I am going to have a rant today. My blood is boiling and I can't keep it in.
It began on Saturday when my 32 year old son developed a problem with a swollen knee. It improved a little with rest and hot and cold compresses over the weekend. On Tuesday he was sent home from work, told to return when fully recovered. He is an electrician and has to go up and down ladders and work with heavy equipment.
Later on Tuesday evening, he tried to bend his leg and heard something crunch. I heard him scream and ran upstairs to find him in tears. The pain was excruciating. I gave him pain killers, helped him dress and drove him to A & E. At 9pm when we arrived, I was not allowed to stay with him: the hospital is operating a 'patient only' policy.
I went to the Costa cafe, only to find it closed. I was allowed to wait in the main entrance until they locked up at 10pm. I returned to A & E and managed to speak to my son. He had already had an X-Ray so I was optimistic that a doctor would review his plates and that he might get some treatment fairly soon.
I was fortunate that it was a mild night, although there was fine rain, I was forced to stand outside. As I waited, looking through the window, I realised that there were people receiving treatment in the waiting room. A very elderly lady was sitting in a wheelchair, attached to a drip on a stand. Others were having blood pressure taken, or drips fitted.
A lady outside told me that she had taken her 86 year old mother there at 1pm and she had been sitting alone without so much as a cup of tea or something to eat. She was waiting for a CAT scan. The daughter told me that she had managed to nip in and take her mum a drink and a sandwich. I would have been furious.
Time passed slowly for both my son and myself. By 1.30am - 4 hours after he arrived, he was getting frustrated and his pain relief was wearing off. He went to the reception desk to enquire whether he may have been missed, only to be told that he would have at least another two hours wait. At his point he had had enough. He wanted to go home. En route he was angry. He complained that he paid National Insurance contributions and that drunks and drug-user had arrived, been seen and left, while he had such a long wait.
He took some more pain-killers and went to bed. The knee may be dislocated but he remains untreated. The target time for A & E is 4 hours. He would have had to wait at least 6 hours, in pain. More to the point, he has not been able to return to work. It may require another visit to the hospital to get answers.
The elderly lady was eventually seen. She had been waiting for 12 hours. It is ridiculous. Many of the people in A & E should not have been there. Many were just walking about, obviously not suffering severe symptoms. Surely when they are triaged. they should be sent home and told to go to a pharmacy or a GP. Government advice is to call 111 first. and not dash to hospital. Why don't people listen? It's ridiculous.
God's waiting room