CHEST Pain

[bludnut]

For those who have replied and given me advice about 111 and hospital treatment, to my recent post about chest pain thank you, here is the next chapter. Because of the advice and my needing to know what the pain was, I contacted our GP surgery. Around 3,45 pm a doctor rang to ask what the problem was. I explained what the pain was like, where it was and how long I had had it. I was told to go straight to A&E for an ECG and Bloods, because she suspected that I had had a mild heart attack. Taking my wife with me, we arrived at the hospital at 4.15pm. I explained why I was there, my O2 level was checked and told to sit and wait. The waiting area was crammed with many having to stand up. We managed to get seats, and waited for my name to be called. Around 6.pm,a nursing Sister then made an announcement that due to the amount of patients waiting, the waiting time was now 4 HOURS. We had already been there for 2 HOURS. Patients were coming in and very few appeared to be leaving, it was chaos. I eventually was seen and the ECG and bloods were taken, it was now around 9.00 pm. We sat and sat watching the nursing staff doing their best to cope with the situation, they were run off their feet. Patients were being put on drips as they waited, others, me included had the usual checks, blood pressure temperature and 02. We got to chat with others waiting to be seen, and we just laughed at the situation, because there was nothing we could do to change it. I was eventually called to see a doctor around 12.45 am. He asked me why I was there, which I thought was a bit odd because he had my details up on his laptop. I explained what the GP had said, and he proceeded to give me a thorough examination, noting that my left ankle was slightly swollen. I told him that was normal. He then said that one of my bloods was slightly abnormal and that I would need another blood test which was 'time critical'.

We waited and waited until I was tested again around1.30am. and the nurse told me that the new waiting area was designed for 70 patients, the record prior to our visit was 137, the new record while we were there is now 167. I was finally called to see the doctor at 4.35 am, to be told that my second blood test was normal and that I could go home. So we had been in that waiting area for 12 hours15 minutes, we were absolutely shattered, to the extent that I had to use my GTN spray to relieve the angina pain brought on by stress. We couldn't fault the staff for their fantastic efforts to keep us as happy as you would expect being where we where. There were THREE Emergencies in the Waiting area, to which as soon as the alarm sounded the staff were on top of them. So we are now at home and have had FIVE hours sleep, but we are suffering from sitting on the very hard seats with BUTT and NECK /BACK aches and pains. I will now have to wait for the results to be sent to our GP for the next saga. Sorry for the length of this, I have cut out quite a lot of stuff, thanks again for your help and advice.

bludnut.

[Lowerfield_no_more]

You have all my sympathy for what you have had to put up with. Nonetheless you have done the right thing in my view and although it has been time consuming and frustrating you have been properly assessed and can now hopefully relax a little. I'm afraid the problems you describe In A&E are a sign of our times. Too many people in the UK, poorly managed NHS resources only offset by the hard work of the front line staff, a stepwise deterioration in GP services since the pandemic, a sticking plaster of a 111 service that really isn't up to it, but most of all, many people in A&E shouldn't even be there but haven't got the personal responsibility to actually acknowledge that.

[bludnut in reply to Lowerfield_no_more]

Thanks for the above. We cannot praise the NHS Staff enough for the work they were doing. We watched a shift changeover, and the relief of the staff finishing their long (12 hour) shift was there for us all to see. I maybe should have rung 999 for an ambulance as I had been told to do, but it would have taken that away from someone in a far greater need than I had. The patients in the waiting room were all very grateful and we didn't hear anyone shouting about the long wait. It wasn't very pleasant, and there were many more patients that were a lot worse off than me, we were just grateful to get home.

bludnut

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Sadly yr experience is now very common in many AE depts countrywideIn Dec I went to JR Oxford 1 week after being discharged aft openheart valve replacement surgery

took 2 hrs waiting on tarmac in ambulance

6 hrs on trolley in a queue in a side corridor staffed by paramedics with only glimpses of main waiting room, then sent for 2 more hrs to another area on hard plastic chairs to see jnr doc for 2 mins who sent me home no treatment as my palpitations had stopped by themselves I was just in a lot of pain from op

Nightmare

All the best to you

God help our NHS