovering Jemisa.

I've sat in A&E for what seems an age but I always think the doctors and nurses aren't making everyone wait for fun or just to irritate us. I imagine they have real emergencies to deal with just behind the doors and may well be fighting to save someone's life. If someone has been cut out of a car or taken in with a heart attack their needs are much greater than those of us who are well enough to sit in the waiting room and ponder the time. I'm sure that was probably the case when your OH was waiting. Although he might have been uncomfortable the staff may well have been battling at the time to save someone's life.

When we wait in our A&E at Stoke Mandeville we often get Jimmy Savile come round to make sure we are all OK and being seen to.
You have me wondering where abouts you live Andy as Stoke is my local A&E too, although I'm of the belief that it covers quite a large area for A&E around here.

I had a weeks stay in the spinal unit there a while back - the one he opened. He came round to greet people one day and was quite funny. It made me feel guilty that I was about the only person in there who could actually walk.
I lived in Aylesbury and never saw Jimmy Saville at A & E but you did get to see a lot of lads handcuffed to prison officers (always a difficult one to explain to the loud toddler/young person in your company who was asking the awkward questions).
Actually Sherrard that's true. Every time I have been to A&E there I have seen a young person suitably handcuffed and acompanied by two police officers. I suppose you have to account for the fact that there is one prison within a couple of miles, in town and another prison just outside of Aylesbury. Both Cat A prisons too I believe. nice.
I'm not very trusting of the NHS my brother died of NHS negligence a few years back...that was all brushed under the carpet.

And when I went in a few years back after a car crash in Rome within 24 hours after the crash which I walked away from I was at work back in the UK and people kept saying I was acting odd, they sent me round to the local NHS drop in centre where you just walk in without an appointment, they sent me in a taxi to me doctors, doctors wanted ambulance to take me from there's to hospital but I didn't want the fuss so I said bf would come and take me, I was feeling more and more withdrawn from my surroundings at this point like i was in a dream state, because I didn't go in the ambulance and went with bf we then had to wait in main waiting room, they briefly assessed me early on and at this stage I couldn't really walk, all my functions were shutting down. They then left me in the waiting room for what my bf says was a long time when they finally called my name, my boyfriend could not get any sense out of me, I couldn't respond to him, or move, bf shouts over the nurse for help, she just stands there and sighs and walks over really slowly, bf shouting red in the face with the whole waiting room watching, they then wheel me off in a wheel chair. About an hour later I start to wake from this dream like state but seem have limited functions, and very slow, They keep me in over night, the next morning a foreign doctor who was not on duty the night before, has no records for me, and has not even seen me yet pulls my boyfriend aside and tells him to reconsider continuing a relationship with me because I was mentally unsound/putting it all on..... aka a nutter.

Boyfriend luckily ignored him and we have been happily together the 9 years.
So very distressing for you both!....our local one is great, we don't wait long, they are friendly and very helpful!.......I think they are in the minority!.........but they are great!...............Bridgend Hospital, South Wales....................
Had some mixed experienced but I always think people who work in A&E (including paramedics) deserve a medal with some of what they have to put up with and doing a very difficult job, often in very difficult circumstances and have to put up with all kinds of abuse.

Last time I was in I had an infected abcess. Wait was pretty short, they (Manchester Royal Infirmary) have an excellent triage system where they have separate A&Es for adults and children and within the adult A&E they have a minor injuries unit, eye unit and a walk in centre so they can get a lot of more minor complaints dealt with without taking up actually Accident and Emergency services.

I had a drip attached and was transferred up to the emergency surgery unit not long after where a poor assistant had to fill in a ridiculous looking amount of paperwork to admit me. Was seen by two lovely surgeons shortly after and they did the procedure under a local for me and was off home not long after, one of the nurses even brought me some food and a cup of tea after as I'd been nil by mouth in case I had to go in under a general.

All the staff were fantastic and really lovely. Aftercare was a bit of an issue but not their fault and they were great when I rang to query (my GP doesn't do wound dressing) and had me in there daily at their walk in to have my wound dressing changed by a nurse.
since... people have told me it was severe concussion I was suffering which made sense because I hit my head in the crash, because we were hit side on in the crash my 18-20 bf was thrown at me, head butting me on the right side of my head and then I flew at the window and head butted the window on the other side of my head...

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