Having spent most of Saturday in two hospital A&E departments, a number of things struck me:
1. When I used to go years ago you could see why people were there - broken limbs, blood eveywhere, etc. Nowadays, they are jam packed but not with that sort of case. 2. Mrs Dally thinks it's because doctors no longer do out of hours work and so people with minor ailments go to A&E. 3. White, middle class British types are under-represented - presumably because they are risk-averse, play by the rules, etc. 4. On Saturday evening the place we were at was rammed and Mrs D counted only 8 white people, 5 of whom were Polish. None of the staff were white and English. The one white nurse was Irish, all other nurses / doctors were from ethnic "minorities" (sic). 5. Many self-inflicted case - men dangerously drunk at 2.00pm, and vomitting, for example.
Last edited by Dally on Mon Sep 10, 2012 4:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Sad preacher nailed upon the coloured door of time;
Insane teacher be there reminded of the rhyme.
There'll be no mutant enemy we shall certify;
Political ends, as sad remains, will die.
Dally wrote:Having spent most of Saturday in two hospital A&E departments, a number of things struck me:
1. When I used to go years ago you could see why people were there - broken limbs, blood eveywhere, etc. Nowadays, they are jam packed but not with that sort of case. 2. Mrs Dally thinks it's because doctors no longer do out of hours work and so people with mione ailments go to A&E. 3. White, middle class British types are under-represented - presumably because they are risk-averse, play by the rules, etc. 4. On Saturday evening the place we were at was rammed and Mrs D counted only 8 white people, 5 of whom were Polish. None of the staff were white and English. The one white nurse was Irish, all other nurses / doctors were from ethnic "minorities" (sic). 5. Many self-inflicted case - men dangerously drunk at 2.00pm, and vomitting, for example.
1 - Less manual labour I guess, H&S at work being improved drastically 2 - They do, just in established out of hours drop in centres 3 - The Daily Mail reckons it's because there are very few left 4 - Rammed with darkies and immigrants eh, must have been hell. Did you call the Daily Mail? 5 - These cases will always happen and may not be self inflicted. If you punch a dangerously drunk man and rupture his liver, is he there because he was dangerously drunk or because you punched him? Chicken and egg stuff.
My experience of A&E departments is that they do the job they are there for if you really need it. If you aren't life threatening you wait a mandatory 2 hours. I'm not sure if this is a deterrent, laziness (Which there is unquestionably a lot of in the NHS despite them doing a sterling job on the whole) or inefficiency, but it needs to be improved.
My point is, why is there a disproportionate, apparent misuse of A&E by some people? Perhaps they can't be bothered making doctor's appointments? Maybe it's because doctor's appointments are often hard to come by? Surely, A&E should be used appropriately and by people in real need and not just as a means of queue jumping? Perhaps there should be a charge made for persistent abusers of the system, drugs, and alcohol? There are some serious issues in all this, not least just how depraved our society is.
Last edited by Dally on Mon Sep 10, 2012 8:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Saddened! wrote: Why did you visit 2 different A&E departments?
Because A&E Department 1 decided after 5+ hours that they didn't have the expertise (which was clearly the case!) to make a judgement. They told us they'd 'phoned ahead to hospital 2, who were expecting us. When we got there we still had to wait in A&E reception for an hour or two, before then being taken to a cubicle where the male nurse just left us. After a few hours and him seeing me pacing he let me know the reason for the delay! At midnight the doctor came to (predictably - I almost quoted, verbatinm, in advance his decision) decide to do nothing. So, 10 hours during which time they tried unsuccesfully (before asking us to!), wash the dried blood off juniors face and eye. I am not complaining about that just the fact that at neither hospital did anyone keep us informed (and presumably no one else). Hospital 1 was open plan with 8 workstations in the middle where the medical staff sat and did paperwork and talked but rarely went to see the patients (who probably numbered about the same). I am unclear how this modern system is either good or efficient? Surely, the major element of care is human contact and empathy?
Our local hospital is known as the "L&D". The paramedics refer to it as the "Limp & Dreadful" - which isn't that inspiring when they're talking your offspring in by ambulance! We've had reason to take junior out of there for her own safety before now. The two hospital A&E's we visted on Saturday (both a little further South) were dreadful in comparison! It seems the further North you go, the better the hospitals from our experience.
I will add that locally we do have a very good "minor injuries" unit which is great. Never have to wait more than 5 minutes - presumably as the system abusers do not know it exists. (Edit - or, thinking about it, you actually have to have an injury to be seen there].
Last edited by Dally on Mon Sep 10, 2012 8:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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