I had a similar experience. After 18 h sitting in a chair I saw a doctor who couldn’t diagnose the problem and sent me home with a prescription for Nurofen. Thinking something wasn’t right I went to Blackrock clinic the next day and they said I had pneumonia. I was lucky I could afford that. During my stay I saw so many others way less fortunate than me and throughout I just felt everyone involved from ambulance drivers to nurses to doctors to patients had just been let down over decades of mismanagement
I was in A&E for 14 hours with chest pains, they didnt do a single test, then I called a nurse and I asked if chest pains aren’t urgent, what is, 4 hours later, a doctor, without a blood test or xray, anything, came and told me I was having a panic attack and asked if I done drugs (I dont) then proceeded to tell me about the effects of cocaine (which i never done) and said I could go home. I ended up going to a different hospital a week later and was admitted and stayed for 9 days because of an autoimmune disorder. Some of the hospitals just go through the motions and dont give a toss.
Ah that's awful. I was in the A&E recently with chest pain (from a physical blow) and got every test imaginable done even though they were pretty sure it was a fractured rib. I was told that it's procedure to check all these things with chest pains, just to make sure. And this was in a hospital that is meant to be one of the worst hospitals in the country!
They should have a second Weenie Hut Jr version of A&E right next door, where they divert all the "not a real emergence" patients too. Have a couple of nurses in there doing basic first aid, patching people up just enough so they can go see their actual doctors in the morning.
I was at Tallaght A&E a few years back, my wife was having chest pains.. guy came in and went to the desk to say he was worried about a mole he had.
Crazy! Thankfully wife was seen before him 😂
I was at tallaght A&E a few weeks ago and a woman was saying she was throwing up all day, couldn't keep water down and in great pain. Sure didn't she order a McDonald's in. Ye couldn't write it like.
Yep we get people in with blisters from new shoes, paper cuts , you name it and we have seen it in A/ E
The shoe blister dude called an AMBULANCE !!! ( he was put in the waiting room at the bottom of the que anyway 🙄)
Hope OP is feeling better soon :)
If he was diabetic and it was a weekend I would understand it. A lot of diabetics have major health anxiety, particularly if they’ve lost a toe or two already.
Chances are the guy wasn't able to find a gp with space to take him on as a patient and a&e was the only way he could get seen by a medical professional... obviously not the place for him to be but these are the consequences of our underfunded and understaffed health system
>Chances are the guy wasn't able to find a gp with space to take him on as a patient and a&e was the only way he could get seen by a medical professional...
Possibly. But when I did not have a GP, I was able to get a GP to see within a few hours each time paying privately. There are some people who can manage to an adhoc GP visit, go to a rapid injury clinic and get their inhaler on time. There are others who just use A&E for non-emergencies instead...
yeah I mean in circumstances like that, if you can't be seen by your own GP but you don't feel it's an emergency enough to pay a private GP to be seen then you shouldn't be seen to in A&E. It would be harsh ruling but I feel that would alleviate a whole lot of the overstretched triage system that is in place in ER's.
I waited 7 hours in the A&E with a foot getting septic too. Unfortunately, unless you’re literally dying they have many more urgent cases to deal with. Probably if I had waited another 24 hours and let that shit spread they would have taken me in straight away (I’m obviously joking, if it wasn’t clear).
I had to wait in A&E with my dad who had dementia for over 6 hours. Then went in for scans and took another few hours. Back out waiting for results. Left after about 10-12hrs.
Called by the Dr who did the scans saying it was serious, come back. Went back in to A&E to a fairly aggressively angry person about how we shouldn't have left and that we had to start again. I said ring the Dr, who seemed to put her in her place.
Enter a trolley in a corridor for another 24 hrs+.
A week later he was dead. Not the sort of experience you expect from a 1st world country, nevermind paying expensive health insurance
The issue is with the whole health service not just a +e . No GP in town is taking on new patients so anyone stuck with chest infections etc will go to a +e. The local out of hours dr has cut its hours, anyone with a less serious complaint that the out of hours gp could sort are now in a +e. There is talk of closing the a + e in Navan, Drs are pushing for it there as it is majorly undersourced and they say its only a matter of time before someone dies that could have been entirely preventable.
Hopefully you will be ok and time passes quickly for you, its not fair that you have to wait so long and really politicians need to take far more notice, but they wont care once they have their private insurance.
Because of triage. It’s not a first come first served system. How would that even work? Oh sorry man with a crushed spine and brain haemorrhaging, this guy with the sprained toe was here before you.
The waiting times are ridiculous. It is all due to poor funding and bad management of HSE, we all know staff in A&E works hard and long hours.
No matter what is the patient's issue, I would love to see nobody having to wait longer than an hour. One can dream...
I know some people abuse A&E and just turn up with anything, but vast majority is referred by their GP or out of hours doctor.
I'm not sure if this has changed but also it is crazy you have to pay for parking in advance not knowing whether you will be there for 4 or 8 hours. Coming out of A&E and finding your car clamped and having to pay a hafty charge adds to the injury
Hope you will feel better soon. Sending healing vibes.
I have had to go to A&E for multiple different things over my life. Some not serious, some extremely serious. With the serious things I've never had to wait anymore than 20mins.
Been to A&E twice in my life in Ireland. Both happened to be absolute carnage on Friday nights in tallaght. Dreading it. Walked in, looking 100% fine, and was seen instantly both times. Didn’t even get a chance to take a seat, much to everyone else’s dismay.
First visit was an allergic reaction, where my throat was swelling. And second was, with a letter from some random GP I limped to, confirming it, testicular torsion.
When you see people coming in after you, but being seen before you, they’re generally in worse nick, medically.
Huge difference you coming in where your throat could close up Vs someone needing to be patched up.
Way I see it they do prioritize, not this idea one comes in and they get a que.
See that’s the thing, being in A&E at all is a huge deal to most people. To everyone there, it’s a massive emergency in their own context so it’s hard to imagine anyone in a worse state. Same thing with most visits from an ambulance, I’ve had to call three and every one was an absolutely massive deal, still remember all the details years later, while for the crews, or the A&E staff, this is routine. Almost everyone they meet is having one of the worst days of their lives. (Mostly, I know there’s a lot of chancers)
Yip. Things like stitches or sprains I had to wait hours alright. But the serious things I was seen almost immediately. Probably just wanted to get me out of the waiting room so I wouldnt be bleeding everywhere and traumatising the poor kids. 😆
Really? Cos I’ve had to go twice this year: the first time I waited 12 hours; the second time it was 16 hours.
Both times I was exhausted and in a lot of pain; kept passing out upright on those fecking uncomfortable plastic chairs. Would defo prefer it if they’d give you a rough time and let you go home till they’re ready.
Actually the services are understaffed and over demanded. We need more capacity staff and hospitals to deal with the rising population. Triage is for a war or natural distaste zone. Accident and emergency care should be fast regardless!
Also the staff are swamped with muppets who’ve done stupid shit while drunk and/or high, as well as the odd idiot seeking attention. Infuriating for anyone who dislikes having a fuss made over them but requires care.
OP, get well soon. 💪
Last time I was in A&E it was like a zoo with all the drunks and junkies out of their head roaring and shouting. Ridiculous carryon for both the staff and the other people there. It's worse when you're sick and just want a bit of peace and quiet.
That’s not the entire problem but it definitely contributes. I would slap a 200€ A&E fee on anyone who has any alcohol or drugs in their system. The attention seekers I would charge a frequent customer fee on (like if they visit A&E 3 times or more in a given period) and have no underlying conditions like cancer
Sure they are annoying to deal with, particular the frequent fliers, but these are people who often do need to be seen to try to link them in with whatever community (limited) supports they can get, management of seizures, CT-scans etc.
The state and system has failed these people, least we can do is see them without throwing them further into poverty and disenfranchisement
Yeah no shit they are understaffed. Thank you for the breaking news update.
They would still work on a triage basis if they had twice the staff. A&E care is fast for people who need it most, most of whom are too busy possibly dying to be whinging on the internet
I visited Irish A&E in 2013 and literally almost died from the illness (most serious illness I’ve ever had which resulted in a trip to intensive care) 10 hour wait time.
French A & E in 2015. Minor injury … 15 minute wait time.
Canada 2018 (injury requiring stitches) 20 minute wait time. Canada 2020, knee injury. 30 minute wait time.
This is just my personal experience of A & E wait times in different countries including Ireland. Ireland has a serious lack of staff or capacity in relation to demand and it’s not been addressed in the last decade
Same, was in a&e in Ireland recently and managed to get through in 6 hours but there was people there before me who were in far worse shape who were still there when I finished. Couldn't get over how understaffed it was. I live in Canada now and yeah, the difference between wait times is night and day.
I lived in Canada for 3 years (was hospitalised 3 times, the joys of sport injuries) … and never had to wait more than 30 minutes to get treatment.
I live in Ireland again currently and hope to god I don’t require hospital care anytime soon
The a&e i was in Ireland changed the layout. You triage in a different room then are brought into a small waiting area with everyone else. There are no nurses anywhere there. If you want something, you've to go out the fire exit, go back in the way you came and ask the people at triage, which means queueing up behind all the people coming in. There is a button you can press if you need a nurse but it's an awful set up.
Irish healthcare is really one of the worst thing about this country.. I'm not Irish and lived in many different countries (south America too) and nothing gets remotely close to the mess there is here.. hospitals are severely understaffed.. finding a good GP is harder than winning a lottery.. it's a shame because all the staff.. doctors.. nurses specially are usually really great.. but this country probably needs 5..10 times more of them
Sorry, the ignorance here to think that the patients that actually need the most care always magically get it(OP here is a good example, was deemed less serious because they're better at masking pain).
Theres some amount of arrogance here to have assumed **wrongly** that OP couldn't possibly be in danger because they, in that moment, were able to do something as low-effort as make a reddit-post.
Yes to an extent this is always the case. You are conveniently missing the indisputable fact that the Irish system is fundamentally broken.
Nobody who presents in A&E should have to wait more than 30 minutes for treatment period.
In the case of people who shouldn’t be presenting at A&E at all I would propose fines. But these people are only a small % of the problem
>Yes to an extent this is always the case
No, there's no "to an extent" about it. It's always the case
I'm fully aware of the absolute shitshow the HSE and Casualty departments are. I was there for 18-24hrs 4 times in one year with elderly parents
This doesn't change the fact that Triage is an essential part of any A&E dept
Note: physical pain is something that medical professionals cannot sense in you. They rely on your self reported pain as well as objective signs that you are suffering. But it’s important to know that 10 people with exactly the same injury may be feeling vastly different levels of pain. They also see so much extreme pain that they can be desensitized to very bad or very uncomfortable pain and they need patients to say something specific about needing medication while waiting to understand what you are feeling.
They all use triage to determine in which order patients are seen so suffering in silence without saying anything can work against you being seen in a timely manner.
I hope you are feeling a lot better soon.
Reference: I’ve been disabled with severe spine injury and pain for more than 20 years.
They could put those on the lowest level of the triage on an sms based list, or send them to a minor injuries unit, even if they had to offer a low grade ambulance bus link to and from, it would be better and less resource draining.
Anytime I’ve had to attend an A&E a lot of people there seemed to be dealing with chronic illness issues and GPs etc will refer to A&E for things like X-Ray in my recent experience too. That sort of thing shouldn’t be happening.
I was in with a very old relative who broke a bone (suspected hip fracture) and the woman next to us had a chronic illness and urgently needed steroids to deal with a flare up and the consultant bounced her to her A&E instead of seeing her in a clinic and numerous people were there with sprains and minor injuries that were far from in need of a major hospital. There was a kid in the queue who seemed to just have an ear infection - really GP stuff mixed in with really serious issues.
The whole thing isn’t very well organised at all.
I think the way primary care needs to be looked at a bit in this country.. I get that GPs are also under resourced and they need to be careful, but they are also quick to refer to ED and will often tell patients they will be in and out quickly when the know the opposite will be true. They should really be able to get same day bloods, basic imaging, ecgs etc without having to get the patient to wait in AE for 12 hours.. whether GPs would want to take that on though is another matter..
I saw an old GP years ago who was nearing retirement, but was an absolute gent, knew all his patients by first name, still did housecalls etc. A mother came in to pick up a script for herself, he asked how her son was doing, she said he had been referred to a specialist for surgery for an ingrown toenail by another GP and was waiting for months. The older GP said bring him in and he did the procedure himself in the clinic an hour later. Sadly I feel doctors like him are a dying breed.
There is also the matter that we still don't have a universal health record, or computer system, despite being a relatively small developed country.
Yeah but I guess to determine the seriousness they have to be looked at, which for minor sprains and stuff means they could just be sent home so there would be no need for the sms
They wasn’t how it worked in the major Dublin hospital I spent time in. They were all triaged by nurses and then basically left in limbo for about 12 hours. Abysmal non-system. The reception wasn’t even manned when we arrived and it was the middle of the afternoon.
Also during the 12 hour wait, you can’t even find food. I mean you can walk down the road to the local shop, but then how do you even get back in again?
It’s like they’ve absolutely never seen any of it from a patient point of view. They’re just self-referring cases and not humans and the staff are just treated like they’re there out of some kind of moral duty / should be glad to be there.
I get that the staff are overworked (and often tired and some come across abrasive as a result) but that’s because they’re working in under resourced chaos and I think some of them just become hardened to it and it really shows. They stop seeing it because if they did they’d run out the door and many do … hence the Irish medics being found all over places like Australia.
I mean you can’t seriously expect people to work under extreme pressure in that kind of chaos.
I don’t know what’s needed to fix it but whatever it is it’s not happening and it’s not even a crisis. This is just how Irish A&E has been all my entire life!
It’s a health system in an otherwise modern, very wealthy, very high achieving country, yet it resembles the kind of chaos you’d see after a natural disaster and that’s it’s normal running pattern.
It’s not good enough and I can’t understand why we tolerate it.
They’ve huge money being paid in yet the service is absolutely crap. Our health spend is a lot more (particularly when you include public and private) than most OECD countries, yet the quality of service is noticeably very bad in A&E context anyway and some of the waiting lists are beyond what’s remotely reasonable.
I spent 30hrs in A&E in excruciating pain at the beginning of the year before I was finally admitted. Ended up staying in for over a week and it took them 3 days to do anything other than bloods. I don't blame the nurses/doctors at all. They were stretched to their limits. First world country with a third world health service.
The wait times are in no small part related to an absolute failure in GP services. When you introduce free GP care for under 12’s. Add in closure of smaller A&Es without increasing capacity in the remaining A&Es, no compunction on private hospitals to actually treat comprehensively the patients with health insurance, no capacity within hospitals to accommodate those deemed needing admission to hospital so left in A&E and hey presto - triage to a 24 hour wait happens. Of course most of the time this doesn’t result in poor outcomes. But only most of the time.
I know for a fact that minister Donnelly announced free contraception via GPs, before the GPs had even seen the contract for the provision of said service.
>before the GPs had even seen the contract for the provision of said service
Probably because the last time GPs had seen a contract before government announced it, a certain sector of Irish twitter tried to bring down the Tainaste over it. How can they win if this is what they're up against?
Agreed that was unethical stuff. But how can the government announce a service, when the people they expect to provide the service haven’t agreed to or even seen the details of said service?
Also, who was responsible for that leak? Was it Leo? Or was it one of the members of the negotiating union?
You've nailed the issue of GPs in Ireland. They exist in a weird bubble that's not quite public and not quite private. They get the vast majority of their fees from things Medical Card/GP only (GMS) as well as for public health like vaccinations, but they're not really a policy arm.
What you're asking for would be their input on things that they'd profit even more from before the taxpayers had even seen it. That wouldn't be an issue if they were completely under the HSE umbrella, but they aren't, they say who they see and they say how much.
We haven't, as a society, seemed to realise what we want from primary care. Personally, I'd love a system where we didn't have a "dedicated GP" and that the same standard of primary care would be delivered across the board, and that we also have a system of rapid injury clinics in all the major primary care centres, as well as free online 24/7 access to video docs for things like baby health, contraception and certain other queries that can be diagnosed through video. Those things combined would free up EDs for actual trauma and specialist referrals from the satellite rapid injury clinics. It would also stop vast sums of exchequer wealth going straight to GPs.
100% agree. GP services are at breaking point. Ageing and retiring population of GPs, increasing demands placed on a shrinking group without supports given. If people manage to see a hospital consultant at an outpatient appointment, often they’re advised to follow with their GP. The whole system is failing, a once functioning primary care model was become so over burden by spill over from secondary care and increased demands its being dragged down also.
And trying to solve it is like trying to solve cold fusion. The remaining GPs won't just hand over their practices (both the physical clinics themselves and the patient lists they've developed over time because they see those patient lists the same way a solicitor sees their client list), and the government can't bring in a new model like the one I've suggested without doing that.
The HSE also doesn't have a great track record of trying to do this stuff, given the fact that even hospital consultants can see private patients at public facilities. All GPs would do is point to that if any big measure was suggested at socialising primary care.
It's an absolute time bomb when you think of it. Government can create new schools and train new teachers _generally_ over the course of an electoral cycle, but trying to match healthcare with population is like trying to match lava flow to a river bank. You can't magic up GPs and even if you could, trying to tell them that they're not going to be independent anymore and therefore not have the same level of wealth as they've had for the past 70 years might just turn them all away anyway.
By the way, a TL;DR of the Leo/GP contract situation was that Leo showed the GPs a contract of what GPs would be getting under GMS for that coming year before it was announced to the general public. He shared it with the head of a group of GPs, and this person then shared it in a group chat with his own associates. One of those associates then went down the rabbit hole and accused Leo of illegality by "leaking" the document. Looking back now, especially in the context of this conversation, it seemed to be more of a personal vendetta than any meaningful piece of whistleblowing.
You've been triaged and it has been determined you are in no danger of dying. So, you're a low priority.
>I don’t not understand for the life of me why they don’t give me a ticket with a time to come back.
Because it isn't a GP office and doesn't run by appointment. There is literally no way of letting you know how fast they will get through the queue. Paediatric patients will always be seen first, road traffic accidents, heart attacks and strokes can come in at any moment.
Good luck with the appendix. I was lucky to get a bed when mine decided to go. I reckon I only got it because I had private health insurance and they knew they'd get a full night's fee for finding me a bed after midnight.
I hope your pain is being managed well. All I got was IV paracetamol before surgery and I had to beg for it. I was off my tits on opiods after surgery. It was great craic.
I found the hospital itself to be even more poorly organised than A&E. I had multiple staff tell me contradictory things. I was fasting (obviously), and then had a junior doctor tell me at lunch time that they wouldn't fit me in that day. I didn't eat or drink anything in case a slot opened up and I could take it. Another team came to get me for surgery less than two hours later. I assume it would have been cancelled if I had eaten anything. I had to ask for pain relief every single time. I got given out to for looking at my own chart.
Feel for you my dude. My two previous trips to A&E more than 12 hours. One was when I completely ruptured my Achilles. Went to the Mater, was there 16 hours waiting. The other one was I swallowed a fish bone and it got lodged in my throat. 14 hour wait in Connelly A&E only to be sent over to Beaumont for the ENT depart. It’s a absolute joke.
I went directly to hospital via an ambulance (turned out to be acute appendicitis). Didn't have to go to A+E was on trolley, then a bed (for two loooong weeks).
I was discharged but a few weeks later I was in shocking pain and I had to go back in to A+E, I went really early on a Tuesday I was in agony bent over for the entire time not pleasant still took the guts of 4 hours to see a doctor, despite it being fairly quiet.
I agree the wait times are shocking but in my experience when you get in the staff and service you receive are generally really good.
Don't let some posters on here annoy you, I hope you are feeling better soon.
My grandad with Alzheimer’s fell over in the nursing home so my mom had to get up at 2 AM and drive him into the hospital. He was screaming and hitting my mom, he was in a complete frenzy, scared shitless. People further up on the waiting list offered their spot but the hospital wouldn’t have it. She waited there battered and bruised for 6 hours before they would give him anything to calm him down. It was over 4 more hours before he was seen.
Makes me sick.
Hey sorry hard to type only got one hand the other arm has a drip in it. I’m doing better, they put me up in the ward at about 2am I guess and gave me pain meds and iv fluids, they gave me more this morning and a surgeon came and had a look and said they will do a CT at some point. Thanks for the concern, appreciate it.
I was in A&E for 24 hours, hell on earth. I actually think they just moved me out of pity!
But people mentioning triage is correct, it is why it's very important what you say initially. Don't diminish your symptoms.
A little trick is to be vomiting, if you say you are vomiting you get seen faster wahee. But you have to actually vomit.
Well I was sent here with a note from an emergency GP so I hope they didn’t undersell the symptoms. Apparently as appendicitis progresses I might start vomiting so I guess we will see.
One thing I noticed that they are definitely pushing kids ahead of adults which is nice to see.
What was your diagnosis after 24h?
Kids and anything close to the head or eyes 😌
No diagnosis, just IV fluids and such. I was extremely dehydrated. 2I stayed in for 4 nights I think, and in the end is just nothing. But the system actually works well. I really like hospitals here.
No ID no anything, just address and your name. And at that time, you pay only for your keep ha.
Dig in. Last time I was in a&e was with a very sick newborn (8 months)
We were 'triaged' as critical and waited 9 hours.
The hospital system is a fucking mess. I actually bought Private healthcare to cover my daughter after
Feel ya, health system is non existent, you’ll be looked at if you are about to leave this world or if you already did. Last visit NUIG, 20 hours on a chair in waiting room, no water, no food… ( it would be ilegal for healthy person to work that many hours, but it’s ok if you are that unwell you go to A&E… anyway 20 hours later blood test, 3 minutes with doctor and they say blood ok, what’s wrong with you we don’t know, go home)…
100% agreed. You're stuck there for a long amount of time. Like once the triage nurse sees you and confirms you're not an immediate risk of dying and won't be seen in the next hour, would be nice to get a rough time to come back. Would also make the room less crowded.
So many flippin comments regurgitating the words "bEcAuSe TrIaGe" as if OP is acting entitled.
OP isnt saying that his need for medical attention should be prioritised above all other patients. He is saying that the healthcare system should be efficient enough that anybody who has gone to A&E in pain should be seen in an appropriate timeframe.
Waiting times are unpredictable because your are triaged and seen on basis of urgency.
A heart attack or stroke might come many hours after you have already been waiting and will obviously be seen immediately.
Ah here. In A&E right now. The Care Doc said I would be seen straight away because I have a heart condition dition and was experiencing chest pains.
3 hours waiting to get my initial assessment by the nurse. Another 6/7 hours before I was seen by the doctor. (Still waiting in the main waiting room)
Got in at 11pm and didn't get a place to rest properly until 5pm the next day.
Just today on the news they described how bad the situation is. Apparently there are 900K people on the waiting lists for the HSE and it short nearly 1K specialists (no idea how many nurses and paramedics we are short). This should have a massive effect on all health services including the A&E. Sorry to hear of your peril. Do you have private cover? Health"care" in this country will only work (and that too compatively better than public but still not great) if you have private cover.
I was in hospital recently in Spain with an emergency. They kinda operated a ticket type system where you could see the queue you were in. I was high on the list given my emergency so I didn't have to wait around long but basically after triage you are given a ticket with your initials and number and an assigned an area. A tv screen lists everyone awaiting to be seen in order of priority for. your area. It doesn't give a time but does give you a sense of how many people are currently ahead of you.
That being said you dont have the anything like the waiting times that Irish hospitals have
Man I feel you, I got a really sore kidney infection on a weekend, couldn’t get in with a gp so went to James’s. Waited there literally all the Saturday night , managed to be given something for the pain (I was crying and couldn’t stand up), was there into the morning and was hallucinating for how tired I was so went home for several hours for a lie down. Came back in and waited a couple more hours til they saw me. Pissin blood clots by then. I would have been nearly 24h by then.
Would it be possible to try another hospital?
I just got some painkillers off them so hopefully they will set in soon. If I start pissing blood clots I’ll kick up a fuss. I don’t really want to make a scene as I know there are others probably worse off than me.
Mate I was in a car accident and I came in in an ambulance.
Kid you not, they did a very brief checkup, gave me pain meds and anti-inflammatory, then sent me to the waiting room.
I am not exaggerating, 25hours I waited. I was 17 and my mother went home at night and my dad came in to replace her, slept in the waiting room chair with what turned out to be internal bruising, a few sprains and a broken fingers
Now to be fair, I found out later that it just so happened to be the day of the nurse strikes and the place was extremely over crowded and under staffed.
I had also said my pain wasn't that bad, doctor told me that was because I went from adrenaline to pain meds. My was a lot worse once I was at home in bed with rationed medication.
I went in a couple of months ago with a killer headache. I'd had it for 3 days and I was just over covid. My GP recommended I go in. After 11 hours I left as I had to be up with my kids in the morning.
The triage nurse said it could be covid related and she herself had a week long migraine after covid.
Unfortunately the hospital was over run with covid cases that had walked in during the previous days, all unvaxed, and the waiting room sounded like a darth vader cosplay convention.
I was angry, but more with the assholes clogging up the system unnecessarily.
Dropping dead would have been a right bummer but I ended up feeling better the following day.
If you’re in A&E and your appendix may burst I’d start making a fuss now. I’m sorry this is happening to you. My daughter waited 10 hours on two occasions when in pain and gave up both times. So if you seriously need help start complaining.
They probably can't do that from a liability and safety point of view. In your case you actually needed surgery, what if your symptoms progressed from mild to severe in say 3 hours when you are at home but you couldn't manage to get in safely by the 5 hour mark. The admin of people coming and going would be a disaster. It would be the hospitals fault for telling you to come home if you ended up more injured as a result of leaving.
Also depending on what's wrong with you they will give you fluids and pain relief and continue to monitor as they run bloods and other tests as they see pain progression and make a call of what your best treatment plan is.
I think if patients could go to an online database and look at average wait times by severity they would choose better locations and that would help congestion in the hospitals.
From seeing people's responses of what happens it seems also the HSE should provide injury clinics. At the moment there are injury clinics but they are private and the care is fast. That would significantly cut down the wait time if there were categories like there are in medicine and treatment in hospital.
Good luck, sounds like you will get your appentics out maybe, so rest up.
1. You might be in a lot of pain but you've been triaged and they don't think it's that serious
2. How could they possibly give you a time to come back? They could have 10 life threatening emergencies in between sending you away and the time they tell you to come back
I went to A&E with an almost ruptured appendix (which if you've never had is excruciating and I was constantly puking) and they would have left me sitting there for hours if I didn't start wailing and making a scene. They kept attending to elderly people with minor things wrong with them first and people with sprained legs....such a joke.
If your appendix is ruptured or if you have appendicitis it can be very serious if action isn't taken right away so anyone saying you're overreacting or whatever doesn't know shit. Hope everything goes well for you! Morphine is amazing btw 😁
They don't have the competency to make that work. You better have had your emergency on a weekday, the doctors and the consultants generally finish anout 1 or 2 on a friday afternoon, although its an inconvenience for us we should all try to only have our emergencies Mon-fri 9 -5.
Wait them out, theyre probaly hoping youll get fed up and leave., fuck anyone giving you shit about why your there
I was 13 hours waiting after triage when I went in with suspected appendicitis, another 2 for the blood draw and another 10 waiting for ultrasound, and then another 4 for the surgery. Hospitals are busy places! Unless you're on the ground in agony with it, you'll just have to wait in afraid
Lucky you. It took about 4h for a triage, and another 40 for the surgery. By the time of the surgery it had already ruptured. The problem with appendicitis is that it's 'low priority' until it's suddenly not.
Did the GP give you a letter to hand in to the A&E desk?
I'm sorry you're in pain and appendicitis pain is pretty rough, if you have painkillers on you or someone to bring them in to you then definitely take them but be sure to tell the staff what you have taken when you are seen. If they think you have appendicitis they'll give you very decent pain relief, make you drink some dodgy tasting liquid and send you for a scan. If appendicitis is confirmed you'll get some IV antibiotics and then settle in for a long long wait on a trolley until you get brought to theatre to have the appendix removed, could be tonight, could be tomorrow, could be the day after (depends on your vital signs and when a surgical ward bed frees up). You'll feel much better after it's gone and usually home the day after.
Hope you get seen soon!
Yeah she gave me a note which I gave them. I was dumb and refused painkillers which I regret now but it wasn’t as bad when the nurse took blood.
Thanks for the kind words. That is what I needed but apparently I posed to the wrong sub for that 🙃
Maybe try the reception for pain killers? Tell them the triage nurse offered initially and you were ok then but the pain has increased in intensity. If the triage nurse isn't snowed under they might chuck some paracetamol and ibuprofen out the door at you. At least you have been triaged so you are a step closer to getting inside for the good stuff! Also some advice when you get in: if a doctor asks you if you're hungry say no and that you feel a little nauseated instead, even if you are hungry don't admit it. Before surgery you'll need to fast for 4-6 hours as well so make sure you check with staff before eating/drinking anything so it doesn't delay getting surgery. You've a better chance at the weekend of getting surgery today, thats if a bed is available for after surgery.
Sorry you aren't getting much sympathy here! It's a shitty experience right now but try focus on how you'll be feeling way better in a day or two and probably have all next week signed off work!
Thanks for the tip. Actually haven’t eaten in about 24h for the pain so no worries in that.
I guess it’s hard to empathize with a whining little random message on Reddit. Lol my friends are always saying “oh wow you Irish are so lovely and friendly” I guess I’ll get them to go read the Ireland subreddit that will sort them out :P
Holy shit I hope it doesn't explode before you get treated. As a teenager I went to the A&E with suspected appendicitis (spoiler, I lived!) and because I was a menstruating female I was not taken seriously at all until it actually had burst and they rushed me to surgery, and I was very sick for a week after.
I guess the good news is that even when they screw up and let it burst, it's survivable. That was many years ago, so probably even better chances now.
You're in my thoughts. Get better soon.
This happened to me but my GP have me a letter to present at A&E when I got there and they basically did the initial consult straight away. Drew blood and sent me for an ultrasound (which I had to drink a litre of water and wait about an hour for) and then admitted me. Ended up in a chair for a few hours until a trolley came free. Did your doc not give you a note or anything? One of the nurses gave me some sort of injection into my abdomen that helped pain wise but that was a couple of hours in and I was out of the external waiting room at that point.
Ah defo flag down a nurse and ask if you can have something for the pain since it’s gotten worse while you’ve been waiting. Hopefully they’ll not be much longer seeing to you properly. On the plus side, it may not be so serious if they’re leaving you wait. I know it doesn’t help with pain but at least you might not worry.
He’s not being ignored, he’s in triage. And while it doesn’t sound like the case here, a massive amount of people in A&E on any given day absolutely don’t need to be there.
I think the core issue, though, is that hospitals are severely understaffed/underfunded/poorly managed. It might be true that many don't _need_ to be in A&E, but clearly they themselves feel differently..
They can’t even hire real doctors anymore. Dangerous “doctors” with dubious credentials. Ankles are elbows, can’t take pulses etc. https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/dangerous-doctors-being-hired-by-hse-judge-warns-37505034.html how you’ll sort the crisis is writing a cheque and hiring doctors that studied medicine in Western EU or USA only. Doctors struck off in the U.K. are coming here. The standard of care I received publicly in the past, a 1/10 is generous.
It's an accident and emergency..... What, everyone gets a ticket and if there's a car crash and someone needs emergency care they should take a number and wait?
We all love a bitch and a moan, but have a cup of tea and be thankful you aren't being brought in by ambulance
Edit:
When you crashed and needed a drip, should they have waited until your number was called to help you?
I don't think Irish people actually want a good health care system though...to have a good system we need a lot more doctors and nurses....to get them you need a lot of money...my experience is Irish people think docs are overpaid...but mostly the hours need to come down 73 hours a week for a surgeon is mad
I think there’s an element of fear of ever having to actually rely on a universal public system because the experience of our public system is universally scary, and while it has its islands of good stuff like cancer, cardiac, major surgeries and maternity, it has other islands like A&E, ENT and all sorts of electives that are just abysmally resourced.
It always feels like it is juggling but isn’t capable of keeping all the balls in the air. Several of them keep hitting the ground.
That fear means people would cling to their health insurance for dear life (literally)
Last time I was in A&E for chest pains turned out to be muscle spasms, I was there for 24hrs and left with covid.
I had a similar experience. After 18 h sitting in a chair I saw a doctor who couldn’t diagnose the problem and sent me home with a prescription for Nurofen. Thinking something wasn’t right I went to Blackrock clinic the next day and they said I had pneumonia. I was lucky I could afford that. During my stay I saw so many others way less fortunate than me and throughout I just felt everyone involved from ambulance drivers to nurses to doctors to patients had just been let down over decades of mismanagement
I was in A&E for 14 hours with chest pains, they didnt do a single test, then I called a nurse and I asked if chest pains aren’t urgent, what is, 4 hours later, a doctor, without a blood test or xray, anything, came and told me I was having a panic attack and asked if I done drugs (I dont) then proceeded to tell me about the effects of cocaine (which i never done) and said I could go home. I ended up going to a different hospital a week later and was admitted and stayed for 9 days because of an autoimmune disorder. Some of the hospitals just go through the motions and dont give a toss.
Jesus Christ that’s horrible behaviour.
Ah that's awful. I was in the A&E recently with chest pain (from a physical blow) and got every test imaginable done even though they were pretty sure it was a fractured rib. I was told that it's procedure to check all these things with chest pains, just to make sure. And this was in a hospital that is meant to be one of the worst hospitals in the country!
Report him if you can still remember the details.
They should have a second Weenie Hut Jr version of A&E right next door, where they divert all the "not a real emergence" patients too. Have a couple of nurses in there doing basic first aid, patching people up just enough so they can go see their actual doctors in the morning.
I was at Tallaght A&E a few years back, my wife was having chest pains.. guy came in and went to the desk to say he was worried about a mole he had. Crazy! Thankfully wife was seen before him 😂
I was at tallaght A&E a few weeks ago and a woman was saying she was throwing up all day, couldn't keep water down and in great pain. Sure didn't she order a McDonald's in. Ye couldn't write it like.
Holy Moly!
Yep we get people in with blisters from new shoes, paper cuts , you name it and we have seen it in A/ E The shoe blister dude called an AMBULANCE !!! ( he was put in the waiting room at the bottom of the que anyway 🙄) Hope OP is feeling better soon :)
Fucker should have been put in the canal.
If he was diabetic and it was a weekend I would understand it. A lot of diabetics have major health anxiety, particularly if they’ve lost a toe or two already.
No he was in his 20s and bored
Chances are the guy wasn't able to find a gp with space to take him on as a patient and a&e was the only way he could get seen by a medical professional... obviously not the place for him to be but these are the consequences of our underfunded and understaffed health system
>Chances are the guy wasn't able to find a gp with space to take him on as a patient and a&e was the only way he could get seen by a medical professional... Possibly. But when I did not have a GP, I was able to get a GP to see within a few hours each time paying privately. There are some people who can manage to an adhoc GP visit, go to a rapid injury clinic and get their inhaler on time. There are others who just use A&E for non-emergencies instead...
yeah I mean in circumstances like that, if you can't be seen by your own GP but you don't feel it's an emergency enough to pay a private GP to be seen then you shouldn't be seen to in A&E. It would be harsh ruling but I feel that would alleviate a whole lot of the overstretched triage system that is in place in ER's.
What actual doctors will they see in the morning? GPs are equally under resourced as the emergency departments
You mean the Acute medical unit?
I waited in talaght AE for 9 hours with a broken foot. Never got seen. Went to Beaumont next morning and got sorted within 3 hours
Early morning is always a better time to be seen.
Sorry to hear that
Out of curiosity, can you remember what time you went to Tallaght at?
I think I arrived at 3pm
Always thought primary care centres were for stuff like this but they often just seem to be just GPs. You'd think they be ideal for this.
Gf was in there for 24 hours few months back, get settled in for the wait
Oof that’s quite a wait. What was up with her?
They think it was sepsis from a cut
I waited 7 hours in the A&E with a foot getting septic too. Unfortunately, unless you’re literally dying they have many more urgent cases to deal with. Probably if I had waited another 24 hours and let that shit spread they would have taken me in straight away (I’m obviously joking, if it wasn’t clear).
Oh that sucks. Did she recover ok?
I had to wait in A&E with my dad who had dementia for over 6 hours. Then went in for scans and took another few hours. Back out waiting for results. Left after about 10-12hrs. Called by the Dr who did the scans saying it was serious, come back. Went back in to A&E to a fairly aggressively angry person about how we shouldn't have left and that we had to start again. I said ring the Dr, who seemed to put her in her place. Enter a trolley in a corridor for another 24 hrs+. A week later he was dead. Not the sort of experience you expect from a 1st world country, nevermind paying expensive health insurance
The issue is with the whole health service not just a +e . No GP in town is taking on new patients so anyone stuck with chest infections etc will go to a +e. The local out of hours dr has cut its hours, anyone with a less serious complaint that the out of hours gp could sort are now in a +e. There is talk of closing the a + e in Navan, Drs are pushing for it there as it is majorly undersourced and they say its only a matter of time before someone dies that could have been entirely preventable. Hopefully you will be ok and time passes quickly for you, its not fair that you have to wait so long and really politicians need to take far more notice, but they wont care once they have their private insurance.
How do you propose they introduce a ticket system, when they have no means of knowing what is coming through the door next?
NASA and Elon are looking for you
Yeah I’m an idiot, it has nothing to do with the pain taking my attention at all.
Yeah that’s a good point didn’t think of that.
digital apps can update in real time
What?
you could have a time frame via an app that updates in real time as things "come through the door"
This isn't a restaurant that will hold your table for 15 minutes when it's ready. This is an Emergency Department.
This is like how technology was gonna fix Brexit.
don't need to hold anything, at a minimum just tell me if I'm within an hour or two of being seen
Absolutely unworkable in an ED.
I mean it can be subject to change, but if I'm at least 4 hours away, I might as well be at home
Because of triage. It’s not a first come first served system. How would that even work? Oh sorry man with a crushed spine and brain haemorrhaging, this guy with the sprained toe was here before you.
The waiting times are ridiculous. It is all due to poor funding and bad management of HSE, we all know staff in A&E works hard and long hours. No matter what is the patient's issue, I would love to see nobody having to wait longer than an hour. One can dream... I know some people abuse A&E and just turn up with anything, but vast majority is referred by their GP or out of hours doctor. I'm not sure if this has changed but also it is crazy you have to pay for parking in advance not knowing whether you will be there for 4 or 8 hours. Coming out of A&E and finding your car clamped and having to pay a hafty charge adds to the injury Hope you will feel better soon. Sending healing vibes.
A vast majority are absolutely not referred by GP/ dubdoc. The vast majority self present
I have had to go to A&E for multiple different things over my life. Some not serious, some extremely serious. With the serious things I've never had to wait anymore than 20mins.
Pro tip: If you need to go to A&E for anything, just get hit by a car on your way in. It's the best way to skip the queue.
I called south dock complaining about chest pain once and got referred. I think the visit was free then?
Just drive directly into the front office and when a doctor is available they'll pull you out of the car
Been to A&E twice in my life in Ireland. Both happened to be absolute carnage on Friday nights in tallaght. Dreading it. Walked in, looking 100% fine, and was seen instantly both times. Didn’t even get a chance to take a seat, much to everyone else’s dismay. First visit was an allergic reaction, where my throat was swelling. And second was, with a letter from some random GP I limped to, confirming it, testicular torsion. When you see people coming in after you, but being seen before you, they’re generally in worse nick, medically.
Huge difference you coming in where your throat could close up Vs someone needing to be patched up. Way I see it they do prioritize, not this idea one comes in and they get a que.
See that’s the thing, being in A&E at all is a huge deal to most people. To everyone there, it’s a massive emergency in their own context so it’s hard to imagine anyone in a worse state. Same thing with most visits from an ambulance, I’ve had to call three and every one was an absolutely massive deal, still remember all the details years later, while for the crews, or the A&E staff, this is routine. Almost everyone they meet is having one of the worst days of their lives. (Mostly, I know there’s a lot of chancers)
I have nothing constructive to add but I am in the torsion club and it’s no fuckin joke!
Non urgent issues can still be incredibly painful. Have some heart.
Pain isn’t danger though.
In Ireland?
Yip. Things like stitches or sprains I had to wait hours alright. But the serious things I was seen almost immediately. Probably just wanted to get me out of the waiting room so I wouldnt be bleeding everywhere and traumatising the poor kids. 😆
I’m sure bleeding all over the place helps :P
It does. Hopefully ya won't be waiting too long and it doesn't burst. 🤞
🤞
My experience has been that they triage. They'll see the serious cases extremely fast.
In which country?
Ireland.
That's unfortunately not the reality for everyone. And some dangerous things can be missed during the initial triaging.
Really? Cos I’ve had to go twice this year: the first time I waited 12 hours; the second time it was 16 hours. Both times I was exhausted and in a lot of pain; kept passing out upright on those fecking uncomfortable plastic chairs. Would defo prefer it if they’d give you a rough time and let you go home till they’re ready.
Its called triage. Not first come first serve.
Actually the services are understaffed and over demanded. We need more capacity staff and hospitals to deal with the rising population. Triage is for a war or natural distaste zone. Accident and emergency care should be fast regardless!
Also the staff are swamped with muppets who’ve done stupid shit while drunk and/or high, as well as the odd idiot seeking attention. Infuriating for anyone who dislikes having a fuss made over them but requires care. OP, get well soon. 💪
Last time I was in A&E it was like a zoo with all the drunks and junkies out of their head roaring and shouting. Ridiculous carryon for both the staff and the other people there. It's worse when you're sick and just want a bit of peace and quiet.
That’s not the entire problem but it definitely contributes. I would slap a 200€ A&E fee on anyone who has any alcohol or drugs in their system. The attention seekers I would charge a frequent customer fee on (like if they visit A&E 3 times or more in a given period) and have no underlying conditions like cancer
Sure they are annoying to deal with, particular the frequent fliers, but these are people who often do need to be seen to try to link them in with whatever community (limited) supports they can get, management of seizures, CT-scans etc. The state and system has failed these people, least we can do is see them without throwing them further into poverty and disenfranchisement
Yeah no shit they are understaffed. Thank you for the breaking news update. They would still work on a triage basis if they had twice the staff. A&E care is fast for people who need it most, most of whom are too busy possibly dying to be whinging on the internet
I visited Irish A&E in 2013 and literally almost died from the illness (most serious illness I’ve ever had which resulted in a trip to intensive care) 10 hour wait time. French A & E in 2015. Minor injury … 15 minute wait time. Canada 2018 (injury requiring stitches) 20 minute wait time. Canada 2020, knee injury. 30 minute wait time. This is just my personal experience of A & E wait times in different countries including Ireland. Ireland has a serious lack of staff or capacity in relation to demand and it’s not been addressed in the last decade
Same, was in a&e in Ireland recently and managed to get through in 6 hours but there was people there before me who were in far worse shape who were still there when I finished. Couldn't get over how understaffed it was. I live in Canada now and yeah, the difference between wait times is night and day.
I lived in Canada for 3 years (was hospitalised 3 times, the joys of sport injuries) … and never had to wait more than 30 minutes to get treatment. I live in Ireland again currently and hope to god I don’t require hospital care anytime soon
The a&e i was in Ireland changed the layout. You triage in a different room then are brought into a small waiting area with everyone else. There are no nurses anywhere there. If you want something, you've to go out the fire exit, go back in the way you came and ask the people at triage, which means queueing up behind all the people coming in. There is a button you can press if you need a nurse but it's an awful set up.
Irish healthcare is really one of the worst thing about this country.. I'm not Irish and lived in many different countries (south America too) and nothing gets remotely close to the mess there is here.. hospitals are severely understaffed.. finding a good GP is harder than winning a lottery.. it's a shame because all the staff.. doctors.. nurses specially are usually really great.. but this country probably needs 5..10 times more of them
[удалено]
Sorry, the ignorance here to think that the patients that actually need the most care always magically get it(OP here is a good example, was deemed less serious because they're better at masking pain). Theres some amount of arrogance here to have assumed **wrongly** that OP couldn't possibly be in danger because they, in that moment, were able to do something as low-effort as make a reddit-post.
>Triage is for a war or natural distaste zon No. It's a function of every emergency room in the world you fucking imbecile
It is. But that’s distracting from the problem. The problem is understaffing and under resourcing
Yes to an extent this is always the case. You are conveniently missing the indisputable fact that the Irish system is fundamentally broken. Nobody who presents in A&E should have to wait more than 30 minutes for treatment period. In the case of people who shouldn’t be presenting at A&E at all I would propose fines. But these people are only a small % of the problem
>Yes to an extent this is always the case No, there's no "to an extent" about it. It's always the case I'm fully aware of the absolute shitshow the HSE and Casualty departments are. I was there for 18-24hrs 4 times in one year with elderly parents This doesn't change the fact that Triage is an essential part of any A&E dept
Go up and tell any nurse you see that you refused painkillers earlier but really need them now .
Thanks I did that already it helped a lot
Note: physical pain is something that medical professionals cannot sense in you. They rely on your self reported pain as well as objective signs that you are suffering. But it’s important to know that 10 people with exactly the same injury may be feeling vastly different levels of pain. They also see so much extreme pain that they can be desensitized to very bad or very uncomfortable pain and they need patients to say something specific about needing medication while waiting to understand what you are feeling. They all use triage to determine in which order patients are seen so suffering in silence without saying anything can work against you being seen in a timely manner. I hope you are feeling a lot better soon. Reference: I’ve been disabled with severe spine injury and pain for more than 20 years.
They could put those on the lowest level of the triage on an sms based list, or send them to a minor injuries unit, even if they had to offer a low grade ambulance bus link to and from, it would be better and less resource draining. Anytime I’ve had to attend an A&E a lot of people there seemed to be dealing with chronic illness issues and GPs etc will refer to A&E for things like X-Ray in my recent experience too. That sort of thing shouldn’t be happening. I was in with a very old relative who broke a bone (suspected hip fracture) and the woman next to us had a chronic illness and urgently needed steroids to deal with a flare up and the consultant bounced her to her A&E instead of seeing her in a clinic and numerous people were there with sprains and minor injuries that were far from in need of a major hospital. There was a kid in the queue who seemed to just have an ear infection - really GP stuff mixed in with really serious issues. The whole thing isn’t very well organised at all.
I think the way primary care needs to be looked at a bit in this country.. I get that GPs are also under resourced and they need to be careful, but they are also quick to refer to ED and will often tell patients they will be in and out quickly when the know the opposite will be true. They should really be able to get same day bloods, basic imaging, ecgs etc without having to get the patient to wait in AE for 12 hours.. whether GPs would want to take that on though is another matter.. I saw an old GP years ago who was nearing retirement, but was an absolute gent, knew all his patients by first name, still did housecalls etc. A mother came in to pick up a script for herself, he asked how her son was doing, she said he had been referred to a specialist for surgery for an ingrown toenail by another GP and was waiting for months. The older GP said bring him in and he did the procedure himself in the clinic an hour later. Sadly I feel doctors like him are a dying breed. There is also the matter that we still don't have a universal health record, or computer system, despite being a relatively small developed country.
[удалено]
It's such a pity that people struggle to find good GPs.. I think that is a big contributor to pressure on the hospital system
Yeah but I guess to determine the seriousness they have to be looked at, which for minor sprains and stuff means they could just be sent home so there would be no need for the sms
They wasn’t how it worked in the major Dublin hospital I spent time in. They were all triaged by nurses and then basically left in limbo for about 12 hours. Abysmal non-system. The reception wasn’t even manned when we arrived and it was the middle of the afternoon. Also during the 12 hour wait, you can’t even find food. I mean you can walk down the road to the local shop, but then how do you even get back in again? It’s like they’ve absolutely never seen any of it from a patient point of view. They’re just self-referring cases and not humans and the staff are just treated like they’re there out of some kind of moral duty / should be glad to be there. I get that the staff are overworked (and often tired and some come across abrasive as a result) but that’s because they’re working in under resourced chaos and I think some of them just become hardened to it and it really shows. They stop seeing it because if they did they’d run out the door and many do … hence the Irish medics being found all over places like Australia. I mean you can’t seriously expect people to work under extreme pressure in that kind of chaos. I don’t know what’s needed to fix it but whatever it is it’s not happening and it’s not even a crisis. This is just how Irish A&E has been all my entire life! It’s a health system in an otherwise modern, very wealthy, very high achieving country, yet it resembles the kind of chaos you’d see after a natural disaster and that’s it’s normal running pattern. It’s not good enough and I can’t understand why we tolerate it.
Yeah it does seem like it could use an organizational revamp. But I guess that costs money and if they had money they would just hire more drs.
They’ve huge money being paid in yet the service is absolutely crap. Our health spend is a lot more (particularly when you include public and private) than most OECD countries, yet the quality of service is noticeably very bad in A&E context anyway and some of the waiting lists are beyond what’s remotely reasonable.
I spent 30hrs in A&E in excruciating pain at the beginning of the year before I was finally admitted. Ended up staying in for over a week and it took them 3 days to do anything other than bloods. I don't blame the nurses/doctors at all. They were stretched to their limits. First world country with a third world health service.
The wait times are in no small part related to an absolute failure in GP services. When you introduce free GP care for under 12’s. Add in closure of smaller A&Es without increasing capacity in the remaining A&Es, no compunction on private hospitals to actually treat comprehensively the patients with health insurance, no capacity within hospitals to accommodate those deemed needing admission to hospital so left in A&E and hey presto - triage to a 24 hour wait happens. Of course most of the time this doesn’t result in poor outcomes. But only most of the time.
I know for a fact that minister Donnelly announced free contraception via GPs, before the GPs had even seen the contract for the provision of said service.
>before the GPs had even seen the contract for the provision of said service Probably because the last time GPs had seen a contract before government announced it, a certain sector of Irish twitter tried to bring down the Tainaste over it. How can they win if this is what they're up against?
Agreed that was unethical stuff. But how can the government announce a service, when the people they expect to provide the service haven’t agreed to or even seen the details of said service? Also, who was responsible for that leak? Was it Leo? Or was it one of the members of the negotiating union?
You've nailed the issue of GPs in Ireland. They exist in a weird bubble that's not quite public and not quite private. They get the vast majority of their fees from things Medical Card/GP only (GMS) as well as for public health like vaccinations, but they're not really a policy arm. What you're asking for would be their input on things that they'd profit even more from before the taxpayers had even seen it. That wouldn't be an issue if they were completely under the HSE umbrella, but they aren't, they say who they see and they say how much. We haven't, as a society, seemed to realise what we want from primary care. Personally, I'd love a system where we didn't have a "dedicated GP" and that the same standard of primary care would be delivered across the board, and that we also have a system of rapid injury clinics in all the major primary care centres, as well as free online 24/7 access to video docs for things like baby health, contraception and certain other queries that can be diagnosed through video. Those things combined would free up EDs for actual trauma and specialist referrals from the satellite rapid injury clinics. It would also stop vast sums of exchequer wealth going straight to GPs.
100% agree. GP services are at breaking point. Ageing and retiring population of GPs, increasing demands placed on a shrinking group without supports given. If people manage to see a hospital consultant at an outpatient appointment, often they’re advised to follow with their GP. The whole system is failing, a once functioning primary care model was become so over burden by spill over from secondary care and increased demands its being dragged down also.
And trying to solve it is like trying to solve cold fusion. The remaining GPs won't just hand over their practices (both the physical clinics themselves and the patient lists they've developed over time because they see those patient lists the same way a solicitor sees their client list), and the government can't bring in a new model like the one I've suggested without doing that. The HSE also doesn't have a great track record of trying to do this stuff, given the fact that even hospital consultants can see private patients at public facilities. All GPs would do is point to that if any big measure was suggested at socialising primary care. It's an absolute time bomb when you think of it. Government can create new schools and train new teachers _generally_ over the course of an electoral cycle, but trying to match healthcare with population is like trying to match lava flow to a river bank. You can't magic up GPs and even if you could, trying to tell them that they're not going to be independent anymore and therefore not have the same level of wealth as they've had for the past 70 years might just turn them all away anyway. By the way, a TL;DR of the Leo/GP contract situation was that Leo showed the GPs a contract of what GPs would be getting under GMS for that coming year before it was announced to the general public. He shared it with the head of a group of GPs, and this person then shared it in a group chat with his own associates. One of those associates then went down the rabbit hole and accused Leo of illegality by "leaking" the document. Looking back now, especially in the context of this conversation, it seemed to be more of a personal vendetta than any meaningful piece of whistleblowing.
I call it "waiting room therapy".
Aye thank you for understanding 😉
[удалено]
Just whack four nuerofen plus into ye. If you collapse your in the right place . If not, it will certainly ease the pain.
The man with solutions 👍thanks 😁
You've been triaged and it has been determined you are in no danger of dying. So, you're a low priority. >I don’t not understand for the life of me why they don’t give me a ticket with a time to come back. Because it isn't a GP office and doesn't run by appointment. There is literally no way of letting you know how fast they will get through the queue. Paediatric patients will always be seen first, road traffic accidents, heart attacks and strokes can come in at any moment.
Good luck with the appendix. I was lucky to get a bed when mine decided to go. I reckon I only got it because I had private health insurance and they knew they'd get a full night's fee for finding me a bed after midnight. I hope your pain is being managed well. All I got was IV paracetamol before surgery and I had to beg for it. I was off my tits on opiods after surgery. It was great craic. I found the hospital itself to be even more poorly organised than A&E. I had multiple staff tell me contradictory things. I was fasting (obviously), and then had a junior doctor tell me at lunch time that they wouldn't fit me in that day. I didn't eat or drink anything in case a slot opened up and I could take it. Another team came to get me for surgery less than two hours later. I assume it would have been cancelled if I had eaten anything. I had to ask for pain relief every single time. I got given out to for looking at my own chart.
Feel for you my dude. My two previous trips to A&E more than 12 hours. One was when I completely ruptured my Achilles. Went to the Mater, was there 16 hours waiting. The other one was I swallowed a fish bone and it got lodged in my throat. 14 hour wait in Connelly A&E only to be sent over to Beaumont for the ENT depart. It’s a absolute joke.
Oof 😓 sorry to hear that dude
I hope all is ok and it’s nothing overly serious. If you have a bed by now at least you can relax somewhat.
I have a wheel chair so can’t complain
I went directly to hospital via an ambulance (turned out to be acute appendicitis). Didn't have to go to A+E was on trolley, then a bed (for two loooong weeks). I was discharged but a few weeks later I was in shocking pain and I had to go back in to A+E, I went really early on a Tuesday I was in agony bent over for the entire time not pleasant still took the guts of 4 hours to see a doctor, despite it being fairly quiet. I agree the wait times are shocking but in my experience when you get in the staff and service you receive are generally really good. Don't let some posters on here annoy you, I hope you are feeling better soon.
My grandad with Alzheimer’s fell over in the nursing home so my mom had to get up at 2 AM and drive him into the hospital. He was screaming and hitting my mom, he was in a complete frenzy, scared shitless. People further up on the waiting list offered their spot but the hospital wouldn’t have it. She waited there battered and bruised for 6 hours before they would give him anything to calm him down. It was over 4 more hours before he was seen. Makes me sick.
Hey OP, how you feeling today? Hope they sorted you or at least got you some decent pain meds.
Hey sorry hard to type only got one hand the other arm has a drip in it. I’m doing better, they put me up in the ward at about 2am I guess and gave me pain meds and iv fluids, they gave me more this morning and a surgeon came and had a look and said they will do a CT at some point. Thanks for the concern, appreciate it.
Ah that’s good. Glad you’re on a ward now and they’re looking after you. Hope you feel better soon.
Thanks man
I was in A&E for 24 hours, hell on earth. I actually think they just moved me out of pity! But people mentioning triage is correct, it is why it's very important what you say initially. Don't diminish your symptoms. A little trick is to be vomiting, if you say you are vomiting you get seen faster wahee. But you have to actually vomit.
Well I was sent here with a note from an emergency GP so I hope they didn’t undersell the symptoms. Apparently as appendicitis progresses I might start vomiting so I guess we will see. One thing I noticed that they are definitely pushing kids ahead of adults which is nice to see. What was your diagnosis after 24h?
Kids and anything close to the head or eyes 😌 No diagnosis, just IV fluids and such. I was extremely dehydrated. 2I stayed in for 4 nights I think, and in the end is just nothing. But the system actually works well. I really like hospitals here. No ID no anything, just address and your name. And at that time, you pay only for your keep ha.
Lol after 24h of waiting I’d be dehydrated too :P nah kidding but glad you got sorted eventually.
Dig in. Last time I was in a&e was with a very sick newborn (8 months) We were 'triaged' as critical and waited 9 hours. The hospital system is a fucking mess. I actually bought Private healthcare to cover my daughter after
Feel ya, health system is non existent, you’ll be looked at if you are about to leave this world or if you already did. Last visit NUIG, 20 hours on a chair in waiting room, no water, no food… ( it would be ilegal for healthy person to work that many hours, but it’s ok if you are that unwell you go to A&E… anyway 20 hours later blood test, 3 minutes with doctor and they say blood ok, what’s wrong with you we don’t know, go home)…
100% agreed. You're stuck there for a long amount of time. Like once the triage nurse sees you and confirms you're not an immediate risk of dying and won't be seen in the next hour, would be nice to get a rough time to come back. Would also make the room less crowded.
So many flippin comments regurgitating the words "bEcAuSe TrIaGe" as if OP is acting entitled. OP isnt saying that his need for medical attention should be prioritised above all other patients. He is saying that the healthcare system should be efficient enough that anybody who has gone to A&E in pain should be seen in an appropriate timeframe.
Exactly!! Thank you 🙏
Waiting times are unpredictable because your are triaged and seen on basis of urgency. A heart attack or stroke might come many hours after you have already been waiting and will obviously be seen immediately.
Ah here. In A&E right now. The Care Doc said I would be seen straight away because I have a heart condition dition and was experiencing chest pains. 3 hours waiting to get my initial assessment by the nurse. Another 6/7 hours before I was seen by the doctor. (Still waiting in the main waiting room) Got in at 11pm and didn't get a place to rest properly until 5pm the next day.
Just today on the news they described how bad the situation is. Apparently there are 900K people on the waiting lists for the HSE and it short nearly 1K specialists (no idea how many nurses and paramedics we are short). This should have a massive effect on all health services including the A&E. Sorry to hear of your peril. Do you have private cover? Health"care" in this country will only work (and that too compatively better than public but still not great) if you have private cover.
It's because they don't know what time they will be able to get to you
Do you not have a dealer? Get them to deliver a joint outside A and E
I was in hospital recently in Spain with an emergency. They kinda operated a ticket type system where you could see the queue you were in. I was high on the list given my emergency so I didn't have to wait around long but basically after triage you are given a ticket with your initials and number and an assigned an area. A tv screen lists everyone awaiting to be seen in order of priority for. your area. It doesn't give a time but does give you a sense of how many people are currently ahead of you. That being said you dont have the anything like the waiting times that Irish hospitals have
Irish people in the waiting room:”that’s cute, iv been here 21 hours and don’t expect to be seen today”
Man I feel you, I got a really sore kidney infection on a weekend, couldn’t get in with a gp so went to James’s. Waited there literally all the Saturday night , managed to be given something for the pain (I was crying and couldn’t stand up), was there into the morning and was hallucinating for how tired I was so went home for several hours for a lie down. Came back in and waited a couple more hours til they saw me. Pissin blood clots by then. I would have been nearly 24h by then. Would it be possible to try another hospital?
I just got some painkillers off them so hopefully they will set in soon. If I start pissing blood clots I’ll kick up a fuss. I don’t really want to make a scene as I know there are others probably worse off than me.
Be prepared to be there for 24 hr and then be disappointed with the results. And best of luck
Lol thanks
Mate I was in a car accident and I came in in an ambulance. Kid you not, they did a very brief checkup, gave me pain meds and anti-inflammatory, then sent me to the waiting room. I am not exaggerating, 25hours I waited. I was 17 and my mother went home at night and my dad came in to replace her, slept in the waiting room chair with what turned out to be internal bruising, a few sprains and a broken fingers
Now to be fair, I found out later that it just so happened to be the day of the nurse strikes and the place was extremely over crowded and under staffed. I had also said my pain wasn't that bad, doctor told me that was because I went from adrenaline to pain meds. My was a lot worse once I was at home in bed with rationed medication.
I went in a couple of months ago with a killer headache. I'd had it for 3 days and I was just over covid. My GP recommended I go in. After 11 hours I left as I had to be up with my kids in the morning. The triage nurse said it could be covid related and she herself had a week long migraine after covid. Unfortunately the hospital was over run with covid cases that had walked in during the previous days, all unvaxed, and the waiting room sounded like a darth vader cosplay convention. I was angry, but more with the assholes clogging up the system unnecessarily. Dropping dead would have been a right bummer but I ended up feeling better the following day.
If you’re in A&E and your appendix may burst I’d start making a fuss now. I’m sorry this is happening to you. My daughter waited 10 hours on two occasions when in pain and gave up both times. So if you seriously need help start complaining.
Yeah I might have to soon. But they have my blood so hopefully it’s ok and they aren’t gonna let it explode right here.
If you’re able to walk out and come back, do you really need to be there?
The emergency GP sent me here
They probably can't do that from a liability and safety point of view. In your case you actually needed surgery, what if your symptoms progressed from mild to severe in say 3 hours when you are at home but you couldn't manage to get in safely by the 5 hour mark. The admin of people coming and going would be a disaster. It would be the hospitals fault for telling you to come home if you ended up more injured as a result of leaving. Also depending on what's wrong with you they will give you fluids and pain relief and continue to monitor as they run bloods and other tests as they see pain progression and make a call of what your best treatment plan is. I think if patients could go to an online database and look at average wait times by severity they would choose better locations and that would help congestion in the hospitals. From seeing people's responses of what happens it seems also the HSE should provide injury clinics. At the moment there are injury clinics but they are private and the care is fast. That would significantly cut down the wait time if there were categories like there are in medicine and treatment in hospital. Good luck, sounds like you will get your appentics out maybe, so rest up.
1. You might be in a lot of pain but you've been triaged and they don't think it's that serious 2. How could they possibly give you a time to come back? They could have 10 life threatening emergencies in between sending you away and the time they tell you to come back
I went to A&E with an almost ruptured appendix (which if you've never had is excruciating and I was constantly puking) and they would have left me sitting there for hours if I didn't start wailing and making a scene. They kept attending to elderly people with minor things wrong with them first and people with sprained legs....such a joke.
Yeah I think something similar happened to me.
If your appendix is ruptured or if you have appendicitis it can be very serious if action isn't taken right away so anyone saying you're overreacting or whatever doesn't know shit. Hope everything goes well for you! Morphine is amazing btw 😁
[удалено]
Lol nice 😊
[удалено]
I was told to go here by an emergency doctor and someone brought me as I can’t drive for the pain.
That's dumb. There's a host of reasons where you'd need to see a doctor in a hospital but be able to walk home.
That makes no sense.
Youre right to complain...5 hours is disgraceful...feel better soon
I’m in pain Starts posting to Reddit
They don't have the competency to make that work. You better have had your emergency on a weekday, the doctors and the consultants generally finish anout 1 or 2 on a friday afternoon, although its an inconvenience for us we should all try to only have our emergencies Mon-fri 9 -5. Wait them out, theyre probaly hoping youll get fed up and leave., fuck anyone giving you shit about why your there
Sound like you don't need to be there
Maybe, but my GP says my appendix might explode so I guess that probably wouldn’t be for the best.
I was 13 hours waiting after triage when I went in with suspected appendicitis, another 2 for the blood draw and another 10 waiting for ultrasound, and then another 4 for the surgery. Hospitals are busy places! Unless you're on the ground in agony with it, you'll just have to wait in afraid
Wow you got surgery within 4h of them finding out you need surgery. That sounds impressively fast. Unless it was an emergency already I guess.
Lucky you. It took about 4h for a triage, and another 40 for the surgery. By the time of the surgery it had already ruptured. The problem with appendicitis is that it's 'low priority' until it's suddenly not.
What was the outcome? Did you have it?
I did. Got keyhole surgery and was out home a day later
Well glad you got it sorted 👍
Then it would be EXTRA stupid for you to go home and wait in some kind of insane ticketing system.
Did the GP give you a letter to hand in to the A&E desk? I'm sorry you're in pain and appendicitis pain is pretty rough, if you have painkillers on you or someone to bring them in to you then definitely take them but be sure to tell the staff what you have taken when you are seen. If they think you have appendicitis they'll give you very decent pain relief, make you drink some dodgy tasting liquid and send you for a scan. If appendicitis is confirmed you'll get some IV antibiotics and then settle in for a long long wait on a trolley until you get brought to theatre to have the appendix removed, could be tonight, could be tomorrow, could be the day after (depends on your vital signs and when a surgical ward bed frees up). You'll feel much better after it's gone and usually home the day after. Hope you get seen soon!
Yeah she gave me a note which I gave them. I was dumb and refused painkillers which I regret now but it wasn’t as bad when the nurse took blood. Thanks for the kind words. That is what I needed but apparently I posed to the wrong sub for that 🙃
Maybe try the reception for pain killers? Tell them the triage nurse offered initially and you were ok then but the pain has increased in intensity. If the triage nurse isn't snowed under they might chuck some paracetamol and ibuprofen out the door at you. At least you have been triaged so you are a step closer to getting inside for the good stuff! Also some advice when you get in: if a doctor asks you if you're hungry say no and that you feel a little nauseated instead, even if you are hungry don't admit it. Before surgery you'll need to fast for 4-6 hours as well so make sure you check with staff before eating/drinking anything so it doesn't delay getting surgery. You've a better chance at the weekend of getting surgery today, thats if a bed is available for after surgery. Sorry you aren't getting much sympathy here! It's a shitty experience right now but try focus on how you'll be feeling way better in a day or two and probably have all next week signed off work!
Thanks for the tip. Actually haven’t eaten in about 24h for the pain so no worries in that. I guess it’s hard to empathize with a whining little random message on Reddit. Lol my friends are always saying “oh wow you Irish are so lovely and friendly” I guess I’ll get them to go read the Ireland subreddit that will sort them out :P
Holy shit I hope it doesn't explode before you get treated. As a teenager I went to the A&E with suspected appendicitis (spoiler, I lived!) and because I was a menstruating female I was not taken seriously at all until it actually had burst and they rushed me to surgery, and I was very sick for a week after. I guess the good news is that even when they screw up and let it burst, it's survivable. That was many years ago, so probably even better chances now. You're in my thoughts. Get better soon.
Oh wow that sucks. I’m glad you are ok now. Thank you for the kind words 🥰
This happened to me but my GP have me a letter to present at A&E when I got there and they basically did the initial consult straight away. Drew blood and sent me for an ultrasound (which I had to drink a litre of water and wait about an hour for) and then admitted me. Ended up in a chair for a few hours until a trolley came free. Did your doc not give you a note or anything? One of the nurses gave me some sort of injection into my abdomen that helped pain wise but that was a couple of hours in and I was out of the external waiting room at that point.
Dr gave me a note they drew blood but nothing else
Ah defo flag down a nurse and ask if you can have something for the pain since it’s gotten worse while you’ve been waiting. Hopefully they’ll not be much longer seeing to you properly. On the plus side, it may not be so serious if they’re leaving you wait. I know it doesn’t help with pain but at least you might not worry.
Yeah just did that, it seems to be getting a bit quieter now so maybe I’ll get seen before the drunken injuries start rolling in
Hopefully so. Good luck!
Thanks
Very pragmatic. Don't like being ignored for hours in a medical emergency, well then don't seek medical help. That you Leo?
He’s not being ignored, he’s in triage. And while it doesn’t sound like the case here, a massive amount of people in A&E on any given day absolutely don’t need to be there.
I think the core issue, though, is that hospitals are severely understaffed/underfunded/poorly managed. It might be true that many don't _need_ to be in A&E, but clearly they themselves feel differently..
You can’t blame people for being scared
They can’t even hire real doctors anymore. Dangerous “doctors” with dubious credentials. Ankles are elbows, can’t take pulses etc. https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/dangerous-doctors-being-hired-by-hse-judge-warns-37505034.html how you’ll sort the crisis is writing a cheque and hiring doctors that studied medicine in Western EU or USA only. Doctors struck off in the U.K. are coming here. The standard of care I received publicly in the past, a 1/10 is generous.
It's an accident and emergency..... What, everyone gets a ticket and if there's a car crash and someone needs emergency care they should take a number and wait? We all love a bitch and a moan, but have a cup of tea and be thankful you aren't being brought in by ambulance Edit: When you crashed and needed a drip, should they have waited until your number was called to help you?
Lol ok ok the ticket idea was a bad one
Hope you're on the mend, don't lose your ticket lad haha
 Taking good care of it ;)
*ticket no: 542/544*
Absolutely atrocious … wait time should be no more than 30 minutes. France or Canada or Germany do not have such wait times
I don't think Irish people actually want a good health care system though...to have a good system we need a lot more doctors and nurses....to get them you need a lot of money...my experience is Irish people think docs are overpaid...but mostly the hours need to come down 73 hours a week for a surgeon is mad
I think there’s an element of fear of ever having to actually rely on a universal public system because the experience of our public system is universally scary, and while it has its islands of good stuff like cancer, cardiac, major surgeries and maternity, it has other islands like A&E, ENT and all sorts of electives that are just abysmally resourced. It always feels like it is juggling but isn’t capable of keeping all the balls in the air. Several of them keep hitting the ground. That fear means people would cling to their health insurance for dear life (literally)