3 ms·

Yeah but in the UK, we go to our GP for such things and it reduces the load on A&E

DanBC 14y ago
Some people go to their GP and that helps reduce the load. But see the need for out of hours doctors clinics being placed in the same place as A&E units - Swindon has electronic signs telling you the estimated wait times for each unit, with big signs telling you where out of hours doctors unit is. Continuing to remind people about pharmacists, NHS_Direct, GPs, and out of hours GPs is helping reduce pressure on the NHS, but still. See also the gently cheeky "Acute admission units" - a method for A&E units to avoid the penalties for keeping people longer than 4 hours by cycling people out of A&E and into aau for monitoring and then release or admission into hospital proper. Over the past 5 years I have seen many A&E units; and spent many many hours in them. They have all been very busy, and often with many people who probably didn't need to be there. (Although I have no way on knowing that; I am not a doctor and I have no medical training and there's no way of telling just by looking at someone if they should be there or not.) The most serious problem in all of them was people turning up for things that were very minor - a splinter; a bruised ankle; some other very minor injuries. These are the kind of things that may need treatment, but you don't need to go right that instant to hospital. I didn't even mind the people who were waiting quietly, but you hear people grumbling about the wait times. I'm not sure they realised that there are minors, majors, and resus, and that if there are 8 ambulances outside it's likely that majors is chock-a-block and all the clinicians are a bit busy tonight.
- antihero 14y ago
  Why don't they categorise people into priorities so someone comes in with a broken arm, they get seen faster than someone with a graze? Perhaps this could be solved algorithmically.
  - DanBC 14y ago
    They do triage. But someone with a broken arm is in a lot of pain; someone with X is at risk of death. And if you have people that need to be triaged that's one less nurse for treatment (because they're triaging) and the triage queue gets long. And the people with a graze are likely to have to wait a very long time, because (for some reason) it's not acceptable to tell people to go and see someone more appropriate. These people also count against the hospital for the 4 hour wait limit for A&E patients.

DanBC 14y ago

Some people go to their GP and that helps reduce the load. But see the need for out of hours doctors clinics being placed in the same place as A&E units - Swindon has electronic signs telling you the estimated wait times for each unit, with big signs telling you where out of hours doctors unit is. Continuing to remind people about pharmacists, NHS_Direct, GPs, and out of hours GPs is helping reduce pressure on the NHS, but still. See also the gently cheeky "Acute admission units" - a method for A&E units to avoid the penalties for keeping people longer than 4 hours by cycling people out of A&E and into aau for monitoring and then release or admission into hospital proper. Over the past 5 years I have seen many A&E units; and spent many many hours in them. They have all been very busy, and often with many people who probably didn't need to be there. (Although I have no way on knowing that; I am not a doctor and I have no medical training and there's no way of telling just by looking at someone if they should be there or not.) The most serious problem in all of them was people turning up for things that were very minor - a splinter; a bruised ankle; some other very minor injuries. These are the kind of things that may need treatment, but you don't need to go right that instant to hospital. I didn't even mind the people who were waiting quietly, but you hear people grumbling about the wait times. I'm not sure they realised that there are minors, majors, and resus, and that if there are 8 ambulances outside it's likely that majors is chock-a-block and all the clinicians are a bit busy tonight.

antihero 14y ago
Why don't they categorise people into priorities so someone comes in with a broken arm, they get seen faster than someone with a graze? Perhaps this could be solved algorithmically.
- DanBC 14y ago
  They do triage. But someone with a broken arm is in a lot of pain; someone with X is at risk of death. And if you have people that need to be triaged that's one less nurse for treatment (because they're triaging) and the triage queue gets long. And the people with a graze are likely to have to wait a very long time, because (for some reason) it's not acceptable to tell people to go and see someone more appropriate. These people also count against the hospital for the 4 hour wait limit for A&E patients.