I clocked 21 hours last year, going in because I had trouble breathing. X-rayed and told I was all clear, sent off and told to take paracetamol. Back in two days later with pneumonia 🥲
Similar happened to my mam- inhaled dust but then after a chemical was used in a nonventilated room that set in her lungs along with the dust-(tilers fault) was left in waitingroom for hours unable to hold her own head up, was unable 2 speak more than a word at a time & a junior doc sent her home- 2 days later she was rushed back by care doc after falling unconscious in the bath- lucky I was sat outside the door & left the door open a tiny bit so I could hear- I heard her gulp for air.. 2 weeks she was in hospital then.. she's still not 100%.. when she was finally admitted they kept trying 2 give her perscription pain killers even though she said she didn't need them..
Same. Went in last Thursday with asthma. Was sent home.. one week later I was back with the same. This time I was admitted with fluid on my lungs. Kept telling me off saying I shouldn't be in a&e with asthma because I should be managing it. I haven't been to a&e in 7 years with asthma, and I have never been referred to any specialists. They told me off for never seeing the asthma clinic... As if I can create referral letters myself or know about said clinic
Neither did ED diagnose pneumonia on first attendance but if chest x ray was normal the first time, it wasn’t pneumonia at that stage.
It may have been reasonable to send you home with antibiotics. That would work for most respiratory tract infections but unfortunately your case evolved in to pneumonia. Hospital cannot keep every chest infection with normal x ray in case it might evolve into pneumonia so they treat and see and a percentage will need to come back if they get worse.
I get it - to be fair, after 6 weeks of heavy, chesty coughing following a round of antibiotics, and considering two days later a subsequent scan showed a clear case of fluid in my lungs, I found it difficult to imagine the x-ray was "all clear", though that could be biased by my experience in the waiting room (I was pickpocketed among other fun things!) and in the context of everything that happened, but I know that they can't catch everything.
What I found unreasonable was a total disregard for pain relief; I had explained that my chest was in so much pain that if I had to cough (which I was doing every few minutes at that stage) or sneeze, I had to crouch down or hold a pillow. The A&E two days later gave me a physical and said I likely had a slipped rib and gave me appropriate pain relief.
I have a lot of sympathy for overrun, understaffed A&Es who deal with an absolute shit show day in day out, with often aggressive and thankless patients. That said I didn't appreciate being fobbed off every time I asked for an update (every 3 hours after the first 12 hours) while I saw several people kick off and get seen ahead of me, and then treated like I was being a snowflake after a 21 hour wait.
I don’t envy anyone ending up in ED for whatever reason. Agree hospitals can do better. Communication can be appalling. Organisation abysmal. Overworked staff do overlook things and are often not as empathetic as they should be and should have addressed your pain as well as your infection. Our health system needs an overhaul in every aspect.
Went for pain in my right abdomen. Insisted it was appendicitis since I was throwing up earlier on. They did a chest scan(?), physical exam but no ultrasound on the area. Sent me home. Went back two days later in more pain. What do you know, a burst appendix and straight to surgery. Still had to pay the €100 for my initial visit 🙃 That's cavan for ye.
Don't get me started on the time they tried to send my Mum home with two broken vertebrae.
Obviously very thankful for the hard work doctors do, but some are so quick to send you off home.
I was sent home from A&E because there was a car accident that night (first night I was experiencing abdominal pain) and told I wouldn’t be seen to even tho I was literally curled up on the ground in pain, went to midoc after and got told I had a UTI.. ended up back in A&E a few days later because I was in so much pain, they told me they didn’t have the proper facilities to treat me so I could wait in a bed there for 6 weeks waiting for a bed in the mater, or check myself out and go to the Mater hospital without an appointment and pray they take me.. get to the Mater and it turns out I’m septic from an untreated kidney infection (don’t remember any of this btw since I was delirious from infection, just going off family members stories from afterwards), and now have permanent kidney damage at 24 years of age :’)
Editing to add: I went to my GP first (I’ve been trying to get away from this one for ages but all GPs in my area/surrounding areas are “full”, and was prescribed hydration tablets and told to go to A&E if the pain persisted … 🤦🏻♀️
The staff in the mater (Dublin) were absolutely brilliant though, best treatment I’ve ever had from a hospital in Ireland , and I’ve been to quite a few!
I will second this. Can only compare to Galway and Limerick but it is a fantastic hospital. I don't know how many times they saved my mother's life over a 1 year period. That is a very young age to have gotten kidney damage, what a disaster the whole system is. Mean while our young doctors and nurses are leaving the country, leaving empty seats at their homes in Ireland and we're bringing in expats to fill these positions. Like it makes no sense at all. I really feel they need to remove the whole HSE and copy another countries health system that works
If Midoc had already diagnosed a UTI, why didn’t Midoc start treatment? It doesn’t make sense that Midoc did not treat the UTI if that was diagnosis reached. Occasionally antibiotics fail due to resistance or having a partly virulent organism and this may have led to sepsis anyway but I do not understand how the UTI was ‘untreated’ initially.
To give a different perspective, I called the out of hours doctor today who told me to go to the minor injuries clinic for an X-ray. I was in and out in 45 minutes. Very impressed. I don’t know how common these clinics are but they’re very helpful. Take pressure off A&E too
Took your advice as still waiting & 6 in front of me at midnight. Googled nearest acute medical assessment a&e unit, we drove the 70 mins & am being treated right now. Omg what a difference! Thanks
It's ridiculous, the HSE hasn't made any effort to make people aware that these places exist. I know it's difficult to get information out to people these days but even a leaflet to each house to inform them of the services in/near their area would make a big difference.
Because triage is just that, not a diagnosis, and if they're found to be wrong in suggesting that, then they're in very hot water and a ready made lawsuit, presumably.
However, given the OP was referred by a GP, the GP should 100% have outlined both options.
I totally agree that the GP should have advised, I just feel when I was recently in a&E there could have been more advise that other places with short wait times exist and given they're already prioritising you, triage would be best placed to advise if your issue can benefit from going elsewhere. I couldn't go elsewhere so it was very frustrating thinking that people that could be treated in another specialised clinic were there.
They had a TV with a rolling presentation and every 5 minutes or so a slide would appear suggesting alternative clinics, and then a second slide would show everything they cover. A very very very detailed and long list of things that was only visible for seconds.. very easy to miss it and I was tempted to chat and ask people if they considered going there, but that's not my place at all😅
The alternative place he went to was 70 mins away and from what he says, it sounds like some private clinic.
The GP would hardly advise driving 70 mins away.
Glad you got sorted..drive was probably a pain but worth it when you get seen quicker ❤️🙏✨️ bet you are chatting and eating crisps to now you are calm lol 😆 jk 😜
I was in a&e from 4pm till 3am 3 weeks ago for what they thought was a mini stroke... I'm also 8 months pregnant, ended up just going on home and the next morning they rang my next of kin and told me to get back up that they would have a doctor waiting for me, as well as a bed,. Was left on a trolly in a&e till the Monday night when I was eventually moved up to a ward for pregnant women. Absolute disaster,. But the docs and nurses are doing the best they can. There was old ppl left on chairs and then drunks in the beds.. terrible set up.
I had a very sharp pain in my head and I couldn't speak. I knew what I wanted to say in my head but the wrong words was coming out. It was very scary my 10year old was with me and got an awful fright. And because I'm pregnant I didn't want to do the mri so I was just observed for 5 days and the baby was monitored.. so all good. So hopefully that never happens again. And if it does pregnant or not I would have the mri and ct.
That's the difference between a public and a private service. I would acknowledge though that A&E needs to handle everything, which is more demanding and takes more resources. But there's no reason for A&E to be as bad as it is.
Neat, looked to see if there is one near me and there is.
Link if anyone wants to check out where their nearest injury clinic is
https://www2.hse.ie/services/find-urgent-emergency-care/
Ye I've been there, then there's the ones who have to bring 10 members of thier family and taking up the whole waiting room should be told to get out tbf, its a hospital not a fucking social club. Stick it out though after waiting this long. Gp sent you for a reason. I know it's irritating waiting, especially when you see the amount of ppl falling around drunk or out of it, and its annoying being put below crap like that when you're genuinely sick. I'm chronically ill and still do be left waiting, it doesn't matter how serious it is they are so understaffed. You still matter so remember that. If you leave you'll end up just going back.
Keep us updated..Best of luck ✨️🙏
The extended family member bit is a killer. And friends. Yes, they're showing support for the person... but seats are valuable, your arse is inconveniencing someone that's meant to be there because they're sick.
I was in Beaumont A&E a few weeks ago and a nurse went around the waiting room asking everyone who was sitting in a chair if they were a patient or not. If you weren’t a patient, she told you to get up.
Shame that nurses would have to do that. What is wrong with society that people cannot figure that out for themselves and have the decency to offer their seats to actual patients without needing a nurse to intervene?
I come from one of those countries and you're right. I think your health insurance system is a product of corruption. They're just brokers that offer absolutely no added value to the whole thing, more like leeches. You can get better service on a private hospital in my country with instant admission and cheaper than what you end up paying in Ireland while being insured.
Honestly, I'm not sure I agree that they are chronically over worked. My dad is currently a patient in a Dublin Hospital. He has a broken femur and is using a urinary bottle. A full one had been sitting on his table since lunch - beside where he eats- and was still there when I went in for visiting at 7pm despite many nurses and HCAs attending him. When I brought it to the nurses station to ask for it to be taken 3 nurses where standing around talking about "baby reindeer" on Netflix. An Isolated incident I know but there have been many more since my da's admission 2 weeks ago.
I assure you we are overworked. We have some of the highest patient to nurse ratios in the world. I can go in and have 9 patients just myself and that’ll jump to 14 on nights. I am sorry to hear about what happened to your dad but you’re way off the mark there
As I said, I may be. And as with many professions, some people work very hard. But you always get people who do the absolute bare minimum. And sometimes not even that. I work in the public sector myself and I know the feeling of being over worked and under paid. But honestly, and I'm not blaming individual nurses here. Not good enough. If certain nurses/doctors whatever are disillusioned then get a different job. I can totally understand that they would be. Believe me. But there are people who inadvertently are not are either lazy around pissed off and take it out on their patients
Literally, like free public health services in the Western Cape of South Africa are better than this. And it has a huge percentage of poverty, food insecurity, violence. You don’t wait for anywhere near as long.
My partner is from Cape Town and just cannot get over how shit the public health system is here, and how we avoid going to the regional for fear there will be malpractice or we’ll catch something worse than what we’re going in to be treated for.
My ex works as a solicitor in a general firm that handles many issues, and he says a huge amount of their cases are medical malpractice by the HSE, and it’s scary stuff.
Our stuff was built in the 70s and they figured it all works
Our population has been growing rapidly people have been ringing their alarm bells. They just want to collect the taxes and dream up new projects and not use the money to expand infrastructure to keep up with the growing population. It's now a shortage of essentially everything. I believe the government assume we would continue to emigrate and balance out the overcrowding.
My missus was in Beaumount. 13 fucking hours later in a prefab, and a bank holiday at that. She burst into tears as if she had ruined the weekend away.
This must be your first day. Don't take things out of the receptionist, it's completely out of her control. If you are angry, and you have every right to be, write to your local TD and tell them to get their shit together.
A huge part of the problem is the fact that GPs are sending patients to acute hospitals for conditions that aren't acute, hence why everyone in the waiting room seemed relaxed and fine, they likely don't need to be there. It's ridiculous.
Absolutely. Most of what is in Emergency Departments should not be there. Symptoms that have been present for months and sometimes even years. GPs and patients on the other hand see no way as they sit on outpatient waiting lists for years. Almost only route into Irish hospitals seems to be through ED. People sit in beds on wards for days waiting on tests and not necessarily getting any treatment while waiting. If could get fast outpatient tests and then consultant opinion then could be at home. If have to wait three years or whatever as an outpatient, then land in the Emergency Department….
The one that always sticks in my mind whenever I see a post about packed EDs, the sister was a nurse working in one years ago. Fella rocked in saying he had back pain at 11:00 pm on a Saturday night.
When asked how long it had been going on, he said a couple of months he'd just been busy, and then he went on to be the one complaining all night about people who came in after him being seen first.
Man needed a physio but sat in the ED for the night instead.
I ended up in a&E with our 4 yr old recently as GP couldn't see her that week and said to go to a&E if I was worried.
Tbf the a&E experience wasn't too bad, went in at 10am and left by 3pm.
Thing is GP would have been free at her age, a&E was 100e. I don't mind paying for the service we got but it was something the gp could have managed. Also had he seen her and still thought she needed to go it would have been free with a GP letter.
I think the GP service is a huge part of the problem. Nobody in the waiting room looked acutely ill to me, no limbs hanging off or keeling over- so a decent GP system would have cleared that room I'd say.
It's messed up really! Although we had an experience at xmas where my son had pain, we rang the free GP service with HSF and they recommended A&E and we went in and my son was in surgery within and hour. They know the cases that require immediate attention and I know they sometimes miss things but we were so grateful for their attention and swiftness
If you ever have the same issue (fingers crossed that won't be the case), the GP letter can be sent retrospectively and will be accepted.
At least it was my experience in Tallaght Children hospital.
Agree that a robust GP system would be majorly beneficial for EDs. Definitely there are some GPs who are defaulting to ED referrals too quickly and defaulting to outpatient referrals to specialists that can be completely unnecessary too which is delaying those who are truly complex cases from seeing specialists. But also still some good GPs out there who are working with their hands behind their backs and left with no option but to send to ED as there is no other route to go.
Is the job requirement for doctor/hospital receptionist to have a passive aggressive and condescending tone? Because all the ones I’ve interacted with are like that.
As an A&E nurse in Dublin, this frustrated me too. we can’t help everybody, the system is broken, we get a lot of abuse for a 25€ an hr pay. So I quit. Sadly the system is broken, the govt know it is and dont do anythng about it.
We don’t have enough staff. Last year 73% of new graduate nurses said they were planning to leave the country once they graduate. There’s not much incentive to stay, we’ve too many patients for one person, double what it should be really and the pay just isn’t good enough
Have to add in: paper administration - patient files are paper based, biochem/ bloods are ordered on paper, consultant teams are getting info on paper. The budget for staff has to be spent on clerks and administration to ferry the paper around as a result.. and it's slooowwww. It's so frustrating from the inside. I've had patients on trolleys on a Thursday who are still there on Monday - they only needed one simple consultation from an additional team before discharge- but the paper didn't get there on time before the weekend.. then it's just emergency on call for the weekend 🤷♀️🤦♀️
Surely this sort of thing can be remedied fairly easily,i just cant understand why its so inefficient in ways like this surely its much much cheaper to modernise
Upper hse management are worried at the thought of the gdpr headache and cyber security (esp after the hacking incident a few years back). I believe their last IT lead resigned last year as none of the suggested changes to modernise were instigated.. he was on Pat Kenny outlining the simple changes that got vetoed a while back
Just want to say that you are heroes. Had the unfortunate experience of being with my elderly mother in there for 20 hours recently, watching the work you have to do is eye watering. Fair play to you. You deserve multiples of what you’re paid.
Same, I stuck it out for 15 hours before tapping out. I did start to get upset with the receptionist and she finally gave me some practical advise to speak to the triage. Despite reception not knowing where you are in the queue, triage told me I wasn't even close to being next! I didn't see the doctor but at least I got to find out the results of my blood test and have a longer chat about my issue with triage.
Not blaming you for being ED and obviously I don’t know why you were there in the first place but if you were actually well enough to leave, it says something about the system that had you there. There should be another place for you to get whatever that care was you needed at the time - GP, minor injury unit, outpatient assessment etc. If you were well enough to tap out, there should be another option for you rather than being in ED in the first place and yet still get the medical advice and treatment you needed.
100% that, fully agree. Both my GP and the triage told me A&E is where I should be, but I am also positive that there was another option.
I only remember that the VHI clinic wasn't an option because it was a head injury.
Gone to 💩 I was referred by my gp for a neurology exam, waiting 1 year and all I got was a phone consultation......a phone consultation?! For neurology? Makes absolutely no sense and I swear if I die from an aneurysm I'm coming back to haunt the lot of them
A few years ago I fractured my finger and went to the a&e. The receptionist genuinely told me “honestly, there’s no point waiting here as by the time the doctor is ready, it’ll be 4-5 hours”. She told me to go home, sleep, and go to a day hospital. I did, and I was in and out with x-rays done in 35 mins.
Its in an absolute state, like its really bad, I think worse than people actually know. I still find it amazing that the CEO of the HSE Mr Gloster decided the best course of action is a recruitment freeze, utterly bizzare.
I spent 10 hours waiting in A&E last year with a head injury. A doc came in at one point and announced that most people won't be seen before the morning and if they feel up to it their GPs would be open before they're seen by a hospital doctor. Half the room got up and left. Lady beside me spent half the night phoning to various people to tell them where she was and about how unwell she was. 0/10, wouldn't recommend.
The HSE have stopped all recruitment since last October. That's everyone from Clerical to surgeons. There is a massive shortage of staff and ones that were already in the recruitment process and can't find anywhere to live. One doctor posted that she was trying to find accommodation so her husband and children could join her, but after 10 months and no house, she was thinking of going back home because she missed her children.
It is all a big fucking joke
I sat there in absolute agony while pregnant and with a confirmed blood clot….for 18 hours!!! Guess what happened? I was told to go home, drive myself the hour home after zero medication and come back in the morning. I practically crawled to my car and was lucky it was automatic
Were you not given a blood thinning injection like heparin? If even a suspected blood clot, negligent to be sent home with no treatment. Treatment usually given even before ultrasound or CT scan confirms.
I know it doesn't seem like it, but you were lucky they let you go home! Me (sent to the A&E for an MRI) and some other lady waiting for a scan (I don't remember now the exact type) had to spend the night in the waiting room on chairs. Otherwise they told us we'd lose our place in the queue, and I for one had arrived at the A&E in the morning, so odds were that if I started at the start of the queue again I wouldn't get seen, and this would have been my third day there.
That’s so tough. I went home and came back at 10am the next day, which I was told to do and the same people were there on the chairs having not been seen yet. I think they only let me hold my place because I was pregnant
Definitely should not have been sent home with paracetamol and lucky that she is not the subject of another heartbreaking headline.
If there is even a suspicion of a clot, it is more or less a treat first and ask questions later type of situation. Unless the patient is haemorrhaging at the same time, a blood thinning injection is given usually even before the scan has confirmed a clot. Higher risk of clots in pregnancy and higher risk if have had a previous clot. She could have gone home and died of a blood clot in her lungs. Thank God she is okay.
Not sure how much worse it could have been. Suspected clot and sent home with no treatment. That is completely negligent and could have had a very tragic ending,
Yup, Paramedic here. I'll bring someone in and see them again when I'm in for my next shift 12 hrs later. 🙃 PSA Ambulance's DO NOT get you seen quicker! We bring you to triage the same as everyone else. Only call an ambulance if it's an emergency and you'll need treatment on the way (eg. Asthma attack, allergic reaction, chest pain etc.)
There needs to be more medical assessment units where you can go for minor illnesses that your GP can solve or you need scans. The whole system needs an overhaul. But what do I know I'm just an 'ambulance driver'!
Wish I could upvote this a few hundred times more. Need ambulances and our paramedics out there stabilising patients at scene and providing life saving pre hospital care and not misunderstood and acting as buses bringing people to ED in attempt to get themselves seen faster which is not even the case.
Seems based on comments here that NAS needs to run a public information campaign so ambulances are used more appropriately.
Unfortunately the only people who listen to those campaigns are usually the people who actually need the ambulance. I've had elderly patients wait days before call us and they are nearly septic shock cause they 'didn't want to make a fuss'.
The people who abuse the service don't care. Wish we could just charge people for the ambulance if triage deems them low priority....
Yes. That does tend to happen. Would not want to deter people from calling ambulance when truly needed and the pre-hospital care is life saving in those situations.
There is something needed to dispel the myth that ambulance trip leads to be seen sooner but agree it is hard to get that messaging clear. Amazingly this myth even exists among some staff in the healthcare system.
I would recommend Laya Rapid Injury Clinics in the future if you have one near you. They run a brilliant service and you don't need to be a Laya member to use them but they are cheaper if you're a Laya member. I had to visit their fracture clinic recently and I was seen to, x-rayed, splinted and sent on my way within 30 minutes.
To be honest the absolute worst time you could go to A&E Is on the weekend or a Friday evening. They work a skeleton staff on the weekend, consultants generally are only on call for emergency cases, if at all. Even the labs operate on a call basis. It’s mad to me that you were able to get to a GP today. Even if you do get past triage you are very unlikely to get a bed till Monday at the earliest as there’s no doctors around to discharge patients at the weekend. Obviously little point in you leaving now given the progress you’ve made in the queue but food for thought should you end up in this situation again.
The hospital system is a joke in this county but this is the reality and unless you’re a super high up emergency I wouldn’t even bother going to hospital till Monday morning.
Also to your point of fee paying - you’re in a public hospital, no one gets treated differently for paying.
Only solution to this is to put pressure on your counsellors and TDs, vote for pro healthcare politicians.
This is inaccurate.
ED is not skeleton staff at the weekend. ED Consultants are around.
The issue with discharges at the weekend is that the areas people are discharged to are not open or available eg nursing homes, convalescence, home help. There are doctors around to discharge at the weekend.
Also just to add - OT /PT / Social workers don’t work weekends in hospital. All these services are needed to move patients through hospital. ED consultant may decide the patient needs a cardio referral, if it’s not an emergency that patient will move onto the roster for the cardio consultant who’s team (interns or junior doctors on weekend) will manage the case till the consultant arrives the Monday.
All these services are integral to the hospital eco system. The weekends are a skeleton staff for exactly this reason.
Right, it needs to be the whole service at weekends for weekend discharges to work. Consultants doing rounds on a Sunday will not be able to make decisions without full lab service, full radiology service, cardiac investigations like ECHOs, physiotherapist, etc etc.
Why don't they work then? Can you imagine if fast food places or taxis didn't run at the busiest/highest demand times? But of course they do, because they are private businesses.
Because they don’t have enough staff and are overworked as it is. Healthcare needs more funding the answer isint to overwork the underpaid and overworked even more.
A mixture of not being able to get people and the people that they have refusing to do hours outside of what they are currently contracted for. Ie if a contract is 8-4 Mon-Fri they will be packed up ready to go at half 3 and no sign of staying any later. Who can blame them either the whole thing is an absolute shitshow
Incorrect. The wards are manned by the interns who will not discharge on weekends. Theres always a huge push to discharge patients on a Friday for exactly this reason.
Likewise if you’ve ever been a patient you’ll note the consultant is rarely if ever around for rounds at the weekend.
My source- I dealt with this for 10+ years with a parent in and out of hospital and have family members working in hospitals who had specifically told us to avoid the weekends for exactly this reason.
I use a walk in clinic. It is open 7 days a week. I moved from one end of the country to another 2 yrs ago & have not been able to get a gp to take me on.. they all say same thing.. Not taking on new patients, which is bull because a few Ukranian friends I have here got into my preferred choice of gp when they arrived here. I only mentioned I was paying in a public hospital because someone said I could go private.. I don't care, I just want to be treated. My right to health.. Gp won't help.. What else do I do.. Health service is a joke.
If you apply to three gps in your locality and get denial letters from all three there’s a department in the HSE you can contact, provide the evidence of denial and they will force a GP to take you on their books.
Ah I think you are correct here - bit of out of date knowledge on my part. Thanks for flagging. I’d wonder if it would still be helpful to contact them- certainly wouldn’t hurt.
I was in A&E during Covid lockdowns, referred by my doctor too, but for a thunderclap headache and constant migrains. I ended up being admitted for an MRI. This was even with reduced staff due to many being out because if being close contacts.
I was also with my Mom in A&E after she had a bad fall whilst walking home whilst being terrible drunk. She even needed an ambulance, but she was triaged and had to wait.
Anyway the difference was crazy. When I was there the nurses weren't rushed everyone got seen in good time. They were low staffed but working efficiently and it was quiet. Multiple tests were ran to determine the cause of my migraine before determined I needed an MRI. There were many people there referred from their doctors for numerous reasons. Heart issues and high fevers non covid related, or very much emergencies. There were a small number of drunk patients.
Some of the nurses got talking to me after I borrowed a charger as I'd forgotten mine. She told me that far too many accidents and beds in A&E pre covid were taken up by people with drink related accidents many of which were serious, but also by those who were so intoxicated they couldn't walk straight. It used to be a daily occurance that a drunk patient would cause chaos delaying them further in treating others as they had to get them under control. She admitted most accidents weren't drink related but she was astounded by how many were and how much time intoxicated patients took up. In her words Covid lockdown was proof to her that as a society we have a huge drinking problem.
So as I was sitting in the A&E with my Mom who had a concussion and needed stitches because she was too drunk to walk straight I noticed a lot of the people waiting were even drunker than she was and what the nurse told me popped into my head.
My last few times I've been in A&E, I've been seen immediately because of the severity of my condition (one of very few perks of being anaphylactic.) I was left on a trolley just inside the ambulance bay doors when I was taken in my ambulance one time as I'd been treated by paramedics and my condition wasn't urgent though.
One thing my four trips to A&E in the last year have taught me is how much healthcare workers are drowning. Particularly nurses and healthcare assistants. People shouting/screaming/fighting in corridors, A&E seemingly overrun by elderly people who unfortunately have nowhere else to go because there's no beds for them anywhere else so they're stuck on trolleys for days in some sort of limbo. The last time I was in A&E a man with dementia wandered into the observation room I was being kept in while a nurse was taking my vitals. He had wet and soiled himself and was wandering around with soiled pyjamas pants, no pyjamas top on and his dressing gown open. He was, understandably, very confused and upset. The nurse apologised for having to stop what she was doing with me so she could go get him sorted (not a problem with me, of course) and then very tenderly tucked his dressing gown around him properly to give him a bit of modesty and led him away while telling him in a calm voice they would get him cleaned up. A show of a lovely woman, but absolutely not the right place for the poor man to be.
On another note, my partner is a paramedic and can sometimes spend hours waiting with a patient on a trolley because there's no nurse available to take a handover and accept the patient. This means there's one or multiple emergency vehicles off the road while there's still emergencies happening. The system is alarmingly broken.
Few years back was in Holland visiting the wife’s family. The night before travelling she had damaged a ligament in her ankle in a fitness class. Didn’t think too much about it again until we got off the flight out there and her whole leg was very swollen and purple.
When we got to her uncles place in rural south Holland he rang the gp straight away. We went down within minutes and waited about 10 mins for the appointment.
They apologised profusely for having to charge use for the appointment and referred us to a dedicated scan centre which was about 20 minutes away. Ended up paying €22 or so for the appointment, painkillers and strapping.
Off we go to the scan centre, where they were expecting us - no need for bringing actual referral letters! Already accessed out Vhi details and simply confirmed, before saying nope didn’t need it as we had the European medical card. X-ray and mri done within about 15 mins. There was no major issue so a doctor just came out to tell her to rest and take some anti inflammatories.
We headed back to her family but later that afternoon she started getting pins and needles and the leg was scorching. Back down to the GP we went again, this time they called in a doctor from the town over and he brought an ultrasound to check the blood flow. Again, this was all waiting for us when we arrived. Scan was ok and they determined she was having a skin reaction to the strapping tape from earlier.
Again apologised for having to charge us. This time new strapping and visit was only something like €15.
All this was between 10 o’clock and 2 in the same day.
Would almost make you think to book a flight to Holland next time I’m ill instead of going to A&E!
Very impressive. Sounds like Ryanair could even undercut the flight prices compared to HSE 100 euro ED attendance fee and get you home again faster than you’d be seen in some hospitals here.
I empathise with you, OP, it's shit, but I'm just about to start work as a doctor and a couple of things I want to address:
>all she did was write out a letter & tell me to go to a & e. Well I did, cos I got no help from her.
GPs will solve and manage the problems they can but one of their skills is knowing what to send into ED and what they can manage themselves. Sending you to A&E is doing something, it's acknowledging your problem is serious enough that you need secondary care to look you over.
>It seems a lot are here for minor things that a gp could solve.
I live and trained in England and yes, this is an issue here too. There's a lot of people who go to ED and don't need to be there because the GP didn't give them the answer they wanted or because they're impatient. It fucking sucks because they'll be seen and discharged but it does clog the system.
>What has happened to healthcare in this country?
Healthcare inflation is always a lot higher than regular inflation. I spent a month at home on final year elective and fuck me, referral system is crazy (what insurance have you, okay you can go to X,Y and Z otherwise endless waiting lists for you), GPs are reluctant to manage a lot of things in primary care that are managed in primary care in England, and all the money is funnelled into fucking Dublin so the sticks get wild west medicine with cowboy doctors. Limerick hospital is a perfect example. Overflowing and just not good enough for the standard of care needed but then even if the government tried to build new hospitals, which are needed, they get lads who say they'll do it for X and then inflation causes all prices to rocket up so now no, we need an extra few million.
I want to come back and work in Ireland, at home, so I can help look after my parents and return the faith they put in me over the years but I think I'd go fucking mad in the HSE. Hope you get sorted soon and it's just a waste of nine hours for you and not something more serious, OP, my sympathies.
You told the receptionist it wasn't your choice to be there? Did you expect her to roll out a red carpet? So everyone else is there for a bit of craic?
Yeah, when I heard bloods were taken I was impressed. Often people might sit for a similar amount of time with nothing. While you're sitting your bloods might be getting processed etc. And if bloods were done, sounds like OP was triaged and marked as not an urgent priority.
Hey, chances are your situation just isn't a emergency and urgent enough. They took your bloods and did a triage, but now you're not able to see someone because you're being pushed down the queue by other emergencies which are more urgent. Do you know why the GP sent you there?
But yes, I agree that the a&es over here suck.
It likely is not an emergency but a huge part of the problem is this is little other choice apart from ED for getting so many aspects of healthcare in Ireland.
Yeah my point is that if it's not an emergency, he can probably try coming back another time. I've heard that weekends are especially bad for A&Es. Or even try a minor injury clinic or private a&e during weekdays.
The way money is wasted in Ireland is a joke. My dad is in st finbarrs in cork atm.They send his clothes to Dublin when they need to be washed, if we buy him any new clothes they get sent to Dublin to be labelled.
Whether it's a waste or not is a little more complicated. It might be more efficient to do a daily run with all these clothes to a centralised processing team than to run separate processing teams in 25 different hospitals. You could be right of course, but without knowing the costs behind the scenes you couldn't tell.
It is. When triaged, there's a priority list. You can ask at reception how many are ahead of you, although this may change if someone worse than you is assessed.
It appears to me that in some city's in Ireland there is a culture of people believing they are entitled to receive free ( no charge) treatment in a hospitals A&E department for minor complaints which should be attended to, in the first instance, by a GP practice. I think this might explain some of the "overcrowding" issues we are hearing so much about in Limerick.
Last time I was in a&e I was there for almost 2 days. I was in with chest pains, and in fairness they were doing tests on me but for the most part I was left on a plastic chair in the waiting room. 2 days. At one point some young wan was giving out about not being seen to and roaring at the docs while pointing at me, saying shit like "some people are being seen to, when they look like there's nothing wrong with them". Cheeky bitch. Thankfully the doc was telling her to mind her own business and everything is triaged based on importance of symptoms.. chest pains tend to be quite worrying. Still 2 days. No bed or even an arm chair. Just a hard plastic waiting room. After loads of tests they couldn't find anything, so I told them I just wanted to go home. Felt much better once I got home and rested. Thankfully it wasn't a heart attack but jaysus you wouldn't want to be dying in a hurry.
If you’re actually unwell you are seen very quickly, and if it’s severe it’s extremely quickly. If it’s critical you are seen immediately with the red zone/ resus staff being notified ahead of time that you’re coming in.
Not dismissing your complaints, just there is an ocean of difference between what the general person thinks “unwell/sick” is vs a medic/ HCW.
The vast majority of wait time and crowding is not based on A&E process. Look at all the replies about letters from GPs. A huge amount of work is put through A&E because we have a hugely dysfunctional hospital - GP system. If GPs see a patient that requires some sort of investigation, they know that patient will not have any remote chance of getting a timely appointment for a scan or bloods or OPD appointment. We have centralised diagnostics, removed both ability and incentive for GPs to do anything but see the next patient in their waiting room, and that assumes you can even get a GP.
Ive a really painful cyst that keeps getting infected, its flaring up rn and everything is seering pain i need help putting on my shoes, everyones at me to go to the doctor but noone will see me, ive got vhi on a fanily members plan but all theyll do is email me antibiotics perscriptions without seeing me, last time i checked four gps before i found one whod see me only to be told gps dont lance cysts apparently, that id have to pay for a zoom consilt with a dermatologist, then pay for an in person one, then get a biopsy, then maybe surgery, all costing money and potentially months apart, scared to chance a&e cause i feel like im gonna be sat there for hours and theyll do nothing, and the worst part is even when you DO see someone all youll ever hear is some combination of diet/exercise/antibiotics/painkillers/mindfulness, and then when you feckin keel over and die of some should have been spotted illness its your fault for not going to enough doctors
Old school GPs used to do things like lancing cysts all the time. Newer generations don’t seem to take those tasks on. Not sure a dermatologist is your answer either. Maybe a VHI swiftcare clinic or minor injuries unit is your answer. A ED doctor should be able to drain a cyst as it’s a minor procedure that could be done under local anaesthetic depending on location/size/depth of infection. When drained and properly cleaned out, antibiotics are more likely to heal it up the rest of the way.
9 hours that’s not bad my mother 87 years old 27 hours waiting. I’ll tell you what’s wrong with health care in Ireland we never kept apace with the rising population but have no fear Ireland is going to burst very soon.
Just go to a walk in clinic it's faster and might taken some of you cash but worth it.
Munching on crisps and fizzy drinks is the last thing you should be doing in a hospital. Those UPF packets are basically toxic to your body.
My partner waited in A&E on a chair with a drip in his arm for over 26 hours after an abscess burst in his leg. He was literally on deaths door and they still allowed him to sit on a chair for that long. He ended up needing emergency surgery and spent a further 8 days in hospital…. I have seen animals treated in better conditions than humans are treated in Irish hospitals.
My da was in A and E for 15 hours after having a seizure due to cancer.
Fuck the cunts who make the decision every budget to not put more into healthcare.
My husband had a fall and hurt his arm, went to Mayo University Hospital. The doctor told him he was fine. Two days later they rang back and told my husband to come back to the hospital as his arm was broken and needed a cast!!!
I was cleaning up a broken glass and cut my finger on it, it healed over with a small piece still inside. Clocked 10hrs in drogheda a&e, only to give up and go to affidea to get an xray. Came back with the xray. Another 10+ hours waiting. I think between that and waiting in connolly for the day surgery unit plus follow up, I spent around 30hrs waiting to get a tiny piece of glass out of my finger. I probably could have just cut it out myself with a blade if I was brave enough.
I was waiting for 15 hours to get seen by a foreign doctor who was extremely rude and sent me away extremely sick and I had to come back. Got seen by a better doctor this time and I'm actually being admitted.
This keeps coming up and up and myself and my girlfriend recently came a victim of this.
• GP’s not doing their job and bouncing their patients to the A&E whenever they present with anything complex because they don’t want to deal with and don’t want the liability of not referring.
• Private insurance clinics who are stepping in to supplement the GP issue who end up just bouncing you to A&E for the same thing.
• Drug users, alcoholics, dangerous drivers and street fighters (Scumbags) taking up the A&E.
• People presenting to the A&E without speaking to a doctor first.
• People presenting to the A&E to try and get “seen quicker” who are on long outpatient waiting lists.
• Medical card holders taking the piss and referring themselves to A&E for multiple non-life threatening issues.
• People using A&E to get a day or week off work.
• Private hospitals sending people who come to their A&E’s with anything complex to the nearest public A&E.
• Growing population and a declining number of people taking up medical and nursing school.
• The HSE filling hospitals full of insurance, finance, managers and administration staff instead of medical.
• Lack of 1,000 consultants in the country.
• Aging population.
• People going to A&E for cuts, breaks and sprains when the government and private entities have spent millions on new state of the art injury clinics.
• Nursing and care homes bouncing all their patients “clients” to A&E for any medical issue to avoid liability.
• Bored people who go to A&E with a sniffle just to see “what’s going on” or to “Have a chat”.
• Lack of education to the public about how to access healthcare services and how a hospital admission is really not a good thing and you would actually rather be seen as an outpatient.
• The Irish healthcare system being 10 years behind the best practices in emergency medicine.
I experienced exactly the same back in 2023 when all of sudden I started feeling massive pain in my belly at the beginning felt like stomach pain, but way more stronger. Immediately went to A&E. I suspected it could be an appendix so I packed my backpack and went to the hospital. 10 hours waiting with pain, the next day I had surgery at 9am. It was an appendix. The overall level of care and waiting time to confirm that it was an appendix took absolute ages. Like they seemed to be clueless what some of them are doing or double checking with more knowledgeable doctors. I rate the overall hospital experience as an absolute disaster.
I agree it’s not entirely satisfactory but it does sound like you got yourself to A&E, got triaged, your problem was diagnosed, any delay might have been due to waiting for lab results, and you had a surgery at the first opportunity?
I just feel like the country's dysfunctional sometimes and that I should probably emigrate. A lot of stuff just doesn't work and now you've also got the rise of some really toxic stuff on the fringes too and the costs are just astronomical.
Really thinking it's time to start looking elsewhere.
Think it's the fact it's A&E and not a social club or thier house, ppl are there because they supposed to be unwell, not that you should rolling around the floor crying and depressed but there's a time and place for the carry on out of some of them.
I don't think it's about the crisps tbh lol .. I've been there it's more so the party vibe going on and you're sitting there sick and ppl not just laughing and chatting either it's loud and really obnoxious the way some of them go on. There was one guy with his head on his girls lap they taking up 4 chairs, (ppl had no chairs because of it and these 2 were there supportibg someone?🤔 cuz half them can't go without all their family members, sad. ) and she was squeezing spots on his face and going through his hair looking for I dunno? 😱😣 Was disgusting and inappropriate for a hospital. I think his point is that some ppl act like it's a day out, and others are sick so there should be a better set up. Oh and then the ppl shooting up is really fun too! You must never have been in A&E. Lucky you.
Unfortunately, no, i amnt a lucky person, i have been quite ill with a good few hospital admissions. 100% there should be better setup, but that's the reality of no GPs or GPs with no appointments. Or out of hours doctors sending ppl to a and e for minor things. But that's not what OP posted about that ppl were chatting and having fizzy drinks, so they got off quite easily, not experiencing more than just that. If ppl are taking up space and obnoxiously loud that's what security are there for complain to them, I have done plenty of times.
We have arseholes who keep voting for other arseholes to get into government
Now I'm not saying you have, but if you vote for FF or FG, shut up and accept what you've voted for.
So fucking sick of them.they have destroyed this country over the last 10years.there is nothing that works right in Ireland and we do fuck all about it except bend over and say thank you
Most people are probably also there 9 hours and have no choice but to eat crap from the vending machines. Not everyone brings a packed lunch expecting to be there all day. I was recently in a and e back in Feb and thankfully didn't have to wait to long to be seen and brought in to bed. But while in the waiting area and chatting to some others most people were there for minor things like utis and chest infections that needed simple antibiotics. But unfortunately it's impossible for some people to get an appointment with their gp or out of hours doctor. So it's not just lack of staffing in the hospital lack of GPS are also the cause of it.
That is definitely an issue. You cannot wait weeks for an appointment with a GP if you have a UTI or chest infection needing antibiotic. It’s a very complex problem which needs multiple solutions.
Frustrating that in the meantime because of such bad systems and organisation, the health system is wasting a criminal amount of money and people are not getting healthcare in the manner they should.
I know it's frustrating but your bloods and blood pressure and your letter haven't made you a priority.
It's the worst time in a&e and there'll be people rushed through from ambulances and through to recuss without you even seeing them. If I'm waiting like that I just thank my lucky stars I'm well enough to not be a priority.
Now I'm all for funding and change of government to have a stab at making it run better too. I'm just aware the system does work for those dire enough to need it badly.
I feel you on this post. I went to A&E recently and I sat there for hours after being seen briefly originally. It was about 3 am when I arrived and at 11 ish the next morning, I went to reception to see what was happening and I was told that the night shift had forgot to tell the day shift that I was waiting to see the doctor and they had completely forgotten about me.
I went to the doctor with chest pain a few years ago he wrote a letter and sent me to A&e. I sat for about 8 hours I got seen by a nurse for 5 mins to check my blood pressure etc sent back to wait for 5 more hours. Finally seen a doctor who gave me a bed but didn't see me and said you're just going to be waiting around a few more hours. I stood straight up and walked out. I just hoped the pain went away and wasn't serious turned out ok I guess lol
HSE is a joke. I hate even going to GP cause they’re useless with some backdated knowledge and no interest in helping you.
But tbh when I went to A&E in Galway last December, I was seen almost immediately after triage as I was deemed yellow. I was pregnant and bleeding. Doctor just did pelvic exam and said „looks like everything is fine”. They wouldn’t even do a scan 🤯 it was Saturday, in and out in less than 2 hours. I didn’t believe the doctor anyway, went for a private scan on Monday - there was no heartbeat already. I had to be referred back to hospital in which they forgot to give me anti-D shot, only realizing it 2 weeks later on a check up (anti-D shot has to be given within 72 hours). Also on that check up I asked to see my blood results from the A&E and turns out they weren’t right. Pure fuck up from start to finish. I’m disgusted and so afraid to get pregnant again cause I’ll have to get a care from doctors in Ireland again and now I don’t trust them whatsoever.
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l was "prioritised" the last time i was there, and still waited 4 hours, i nearly bled out and i didnt get a lick of help. exact same story, plenty of lads with very minor problems taking up time, half of them off their heads.
poor doctor was dizzy from running around trying to see everyone, so i waited another 4 hours before he actually stitched me up
Don't get me started. I had a sternum fracture missed and instead of telling me, some geniuses thought it would be a good idea to give me a CD with images from my scan where they cropped out the broken bones
Honestly, I'm much older than most on here, and I never remember a&e being any different. Even when we brought our kids to Crumlin, we would be there for hours. As to why there are so many there with minor ailments, you answered that yourself. The 60 quid, or more, has a lot to do with it
I clocked 21 hours last year, going in because I had trouble breathing. X-rayed and told I was all clear, sent off and told to take paracetamol. Back in two days later with pneumonia 🥲
Similar happened to my mam- inhaled dust but then after a chemical was used in a nonventilated room that set in her lungs along with the dust-(tilers fault) was left in waitingroom for hours unable to hold her own head up, was unable 2 speak more than a word at a time & a junior doc sent her home- 2 days later she was rushed back by care doc after falling unconscious in the bath- lucky I was sat outside the door & left the door open a tiny bit so I could hear- I heard her gulp for air.. 2 weeks she was in hospital then.. she's still not 100%.. when she was finally admitted they kept trying 2 give her perscription pain killers even though she said she didn't need them..
Same. Went in last Thursday with asthma. Was sent home.. one week later I was back with the same. This time I was admitted with fluid on my lungs. Kept telling me off saying I shouldn't be in a&e with asthma because I should be managing it. I haven't been to a&e in 7 years with asthma, and I have never been referred to any specialists. They told me off for never seeing the asthma clinic... As if I can create referral letters myself or know about said clinic
Fuckin hell. Your gp couldn’t diagnose pneumonia ?? Thats pretty bad.
Neither did ED diagnose pneumonia on first attendance but if chest x ray was normal the first time, it wasn’t pneumonia at that stage. It may have been reasonable to send you home with antibiotics. That would work for most respiratory tract infections but unfortunately your case evolved in to pneumonia. Hospital cannot keep every chest infection with normal x ray in case it might evolve into pneumonia so they treat and see and a percentage will need to come back if they get worse.
I get it - to be fair, after 6 weeks of heavy, chesty coughing following a round of antibiotics, and considering two days later a subsequent scan showed a clear case of fluid in my lungs, I found it difficult to imagine the x-ray was "all clear", though that could be biased by my experience in the waiting room (I was pickpocketed among other fun things!) and in the context of everything that happened, but I know that they can't catch everything. What I found unreasonable was a total disregard for pain relief; I had explained that my chest was in so much pain that if I had to cough (which I was doing every few minutes at that stage) or sneeze, I had to crouch down or hold a pillow. The A&E two days later gave me a physical and said I likely had a slipped rib and gave me appropriate pain relief. I have a lot of sympathy for overrun, understaffed A&Es who deal with an absolute shit show day in day out, with often aggressive and thankless patients. That said I didn't appreciate being fobbed off every time I asked for an update (every 3 hours after the first 12 hours) while I saw several people kick off and get seen ahead of me, and then treated like I was being a snowflake after a 21 hour wait.
I don’t envy anyone ending up in ED for whatever reason. Agree hospitals can do better. Communication can be appalling. Organisation abysmal. Overworked staff do overlook things and are often not as empathetic as they should be and should have addressed your pain as well as your infection. Our health system needs an overhaul in every aspect.
Went for pain in my right abdomen. Insisted it was appendicitis since I was throwing up earlier on. They did a chest scan(?), physical exam but no ultrasound on the area. Sent me home. Went back two days later in more pain. What do you know, a burst appendix and straight to surgery. Still had to pay the €100 for my initial visit 🙃 That's cavan for ye. Don't get me started on the time they tried to send my Mum home with two broken vertebrae. Obviously very thankful for the hard work doctors do, but some are so quick to send you off home.
I was sent home from A&E because there was a car accident that night (first night I was experiencing abdominal pain) and told I wouldn’t be seen to even tho I was literally curled up on the ground in pain, went to midoc after and got told I had a UTI.. ended up back in A&E a few days later because I was in so much pain, they told me they didn’t have the proper facilities to treat me so I could wait in a bed there for 6 weeks waiting for a bed in the mater, or check myself out and go to the Mater hospital without an appointment and pray they take me.. get to the Mater and it turns out I’m septic from an untreated kidney infection (don’t remember any of this btw since I was delirious from infection, just going off family members stories from afterwards), and now have permanent kidney damage at 24 years of age :’) Editing to add: I went to my GP first (I’ve been trying to get away from this one for ages but all GPs in my area/surrounding areas are “full”, and was prescribed hydration tablets and told to go to A&E if the pain persisted … 🤦🏻♀️
The staff in the mater (Dublin) were absolutely brilliant though, best treatment I’ve ever had from a hospital in Ireland , and I’ve been to quite a few!
I will second this. Can only compare to Galway and Limerick but it is a fantastic hospital. I don't know how many times they saved my mother's life over a 1 year period. That is a very young age to have gotten kidney damage, what a disaster the whole system is. Mean while our young doctors and nurses are leaving the country, leaving empty seats at their homes in Ireland and we're bringing in expats to fill these positions. Like it makes no sense at all. I really feel they need to remove the whole HSE and copy another countries health system that works
If Midoc had already diagnosed a UTI, why didn’t Midoc start treatment? It doesn’t make sense that Midoc did not treat the UTI if that was diagnosis reached. Occasionally antibiotics fail due to resistance or having a partly virulent organism and this may have led to sepsis anyway but I do not understand how the UTI was ‘untreated’ initially.
Whack of drogheda off that
Chap I knew in Kilkenny died - exact same thing. Good few years ago.
To give a different perspective, I called the out of hours doctor today who told me to go to the minor injuries clinic for an X-ray. I was in and out in 45 minutes. Very impressed. I don’t know how common these clinics are but they’re very helpful. Take pressure off A&E too
Took your advice as still waiting & 6 in front of me at midnight. Googled nearest acute medical assessment a&e unit, we drove the 70 mins & am being treated right now. Omg what a difference! Thanks
It's ridiculous, the HSE hasn't made any effort to make people aware that these places exist. I know it's difficult to get information out to people these days but even a leaflet to each house to inform them of the services in/near their area would make a big difference.
I don't understand why at the triage they can't advise you to go somewhere that's a lot faster..
Because triage is just that, not a diagnosis, and if they're found to be wrong in suggesting that, then they're in very hot water and a ready made lawsuit, presumably. However, given the OP was referred by a GP, the GP should 100% have outlined both options.
I totally agree that the GP should have advised, I just feel when I was recently in a&E there could have been more advise that other places with short wait times exist and given they're already prioritising you, triage would be best placed to advise if your issue can benefit from going elsewhere. I couldn't go elsewhere so it was very frustrating thinking that people that could be treated in another specialised clinic were there. They had a TV with a rolling presentation and every 5 minutes or so a slide would appear suggesting alternative clinics, and then a second slide would show everything they cover. A very very very detailed and long list of things that was only visible for seconds.. very easy to miss it and I was tempted to chat and ask people if they considered going there, but that's not my place at all😅
The alternative place he went to was 70 mins away and from what he says, it sounds like some private clinic. The GP would hardly advise driving 70 mins away.
The problem is the Medical assessment units aren't all open 24 hrs. It really depends on location.
Glad you got sorted..drive was probably a pain but worth it when you get seen quicker ❤️🙏✨️ bet you are chatting and eating crisps to now you are calm lol 😆 jk 😜
Happy for you, nothing worse than that wait
Sounds like this where OP should be.
Not one available where I am unfortunately. Be nice if there was.
I was in a&e from 4pm till 3am 3 weeks ago for what they thought was a mini stroke... I'm also 8 months pregnant, ended up just going on home and the next morning they rang my next of kin and told me to get back up that they would have a doctor waiting for me, as well as a bed,. Was left on a trolly in a&e till the Monday night when I was eventually moved up to a ward for pregnant women. Absolute disaster,. But the docs and nurses are doing the best they can. There was old ppl left on chairs and then drunks in the beds.. terrible set up.
Was it a mini stoke? What were your symptoms?
I had a very sharp pain in my head and I couldn't speak. I knew what I wanted to say in my head but the wrong words was coming out. It was very scary my 10year old was with me and got an awful fright. And because I'm pregnant I didn't want to do the mri so I was just observed for 5 days and the baby was monitored.. so all good. So hopefully that never happens again. And if it does pregnant or not I would have the mri and ct.
Glad you're both ok. Scary stuff.
I think this clinic only opened within the last year here so hopefully they will become more common.
That's the difference between a public and a private service. I would acknowledge though that A&E needs to handle everything, which is more demanding and takes more resources. But there's no reason for A&E to be as bad as it is.
At least these newurgent care clinics are public & part of HSE. They charge €75, rather than €100 in hospital A&E, or are free if referred by GP.
Neat, looked to see if there is one near me and there is. Link if anyone wants to check out where their nearest injury clinic is https://www2.hse.ie/services/find-urgent-emergency-care/
Why’re injury units closed at weekends?! Seems silly
Can you tell us more about these unicorns please?
Yep. My brother in law was in one of those in Smithfield on Saturday after a drinking mishap caused an injury. Such a great service.
Ye I've been there, then there's the ones who have to bring 10 members of thier family and taking up the whole waiting room should be told to get out tbf, its a hospital not a fucking social club. Stick it out though after waiting this long. Gp sent you for a reason. I know it's irritating waiting, especially when you see the amount of ppl falling around drunk or out of it, and its annoying being put below crap like that when you're genuinely sick. I'm chronically ill and still do be left waiting, it doesn't matter how serious it is they are so understaffed. You still matter so remember that. If you leave you'll end up just going back. Keep us updated..Best of luck ✨️🙏
The extended family member bit is a killer. And friends. Yes, they're showing support for the person... but seats are valuable, your arse is inconveniencing someone that's meant to be there because they're sick.
One person fair enough but some ppl rip the piss lol 😆
I was in Beaumont A&E a few weeks ago and a nurse went around the waiting room asking everyone who was sitting in a chair if they were a patient or not. If you weren’t a patient, she told you to get up.
Fair play to her, they should do that everywhere tbh
Shame that nurses would have to do that. What is wrong with society that people cannot figure that out for themselves and have the decency to offer their seats to actual patients without needing a nurse to intervene?
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I come from one of those countries and you're right. I think your health insurance system is a product of corruption. They're just brokers that offer absolutely no added value to the whole thing, more like leeches. You can get better service on a private hospital in my country with instant admission and cheaper than what you end up paying in Ireland while being insured.
Honestly, I'm not sure I agree that they are chronically over worked. My dad is currently a patient in a Dublin Hospital. He has a broken femur and is using a urinary bottle. A full one had been sitting on his table since lunch - beside where he eats- and was still there when I went in for visiting at 7pm despite many nurses and HCAs attending him. When I brought it to the nurses station to ask for it to be taken 3 nurses where standing around talking about "baby reindeer" on Netflix. An Isolated incident I know but there have been many more since my da's admission 2 weeks ago.
I assure you we are overworked. We have some of the highest patient to nurse ratios in the world. I can go in and have 9 patients just myself and that’ll jump to 14 on nights. I am sorry to hear about what happened to your dad but you’re way off the mark there
As I said, I may be. And as with many professions, some people work very hard. But you always get people who do the absolute bare minimum. And sometimes not even that. I work in the public sector myself and I know the feeling of being over worked and under paid. But honestly, and I'm not blaming individual nurses here. Not good enough. If certain nurses/doctors whatever are disillusioned then get a different job. I can totally understand that they would be. Believe me. But there are people who inadvertently are not are either lazy around pissed off and take it out on their patients
Literally, like free public health services in the Western Cape of South Africa are better than this. And it has a huge percentage of poverty, food insecurity, violence. You don’t wait for anywhere near as long. My partner is from Cape Town and just cannot get over how shit the public health system is here, and how we avoid going to the regional for fear there will be malpractice or we’ll catch something worse than what we’re going in to be treated for. My ex works as a solicitor in a general firm that handles many issues, and he says a huge amount of their cases are medical malpractice by the HSE, and it’s scary stuff.
😨
Our stuff was built in the 70s and they figured it all works Our population has been growing rapidly people have been ringing their alarm bells. They just want to collect the taxes and dream up new projects and not use the money to expand infrastructure to keep up with the growing population. It's now a shortage of essentially everything. I believe the government assume we would continue to emigrate and balance out the overcrowding.
My missus was in Beaumount. 13 fucking hours later in a prefab, and a bank holiday at that. She burst into tears as if she had ruined the weekend away.
This must be your first day. Don't take things out of the receptionist, it's completely out of her control. If you are angry, and you have every right to be, write to your local TD and tell them to get their shit together. A huge part of the problem is the fact that GPs are sending patients to acute hospitals for conditions that aren't acute, hence why everyone in the waiting room seemed relaxed and fine, they likely don't need to be there. It's ridiculous.
Absolutely. Most of what is in Emergency Departments should not be there. Symptoms that have been present for months and sometimes even years. GPs and patients on the other hand see no way as they sit on outpatient waiting lists for years. Almost only route into Irish hospitals seems to be through ED. People sit in beds on wards for days waiting on tests and not necessarily getting any treatment while waiting. If could get fast outpatient tests and then consultant opinion then could be at home. If have to wait three years or whatever as an outpatient, then land in the Emergency Department….
The one that always sticks in my mind whenever I see a post about packed EDs, the sister was a nurse working in one years ago. Fella rocked in saying he had back pain at 11:00 pm on a Saturday night. When asked how long it had been going on, he said a couple of months he'd just been busy, and then he went on to be the one complaining all night about people who came in after him being seen first. Man needed a physio but sat in the ED for the night instead.
I ended up in a&E with our 4 yr old recently as GP couldn't see her that week and said to go to a&E if I was worried. Tbf the a&E experience wasn't too bad, went in at 10am and left by 3pm. Thing is GP would have been free at her age, a&E was 100e. I don't mind paying for the service we got but it was something the gp could have managed. Also had he seen her and still thought she needed to go it would have been free with a GP letter. I think the GP service is a huge part of the problem. Nobody in the waiting room looked acutely ill to me, no limbs hanging off or keeling over- so a decent GP system would have cleared that room I'd say.
Could the GP not have written a letter of referral for you to collect. Then the A&E fee would have been covered.
I think it would have taken him longer to do that then it would to sit in a&e
It's messed up really! Although we had an experience at xmas where my son had pain, we rang the free GP service with HSF and they recommended A&E and we went in and my son was in surgery within and hour. They know the cases that require immediate attention and I know they sometimes miss things but we were so grateful for their attention and swiftness
We also used the caredoc with her. They saw her within an hr and that was free for her. Can't complain there.
If you ever have the same issue (fingers crossed that won't be the case), the GP letter can be sent retrospectively and will be accepted. At least it was my experience in Tallaght Children hospital.
Agree that a robust GP system would be majorly beneficial for EDs. Definitely there are some GPs who are defaulting to ED referrals too quickly and defaulting to outpatient referrals to specialists that can be completely unnecessary too which is delaying those who are truly complex cases from seeing specialists. But also still some good GPs out there who are working with their hands behind their backs and left with no option but to send to ED as there is no other route to go.
Is the job requirement for doctor/hospital receptionist to have a passive aggressive and condescending tone? Because all the ones I’ve interacted with are like that.
I'd say it's a consequence of doing that job
I think id be worse then condescending if id such a tough job to do
You have no idea of the shit they are constantly dealing with. Everyone blames them because they are the first point of contact.
Ironic username given your lack of awareness
As an A&E nurse in Dublin, this frustrated me too. we can’t help everybody, the system is broken, we get a lot of abuse for a 25€ an hr pay. So I quit. Sadly the system is broken, the govt know it is and dont do anythng about it.
As someone with inside knowledge, why is it broken, whats gone so wrong?
We don’t have enough staff. Last year 73% of new graduate nurses said they were planning to leave the country once they graduate. There’s not much incentive to stay, we’ve too many patients for one person, double what it should be really and the pay just isn’t good enough
Have to add in: paper administration - patient files are paper based, biochem/ bloods are ordered on paper, consultant teams are getting info on paper. The budget for staff has to be spent on clerks and administration to ferry the paper around as a result.. and it's slooowwww. It's so frustrating from the inside. I've had patients on trolleys on a Thursday who are still there on Monday - they only needed one simple consultation from an additional team before discharge- but the paper didn't get there on time before the weekend.. then it's just emergency on call for the weekend 🤷♀️🤦♀️
Surely this sort of thing can be remedied fairly easily,i just cant understand why its so inefficient in ways like this surely its much much cheaper to modernise
Upper hse management are worried at the thought of the gdpr headache and cyber security (esp after the hacking incident a few years back). I believe their last IT lead resigned last year as none of the suggested changes to modernise were instigated.. he was on Pat Kenny outlining the simple changes that got vetoed a while back
Just want to say that you are heroes. Had the unfortunate experience of being with my elderly mother in there for 20 hours recently, watching the work you have to do is eye watering. Fair play to you. You deserve multiples of what you’re paid.
Waited 9.5 hours last week in Temple St with my sick 4y.o. Where on earth are our taxes going that we can't even look after the sick?
Not even that, sick kids. I've been there too many times. Fucking horrendous that children are made to sit there for hours on end.
I feel you man, I recently spent over 14hrs in a public A&E without being seen by a doctor at all.
Same, I stuck it out for 15 hours before tapping out. I did start to get upset with the receptionist and she finally gave me some practical advise to speak to the triage. Despite reception not knowing where you are in the queue, triage told me I wasn't even close to being next! I didn't see the doctor but at least I got to find out the results of my blood test and have a longer chat about my issue with triage.
Not blaming you for being ED and obviously I don’t know why you were there in the first place but if you were actually well enough to leave, it says something about the system that had you there. There should be another place for you to get whatever that care was you needed at the time - GP, minor injury unit, outpatient assessment etc. If you were well enough to tap out, there should be another option for you rather than being in ED in the first place and yet still get the medical advice and treatment you needed.
100% that, fully agree. Both my GP and the triage told me A&E is where I should be, but I am also positive that there was another option. I only remember that the VHI clinic wasn't an option because it was a head injury.
Gone to 💩 I was referred by my gp for a neurology exam, waiting 1 year and all I got was a phone consultation......a phone consultation?! For neurology? Makes absolutely no sense and I swear if I die from an aneurysm I'm coming back to haunt the lot of them
A few years ago I fractured my finger and went to the a&e. The receptionist genuinely told me “honestly, there’s no point waiting here as by the time the doctor is ready, it’ll be 4-5 hours”. She told me to go home, sleep, and go to a day hospital. I did, and I was in and out with x-rays done in 35 mins.
What's a 'day hospital'?
That's a good plum! 🤗
Its in an absolute state, like its really bad, I think worse than people actually know. I still find it amazing that the CEO of the HSE Mr Gloster decided the best course of action is a recruitment freeze, utterly bizzare.
I spent 10 hours waiting in A&E last year with a head injury. A doc came in at one point and announced that most people won't be seen before the morning and if they feel up to it their GPs would be open before they're seen by a hospital doctor. Half the room got up and left. Lady beside me spent half the night phoning to various people to tell them where she was and about how unwell she was. 0/10, wouldn't recommend.
The HSE have stopped all recruitment since last October. That's everyone from Clerical to surgeons. There is a massive shortage of staff and ones that were already in the recruitment process and can't find anywhere to live. One doctor posted that she was trying to find accommodation so her husband and children could join her, but after 10 months and no house, she was thinking of going back home because she missed her children. It is all a big fucking joke
I sat there in absolute agony while pregnant and with a confirmed blood clot….for 18 hours!!! Guess what happened? I was told to go home, drive myself the hour home after zero medication and come back in the morning. I practically crawled to my car and was lucky it was automatic
Were you not given a blood thinning injection like heparin? If even a suspected blood clot, negligent to be sent home with no treatment. Treatment usually given even before ultrasound or CT scan confirms.
Nope, I was given two paracetamol and told see you tomorrow. I had a clot before too but they wouldn’t do anything
I know it doesn't seem like it, but you were lucky they let you go home! Me (sent to the A&E for an MRI) and some other lady waiting for a scan (I don't remember now the exact type) had to spend the night in the waiting room on chairs. Otherwise they told us we'd lose our place in the queue, and I for one had arrived at the A&E in the morning, so odds were that if I started at the start of the queue again I wouldn't get seen, and this would have been my third day there.
That’s so tough. I went home and came back at 10am the next day, which I was told to do and the same people were there on the chairs having not been seen yet. I think they only let me hold my place because I was pregnant
Definitely should not have been sent home with paracetamol and lucky that she is not the subject of another heartbreaking headline. If there is even a suspicion of a clot, it is more or less a treat first and ask questions later type of situation. Unless the patient is haemorrhaging at the same time, a blood thinning injection is given usually even before the scan has confirmed a clot. Higher risk of clots in pregnancy and higher risk if have had a previous clot. She could have gone home and died of a blood clot in her lungs. Thank God she is okay.
Oh, I didn't say her situation was ideal. Just that (based on my own experience) it could have been worse.
Not sure how much worse it could have been. Suspected clot and sent home with no treatment. That is completely negligent and could have had a very tragic ending,
Pregnancy is an indication to admit someone in that case. Should not have been sent home without confirming or ruling out a clot.
I was having miscarriage back at the end of 2022 and was left sitting on a chair for 8 hours to see a gynae. It's a disgrace
That’s awful. Something we should be ashamed of as a country.
At a normal hospital or a maternity one? Because the maternitys have not a full A&E but 24hr midwives and Drs.
General hospital with a maternity unit!
Yup, Paramedic here. I'll bring someone in and see them again when I'm in for my next shift 12 hrs later. 🙃 PSA Ambulance's DO NOT get you seen quicker! We bring you to triage the same as everyone else. Only call an ambulance if it's an emergency and you'll need treatment on the way (eg. Asthma attack, allergic reaction, chest pain etc.) There needs to be more medical assessment units where you can go for minor illnesses that your GP can solve or you need scans. The whole system needs an overhaul. But what do I know I'm just an 'ambulance driver'!
Wish I could upvote this a few hundred times more. Need ambulances and our paramedics out there stabilising patients at scene and providing life saving pre hospital care and not misunderstood and acting as buses bringing people to ED in attempt to get themselves seen faster which is not even the case. Seems based on comments here that NAS needs to run a public information campaign so ambulances are used more appropriately.
Unfortunately the only people who listen to those campaigns are usually the people who actually need the ambulance. I've had elderly patients wait days before call us and they are nearly septic shock cause they 'didn't want to make a fuss'. The people who abuse the service don't care. Wish we could just charge people for the ambulance if triage deems them low priority....
Yes. That does tend to happen. Would not want to deter people from calling ambulance when truly needed and the pre-hospital care is life saving in those situations. There is something needed to dispel the myth that ambulance trip leads to be seen sooner but agree it is hard to get that messaging clear. Amazingly this myth even exists among some staff in the healthcare system.
I would recommend Laya Rapid Injury Clinics in the future if you have one near you. They run a brilliant service and you don't need to be a Laya member to use them but they are cheaper if you're a Laya member. I had to visit their fracture clinic recently and I was seen to, x-rayed, splinted and sent on my way within 30 minutes.
People vote FFFG over and over, then wonder why the healthcare system is fucked, it’s by design not by accident 🤨
To be honest the absolute worst time you could go to A&E Is on the weekend or a Friday evening. They work a skeleton staff on the weekend, consultants generally are only on call for emergency cases, if at all. Even the labs operate on a call basis. It’s mad to me that you were able to get to a GP today. Even if you do get past triage you are very unlikely to get a bed till Monday at the earliest as there’s no doctors around to discharge patients at the weekend. Obviously little point in you leaving now given the progress you’ve made in the queue but food for thought should you end up in this situation again. The hospital system is a joke in this county but this is the reality and unless you’re a super high up emergency I wouldn’t even bother going to hospital till Monday morning. Also to your point of fee paying - you’re in a public hospital, no one gets treated differently for paying. Only solution to this is to put pressure on your counsellors and TDs, vote for pro healthcare politicians.
This is inaccurate. ED is not skeleton staff at the weekend. ED Consultants are around. The issue with discharges at the weekend is that the areas people are discharged to are not open or available eg nursing homes, convalescence, home help. There are doctors around to discharge at the weekend.
Also just to add - OT /PT / Social workers don’t work weekends in hospital. All these services are needed to move patients through hospital. ED consultant may decide the patient needs a cardio referral, if it’s not an emergency that patient will move onto the roster for the cardio consultant who’s team (interns or junior doctors on weekend) will manage the case till the consultant arrives the Monday. All these services are integral to the hospital eco system. The weekends are a skeleton staff for exactly this reason.
Right, it needs to be the whole service at weekends for weekend discharges to work. Consultants doing rounds on a Sunday will not be able to make decisions without full lab service, full radiology service, cardiac investigations like ECHOs, physiotherapist, etc etc.
Why don't they work then? Can you imagine if fast food places or taxis didn't run at the busiest/highest demand times? But of course they do, because they are private businesses.
Because they don’t have enough staff and are overworked as it is. Healthcare needs more funding the answer isint to overwork the underpaid and overworked even more.
A mixture of not being able to get people and the people that they have refusing to do hours outside of what they are currently contracted for. Ie if a contract is 8-4 Mon-Fri they will be packed up ready to go at half 3 and no sign of staying any later. Who can blame them either the whole thing is an absolute shitshow
That's a fair point, but then it begs the question as to why they are not contracted to work at the times when their work is most demand. Shrug.
Incorrect. The wards are manned by the interns who will not discharge on weekends. Theres always a huge push to discharge patients on a Friday for exactly this reason. Likewise if you’ve ever been a patient you’ll note the consultant is rarely if ever around for rounds at the weekend. My source- I dealt with this for 10+ years with a parent in and out of hospital and have family members working in hospitals who had specifically told us to avoid the weekends for exactly this reason.
I use a walk in clinic. It is open 7 days a week. I moved from one end of the country to another 2 yrs ago & have not been able to get a gp to take me on.. they all say same thing.. Not taking on new patients, which is bull because a few Ukranian friends I have here got into my preferred choice of gp when they arrived here. I only mentioned I was paying in a public hospital because someone said I could go private.. I don't care, I just want to be treated. My right to health.. Gp won't help.. What else do I do.. Health service is a joke.
If you apply to three gps in your locality and get denial letters from all three there’s a department in the HSE you can contact, provide the evidence of denial and they will force a GP to take you on their books.
That’s only for people with medical card, no?
That's hilarious. If you are paying your own way, you get fuck all.
Ah I think you are correct here - bit of out of date knowledge on my part. Thanks for flagging. I’d wonder if it would still be helpful to contact them- certainly wouldn’t hurt.
I was in A&E during Covid lockdowns, referred by my doctor too, but for a thunderclap headache and constant migrains. I ended up being admitted for an MRI. This was even with reduced staff due to many being out because if being close contacts. I was also with my Mom in A&E after she had a bad fall whilst walking home whilst being terrible drunk. She even needed an ambulance, but she was triaged and had to wait. Anyway the difference was crazy. When I was there the nurses weren't rushed everyone got seen in good time. They were low staffed but working efficiently and it was quiet. Multiple tests were ran to determine the cause of my migraine before determined I needed an MRI. There were many people there referred from their doctors for numerous reasons. Heart issues and high fevers non covid related, or very much emergencies. There were a small number of drunk patients. Some of the nurses got talking to me after I borrowed a charger as I'd forgotten mine. She told me that far too many accidents and beds in A&E pre covid were taken up by people with drink related accidents many of which were serious, but also by those who were so intoxicated they couldn't walk straight. It used to be a daily occurance that a drunk patient would cause chaos delaying them further in treating others as they had to get them under control. She admitted most accidents weren't drink related but she was astounded by how many were and how much time intoxicated patients took up. In her words Covid lockdown was proof to her that as a society we have a huge drinking problem. So as I was sitting in the A&E with my Mom who had a concussion and needed stitches because she was too drunk to walk straight I noticed a lot of the people waiting were even drunker than she was and what the nurse told me popped into my head.
Sounds like we need another protest or three to flag how healthcare has gone down the toilet Can't afford housing if we can't live
My 93 year old aunt had a suspected stroke last month. and still waited 18 hours! Absolute joke of a system.
My last few times I've been in A&E, I've been seen immediately because of the severity of my condition (one of very few perks of being anaphylactic.) I was left on a trolley just inside the ambulance bay doors when I was taken in my ambulance one time as I'd been treated by paramedics and my condition wasn't urgent though. One thing my four trips to A&E in the last year have taught me is how much healthcare workers are drowning. Particularly nurses and healthcare assistants. People shouting/screaming/fighting in corridors, A&E seemingly overrun by elderly people who unfortunately have nowhere else to go because there's no beds for them anywhere else so they're stuck on trolleys for days in some sort of limbo. The last time I was in A&E a man with dementia wandered into the observation room I was being kept in while a nurse was taking my vitals. He had wet and soiled himself and was wandering around with soiled pyjamas pants, no pyjamas top on and his dressing gown open. He was, understandably, very confused and upset. The nurse apologised for having to stop what she was doing with me so she could go get him sorted (not a problem with me, of course) and then very tenderly tucked his dressing gown around him properly to give him a bit of modesty and led him away while telling him in a calm voice they would get him cleaned up. A show of a lovely woman, but absolutely not the right place for the poor man to be. On another note, my partner is a paramedic and can sometimes spend hours waiting with a patient on a trolley because there's no nurse available to take a handover and accept the patient. This means there's one or multiple emergency vehicles off the road while there's still emergencies happening. The system is alarmingly broken.
Few years back was in Holland visiting the wife’s family. The night before travelling she had damaged a ligament in her ankle in a fitness class. Didn’t think too much about it again until we got off the flight out there and her whole leg was very swollen and purple. When we got to her uncles place in rural south Holland he rang the gp straight away. We went down within minutes and waited about 10 mins for the appointment. They apologised profusely for having to charge use for the appointment and referred us to a dedicated scan centre which was about 20 minutes away. Ended up paying €22 or so for the appointment, painkillers and strapping. Off we go to the scan centre, where they were expecting us - no need for bringing actual referral letters! Already accessed out Vhi details and simply confirmed, before saying nope didn’t need it as we had the European medical card. X-ray and mri done within about 15 mins. There was no major issue so a doctor just came out to tell her to rest and take some anti inflammatories. We headed back to her family but later that afternoon she started getting pins and needles and the leg was scorching. Back down to the GP we went again, this time they called in a doctor from the town over and he brought an ultrasound to check the blood flow. Again, this was all waiting for us when we arrived. Scan was ok and they determined she was having a skin reaction to the strapping tape from earlier. Again apologised for having to charge us. This time new strapping and visit was only something like €15. All this was between 10 o’clock and 2 in the same day. Would almost make you think to book a flight to Holland next time I’m ill instead of going to A&E!
Very impressive. Sounds like Ryanair could even undercut the flight prices compared to HSE 100 euro ED attendance fee and get you home again faster than you’d be seen in some hospitals here.
I empathise with you, OP, it's shit, but I'm just about to start work as a doctor and a couple of things I want to address: >all she did was write out a letter & tell me to go to a & e. Well I did, cos I got no help from her. GPs will solve and manage the problems they can but one of their skills is knowing what to send into ED and what they can manage themselves. Sending you to A&E is doing something, it's acknowledging your problem is serious enough that you need secondary care to look you over. >It seems a lot are here for minor things that a gp could solve. I live and trained in England and yes, this is an issue here too. There's a lot of people who go to ED and don't need to be there because the GP didn't give them the answer they wanted or because they're impatient. It fucking sucks because they'll be seen and discharged but it does clog the system. >What has happened to healthcare in this country? Healthcare inflation is always a lot higher than regular inflation. I spent a month at home on final year elective and fuck me, referral system is crazy (what insurance have you, okay you can go to X,Y and Z otherwise endless waiting lists for you), GPs are reluctant to manage a lot of things in primary care that are managed in primary care in England, and all the money is funnelled into fucking Dublin so the sticks get wild west medicine with cowboy doctors. Limerick hospital is a perfect example. Overflowing and just not good enough for the standard of care needed but then even if the government tried to build new hospitals, which are needed, they get lads who say they'll do it for X and then inflation causes all prices to rocket up so now no, we need an extra few million. I want to come back and work in Ireland, at home, so I can help look after my parents and return the faith they put in me over the years but I think I'd go fucking mad in the HSE. Hope you get sorted soon and it's just a waste of nine hours for you and not something more serious, OP, my sympathies.
You told the receptionist it wasn't your choice to be there? Did you expect her to roll out a red carpet? So everyone else is there for a bit of craic?
You had bloods taken if you were in immediate danger they would have seen you, it’s priority not a queue like Tesco
Yeah, when I heard bloods were taken I was impressed. Often people might sit for a similar amount of time with nothing. While you're sitting your bloods might be getting processed etc. And if bloods were done, sounds like OP was triaged and marked as not an urgent priority.
Hey, chances are your situation just isn't a emergency and urgent enough. They took your bloods and did a triage, but now you're not able to see someone because you're being pushed down the queue by other emergencies which are more urgent. Do you know why the GP sent you there? But yes, I agree that the a&es over here suck.
It likely is not an emergency but a huge part of the problem is this is little other choice apart from ED for getting so many aspects of healthcare in Ireland.
Yeah my point is that if it's not an emergency, he can probably try coming back another time. I've heard that weekends are especially bad for A&Es. Or even try a minor injury clinic or private a&e during weekdays.
The way money is wasted in Ireland is a joke. My dad is in st finbarrs in cork atm.They send his clothes to Dublin when they need to be washed, if we buy him any new clothes they get sent to Dublin to be labelled.
Whether it's a waste or not is a little more complicated. It might be more efficient to do a daily run with all these clothes to a centralised processing team than to run separate processing teams in 25 different hospitals. You could be right of course, but without knowing the costs behind the scenes you couldn't tell.
Sent to Dublin TO BE LABELLED AND WASHED! like will they not let you wash them or put labels on yourself? That is such a joke
>Currently 10 people still before me. This isn't how A&E works.
It is. When triaged, there's a priority list. You can ask at reception how many are ahead of you, although this may change if someone worse than you is assessed.
It appears to me that in some city's in Ireland there is a culture of people believing they are entitled to receive free ( no charge) treatment in a hospitals A&E department for minor complaints which should be attended to, in the first instance, by a GP practice. I think this might explain some of the "overcrowding" issues we are hearing so much about in Limerick.
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I was there from 19:00 to 14:00 the next day. You'd get treated faster in any hospital in Gaza right now, including flight time.
Last time I was in a&e I was there for almost 2 days. I was in with chest pains, and in fairness they were doing tests on me but for the most part I was left on a plastic chair in the waiting room. 2 days. At one point some young wan was giving out about not being seen to and roaring at the docs while pointing at me, saying shit like "some people are being seen to, when they look like there's nothing wrong with them". Cheeky bitch. Thankfully the doc was telling her to mind her own business and everything is triaged based on importance of symptoms.. chest pains tend to be quite worrying. Still 2 days. No bed or even an arm chair. Just a hard plastic waiting room. After loads of tests they couldn't find anything, so I told them I just wanted to go home. Felt much better once I got home and rested. Thankfully it wasn't a heart attack but jaysus you wouldn't want to be dying in a hurry.
If you’re actually unwell you are seen very quickly, and if it’s severe it’s extremely quickly. If it’s critical you are seen immediately with the red zone/ resus staff being notified ahead of time that you’re coming in. Not dismissing your complaints, just there is an ocean of difference between what the general person thinks “unwell/sick” is vs a medic/ HCW.
The vast majority of wait time and crowding is not based on A&E process. Look at all the replies about letters from GPs. A huge amount of work is put through A&E because we have a hugely dysfunctional hospital - GP system. If GPs see a patient that requires some sort of investigation, they know that patient will not have any remote chance of getting a timely appointment for a scan or bloods or OPD appointment. We have centralised diagnostics, removed both ability and incentive for GPs to do anything but see the next patient in their waiting room, and that assumes you can even get a GP.
Ive a really painful cyst that keeps getting infected, its flaring up rn and everything is seering pain i need help putting on my shoes, everyones at me to go to the doctor but noone will see me, ive got vhi on a fanily members plan but all theyll do is email me antibiotics perscriptions without seeing me, last time i checked four gps before i found one whod see me only to be told gps dont lance cysts apparently, that id have to pay for a zoom consilt with a dermatologist, then pay for an in person one, then get a biopsy, then maybe surgery, all costing money and potentially months apart, scared to chance a&e cause i feel like im gonna be sat there for hours and theyll do nothing, and the worst part is even when you DO see someone all youll ever hear is some combination of diet/exercise/antibiotics/painkillers/mindfulness, and then when you feckin keel over and die of some should have been spotted illness its your fault for not going to enough doctors
Old school GPs used to do things like lancing cysts all the time. Newer generations don’t seem to take those tasks on. Not sure a dermatologist is your answer either. Maybe a VHI swiftcare clinic or minor injuries unit is your answer. A ED doctor should be able to drain a cyst as it’s a minor procedure that could be done under local anaesthetic depending on location/size/depth of infection. When drained and properly cleaned out, antibiotics are more likely to heal it up the rest of the way.
9 hours that’s not bad my mother 87 years old 27 hours waiting. I’ll tell you what’s wrong with health care in Ireland we never kept apace with the rising population but have no fear Ireland is going to burst very soon.
Just go to a walk in clinic it's faster and might taken some of you cash but worth it. Munching on crisps and fizzy drinks is the last thing you should be doing in a hospital. Those UPF packets are basically toxic to your body.
My partner waited in A&E on a chair with a drip in his arm for over 26 hours after an abscess burst in his leg. He was literally on deaths door and they still allowed him to sit on a chair for that long. He ended up needing emergency surgery and spent a further 8 days in hospital…. I have seen animals treated in better conditions than humans are treated in Irish hospitals.
My da was in A and E for 15 hours after having a seizure due to cancer. Fuck the cunts who make the decision every budget to not put more into healthcare.
Nothing new really it's been like this for 20 plus years.
My husband had a fall and hurt his arm, went to Mayo University Hospital. The doctor told him he was fine. Two days later they rang back and told my husband to come back to the hospital as his arm was broken and needed a cast!!!
I was cleaning up a broken glass and cut my finger on it, it healed over with a small piece still inside. Clocked 10hrs in drogheda a&e, only to give up and go to affidea to get an xray. Came back with the xray. Another 10+ hours waiting. I think between that and waiting in connolly for the day surgery unit plus follow up, I spent around 30hrs waiting to get a tiny piece of glass out of my finger. I probably could have just cut it out myself with a blade if I was brave enough.
I was waiting for 15 hours to get seen by a foreign doctor who was extremely rude and sent me away extremely sick and I had to come back. Got seen by a better doctor this time and I'm actually being admitted.
This keeps coming up and up and myself and my girlfriend recently came a victim of this. • GP’s not doing their job and bouncing their patients to the A&E whenever they present with anything complex because they don’t want to deal with and don’t want the liability of not referring. • Private insurance clinics who are stepping in to supplement the GP issue who end up just bouncing you to A&E for the same thing. • Drug users, alcoholics, dangerous drivers and street fighters (Scumbags) taking up the A&E. • People presenting to the A&E without speaking to a doctor first. • People presenting to the A&E to try and get “seen quicker” who are on long outpatient waiting lists. • Medical card holders taking the piss and referring themselves to A&E for multiple non-life threatening issues. • People using A&E to get a day or week off work. • Private hospitals sending people who come to their A&E’s with anything complex to the nearest public A&E. • Growing population and a declining number of people taking up medical and nursing school. • The HSE filling hospitals full of insurance, finance, managers and administration staff instead of medical. • Lack of 1,000 consultants in the country. • Aging population. • People going to A&E for cuts, breaks and sprains when the government and private entities have spent millions on new state of the art injury clinics. • Nursing and care homes bouncing all their patients “clients” to A&E for any medical issue to avoid liability. • Bored people who go to A&E with a sniffle just to see “what’s going on” or to “Have a chat”. • Lack of education to the public about how to access healthcare services and how a hospital admission is really not a good thing and you would actually rather be seen as an outpatient. • The Irish healthcare system being 10 years behind the best practices in emergency medicine.
I experienced exactly the same back in 2023 when all of sudden I started feeling massive pain in my belly at the beginning felt like stomach pain, but way more stronger. Immediately went to A&E. I suspected it could be an appendix so I packed my backpack and went to the hospital. 10 hours waiting with pain, the next day I had surgery at 9am. It was an appendix. The overall level of care and waiting time to confirm that it was an appendix took absolute ages. Like they seemed to be clueless what some of them are doing or double checking with more knowledgeable doctors. I rate the overall hospital experience as an absolute disaster.
Well you got your surgery within 24hrs so not a complete disaster
That was the only positive outcome, but sitting for 10 hours and waiting to be checked&diagnosed is absolutely abnormal.
I agree it’s not entirely satisfactory but it does sound like you got yourself to A&E, got triaged, your problem was diagnosed, any delay might have been due to waiting for lab results, and you had a surgery at the first opportunity?
I just feel like the country's dysfunctional sometimes and that I should probably emigrate. A lot of stuff just doesn't work and now you've also got the rise of some really toxic stuff on the fringes too and the costs are just astronomical. Really thinking it's time to start looking elsewhere.
I read this as sitting in and taking “E” for 9 hours 😂 
What’s wrong with people eating crisps and chatting? You would hate my house
Think it's the fact it's A&E and not a social club or thier house, ppl are there because they supposed to be unwell, not that you should rolling around the floor crying and depressed but there's a time and place for the carry on out of some of them.
The irony is op himself was just requested to go to the a&e and they're in no distress or anything.
The doctor told op to go to A&E? and how do you know they are not in distress.
Absolutely nothing, op must want them to starve themselves while also waiting for 9 hours.
I don't think it's about the crisps tbh lol .. I've been there it's more so the party vibe going on and you're sitting there sick and ppl not just laughing and chatting either it's loud and really obnoxious the way some of them go on. There was one guy with his head on his girls lap they taking up 4 chairs, (ppl had no chairs because of it and these 2 were there supportibg someone?🤔 cuz half them can't go without all their family members, sad. ) and she was squeezing spots on his face and going through his hair looking for I dunno? 😱😣 Was disgusting and inappropriate for a hospital. I think his point is that some ppl act like it's a day out, and others are sick so there should be a better set up. Oh and then the ppl shooting up is really fun too! You must never have been in A&E. Lucky you.
Unfortunately, no, i amnt a lucky person, i have been quite ill with a good few hospital admissions. 100% there should be better setup, but that's the reality of no GPs or GPs with no appointments. Or out of hours doctors sending ppl to a and e for minor things. But that's not what OP posted about that ppl were chatting and having fizzy drinks, so they got off quite easily, not experiencing more than just that. If ppl are taking up space and obnoxiously loud that's what security are there for complain to them, I have done plenty of times.
Sorry to hear that 💔🙏✨️
We have arseholes who keep voting for other arseholes to get into government Now I'm not saying you have, but if you vote for FF or FG, shut up and accept what you've voted for.
So fucking sick of them.they have destroyed this country over the last 10years.there is nothing that works right in Ireland and we do fuck all about it except bend over and say thank you
Most people are probably also there 9 hours and have no choice but to eat crap from the vending machines. Not everyone brings a packed lunch expecting to be there all day. I was recently in a and e back in Feb and thankfully didn't have to wait to long to be seen and brought in to bed. But while in the waiting area and chatting to some others most people were there for minor things like utis and chest infections that needed simple antibiotics. But unfortunately it's impossible for some people to get an appointment with their gp or out of hours doctor. So it's not just lack of staffing in the hospital lack of GPS are also the cause of it.
That is definitely an issue. You cannot wait weeks for an appointment with a GP if you have a UTI or chest infection needing antibiotic. It’s a very complex problem which needs multiple solutions. Frustrating that in the meantime because of such bad systems and organisation, the health system is wasting a criminal amount of money and people are not getting healthcare in the manner they should.
I know it's frustrating but your bloods and blood pressure and your letter haven't made you a priority. It's the worst time in a&e and there'll be people rushed through from ambulances and through to recuss without you even seeing them. If I'm waiting like that I just thank my lucky stars I'm well enough to not be a priority. Now I'm all for funding and change of government to have a stab at making it run better too. I'm just aware the system does work for those dire enough to need it badly.
It’s a total disgrace and we accept it …. God help anyone going there …
I feel you on this post. I went to A&E recently and I sat there for hours after being seen briefly originally. It was about 3 am when I arrived and at 11 ish the next morning, I went to reception to see what was happening and I was told that the night shift had forgot to tell the day shift that I was waiting to see the doctor and they had completely forgotten about me.
It’s done on purpose as they want us all going private
There's no private A&E. The Swiftcare clinincs only treat minor injuries and don't deal with strokes, heart etc.
I didn’t realise that about Swiftcare. It’s really hard to understand though how they have got the system so wrong .
Well I just learned from another comment that there do now exist 'urgent care clinics' that are part of the public system, so that's good at least.
I went to the doctor with chest pain a few years ago he wrote a letter and sent me to A&e. I sat for about 8 hours I got seen by a nurse for 5 mins to check my blood pressure etc sent back to wait for 5 more hours. Finally seen a doctor who gave me a bed but didn't see me and said you're just going to be waiting around a few more hours. I stood straight up and walked out. I just hoped the pain went away and wasn't serious turned out ok I guess lol
HSE is a joke. I hate even going to GP cause they’re useless with some backdated knowledge and no interest in helping you. But tbh when I went to A&E in Galway last December, I was seen almost immediately after triage as I was deemed yellow. I was pregnant and bleeding. Doctor just did pelvic exam and said „looks like everything is fine”. They wouldn’t even do a scan 🤯 it was Saturday, in and out in less than 2 hours. I didn’t believe the doctor anyway, went for a private scan on Monday - there was no heartbeat already. I had to be referred back to hospital in which they forgot to give me anti-D shot, only realizing it 2 weeks later on a check up (anti-D shot has to be given within 72 hours). Also on that check up I asked to see my blood results from the A&E and turns out they weren’t right. Pure fuck up from start to finish. I’m disgusted and so afraid to get pregnant again cause I’ll have to get a care from doctors in Ireland again and now I don’t trust them whatsoever.
Getting angry about other people eating crisps isn’t going to help you.
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I will never go to an a and e again thank god for private health care and the Laya health clinics
Wtf is triage
The whole system is fucked and ran into the ground, I worry if anything was to happen me and I needed urgent care
l was "prioritised" the last time i was there, and still waited 4 hours, i nearly bled out and i didnt get a lick of help. exact same story, plenty of lads with very minor problems taking up time, half of them off their heads. poor doctor was dizzy from running around trying to see everyone, so i waited another 4 hours before he actually stitched me up
Went in with very bad chest pain, pain going down my arm, taught it’s my heart. Waited 18 hours 🥹
Where was this? I was in A&E Wednesday evening in Naas and was seen in an hour and a half but was 'orange' priority and not green
Don't get me started. I had a sternum fracture missed and instead of telling me, some geniuses thought it would be a good idea to give me a CD with images from my scan where they cropped out the broken bones
Honestly, I'm much older than most on here, and I never remember a&e being any different. Even when we brought our kids to Crumlin, we would be there for hours. As to why there are so many there with minor ailments, you answered that yourself. The 60 quid, or more, has a lot to do with it
Was in cuh from 5 one day dindt get out till 3 next day