Had to take Mum-In-Law into A&E about midnight last night with problems with her eye (Glaucoma) I was expecting some drunks, but the place was overwhelmed with them, young girls who had drunk way too much being brought round, young lads throwing up, a middle aged woman who couldn’t stand up brought in by her husband and young sons, she had been to a wedding and ended up with a broken ankle. All resulting in mum in law having to wait, in absolute agony, for 3 hours before she could see a Doctor and another 2 hours before she was finally sorted out (Staff were brilliant, just VERY understaffed)

There is something to be said for charging p#ssed up idiots wasting the time of the NHS!

Nope, send them into a side room until they are sobered up and then they join the queue.
We all pay for the NHS but it needs a bit of repect when using it.
Took my lad to see a doctor this morning. The waiting room was full of parents that looked like they had been up all night with screaming kids.
Everyone waited and there was no narky comments. We were all happy to get seen and get the little ones sorted out.

Tim

Had to go there a few years ago with a mates mum, who had a nasty fall, the place was full of drunk polish women,drunk welsh lads,Police and some that needed urgent medical attention, all the staff have to do is breathalyse all addmisions and if fover the limit, charge them 100 quid, reduced if you pay within a week, just like a parking ticket.

There is something to be said for charging p#ssed up idiots wasting the time of the NHS!

there is, and i’ll try;

it’s about bloody time.

i suspect that £100 x 100 idiots/night (just a guess) would not generate enough cash to be of much help directly, but it may be enough ‘punishment’ to reduce the client base…

Had to go there a few years ago with a mates mum, who had a nasty fall, the place was full of drunk polish women,drunk welsh lads,Police and some that needed urgent medical attention, all the staff have to do is breathalyse all addmisions and if fover the limit, charge them 100 quid, reduced if you pay within a week, just like a parking ticket.

and how drunk is the limit? You then discourage the guy who’s had two drinks but is getting chest pain from getting help now… and he dies. You discourage the broken ankles and wrists from seeking help till the morning when they may be more complex (expensive) to fix. What about the guy who has a few drinks and innocently gets bottled/attacked on the way home; or the friends who decide to save you 100 quid, and leave you to choke to death on your own vomit… etc

Meanwhile the junkie gets treated free because he is ‘sober’ and the mountain biker gets put back together despite intentionally riding off an obstacle beyond his abilities…

The country needs to fix its relationship with alcohol, not focus purely on those who end up in a+e through drink.

@Poly. What you said!

We should maybe charge for all those idiots that ride their bikes in the woods and smash into trees (selfish gimps)

Its a can of worms.

I’ve been to A&E once when drunk. was set upon by two lads when I was 18, because I didn’t have a ciggie to give them, they asked, I said I didn’t smoke, they battered me. found unconscious by the police an hour later. I was mortal drunk and covered in blood, and to the hospital staff and others must of looked like a typical drunk fighter. But I was there through absolutely no fault of my own….

My mate is a consultant to the home office. His (extremely experienced and well informed) attitude is that until we issue weekly limit tokens for alcohol, massively increase the price, raise the drinking age to 21, subsidise pubs/penalise & supermarkets etc, breathalise people routinely etc as per sone other countries nothing is going to change.

Yeah, it’s a tough one. If people really enjoy getting w*nkered, what right do we have to stop them? But wait.. many people really enjoy getting stoned too, don’t they?

Anyway.. nothing more to add except that last time I went in cos I’d crashed badly on my bike (sustained a sore but not broken wrist and horrific-looking but really superficial grazing all over my face and neck which was great at work) there was a girl of about 10 in there who’d been gardening and stuck the tine of a fork THROUGH her foot. Ow.

Yeah, it’s a tough one. If people really enjoy getting w*nkered, what right do we have to stop them? But wait.. many people really enjoy getting stoned too, don’t they?

It’s not similar. Same choices, different outcomes. Stoners tend not to weave around town centres looking for people to hurt. I don’t smoke btw.

I said similar, not the same. Similar concept ie mashing your brain for fun, but quite different outcomes as you point out. I was trying to point out the hypocrisy of banning some dangerous drugs and not others. And I am also not a smoker or a drinker for that matter.

Oh ok

A&E is a horrible place. It’s where the worst people congregate. It’s sad because it’s also where the most needy people congregate too, although most of them didn’t get there by choice.

I’ve only ever been there when I’ve either been involved in an A or E or I’ve been helping someone who has. For example, I was there with a broken knee, I’d passed out twice with pain (and I’m a hard bugger) when I’d banged it. 4 people went past me in the queue because they were either very loud, aggressive or drunk. One lady, who must have been 80, was all three, she got seen to immediately because she was effing away like crazy despite only having a little cut on her head.

Lesson for you all there.

Perhaps there should be an A&E dept. for non-alcohol related problems, and a separate G&T dept. for all the injured drunks?

I’ve been a fair few times but only three times for myself, first was a knee injury whilst over exercising putting a DVD in the player, I went down as tho vinny jones had tackled ronaldo and was unable to walk for three weeks!!!! Massively let down by the nhs that night and subsequently afterwards so went private. The next time which was more recently was a rock/mouth interface, I was seen and stitched within 2 hrs by the nicest consultant I could’ve wished for. However the best treaent was whilst being pissed in a small Tenerife town, me and the good lady were mugged by six teenagers, the mist came down after I saw her being shoved over and I attempted to fight them all. Had a good crack at two of them but ended up a broken man! Seen within 5 mins of arriving in the cleanest place I think I’ve ever been in!! I was not treated like the usual English piss head as they were highly embarrassed we’d been set upon by Spanish kids!!

You should see it after an old firm* match!!
It’s the same every weekend, and quite a lot of weeknights too come to think of it. Most folk (ie Joe Public)don’t seem to realise how bad it isuntil they or someone they know has to attend one.
It’s not a quick fix tho- cultural, societal, socio-economic factors left right and centre.. Think it basically comes down to folk not really giving a shit.. About themselves, others, our health service etc.. Every shift at work I see it. Folk fekking themselves up in one way or another, and expecting it all to be sorted out for them.
“I drink because I’m depressed”, “I’m depressed because of the drink” “I can’t work because of my illness”.. Load of balls.. I’ve suffered from depression in the past, and I like a good drink buti still work and pay a mortgage and support my family.. Know this is a bit high-horsey but i feel its justified!
It’s only gonna get worse as these folk raise their own kids who grow up with similar attitudes, and no government is gonna have the guts to do anything serious about it.
(* insert name of local derby here.)

Well having been in my local A&E twice since Christmas and both times on Friday nights. I have to say I was quite impressed with how I was delt with. There were no drunks but there were a fair few chavs. I had to wait quite a while the second time but it was fine and they diagnosed me fast enough when I got in.

It’s probably worth saying that the first of the two times above I had hurt my hand riding and the second it was my ankle skiing but i waited until I got home before going to hospital.

Top tip when sharing A&E with the pissheads: you bashed your head. Regardless of what you’re in for, you bashed your head in the process. Learned this after spending six hours in ERI watching staff arguing with numerous lagered up chavs whilst I leaked blood, fat and bone shards out of a nastily punctured elbow.

Also, on the pain scale say an ‘8’. If its really a 9 or 10 they won’t need to ask, and if they do ask and you say 9 or 10, they won’t believe you. So I was told by a nurse in the family.

Only been in once recently for a heart related condition (young fit 29 year old not an old biffer) so was whisked through so dam fast I was on a ward before I could even say drunk… The 3 months of PVT afterwards were fun too, that was a good year :-/

+1 Poly’s post

I went to the hospital on a Sunday morning regarding my swollen knee. I had to wait A LONG time as people came in after me and were seen first (some of them looked like they were still pissed off their faces).

The Triage nurse told me I was down the list of priorities and my injury was classed as ‘self-inflicted’. Its the only time in my life that I felt like saying something rude to a health professional (I didn’t).

Sat for hours in a waiting room that had 2metre high ‘accident claim management signs’ wall to wall all round the room.

Have you ever been in an A&E on a Saturday afternoon? I witnessed it recently after an OTB face-planting incident.

As they were stitching my head back up, I was observing everyone who walked in. About two thirds were… ahem… blokes of a certain age. They were all being carted in by their mates, and all had one thing in common. They were all sporting football kits, rugby strips or cycling gear.

What next? Refusing to treat delusional, middle-aged fat blokes on account that they should know better?

Was in on saturday (behind the desk so to speak..),where I saw a fair few people coming in from the Honey DH series!
Nice to chat to them about the racing, but it becomes a difficult call deciding what level of ‘self infliction’ we think about charging for.

What really disappoints me is the group of people who hurt themselves, but it’s nothing serious, and they know it.
This mentality of “just wanted to get it checked out” used the rely on parents/educated family members – now the ‘responsibility’ seems to come to healthcare professionals.

Case in point:
fairly well spoken man comes in after cutting his shin on his bike pedal.
Me – “you’ve cut your shin”
Him – “yes. I’ve cut my shin”
Me – “it isn’t that bad is it”
Him – “no”
Me – “have you done anything for it? Wash it? Plaster?”
Him – “no – I came straight here”.
Me – “would you like me to wash it and put a plaster on it?”
I decide I’m dealing with “something else” here, so proceed to do the above anyway.
Him – “thanks”
Me – “no worries.”
Many years of pre and post grad education well spent there…

I’m all in favour of a sign above the door of all ‘first point of contact’ NHS services:
“WHAT WOULD YOUR GRANNY DO??”!!

DrP

DrP should be running the NHS

“STOP!!! THINK!!!! WHAT WOULD YOUR GRANNY DO??”!! signs at the entrance to every A&E 😀

DrP leaving hora junior’s ENT appoint (we were still in the hospital grounds) I tried to open mrshora’s shonky unbrella for her/hora junior as it was starting to rain- as I struggled one of the metal ceretated splines ran down the back/side of my knuckle for circa 1.5inches- I could see the fat layer and down to red muscle below clear as day! before a few seconds later it started to pour blood.

Did I turn back round? No, I went straight to Boots 50m’s away and bought steri strips etc etc. No way I was going to spend another 2hours + in a hospital 😆