Accident Prone - a visit to A & E -

I went through the whole of my life never breaking a bone despite playing hockey, netball & tennis at school. Now I do seem a bit accident prone & have just spent another mindless afternoon in A&E. I think I will have to give up family parties for my new year resolution.

This time I jarred my foot against the bed & had a suspected broken toe. Earlier in the year I fell over & broke a finger at a friends birthday. Both resulted in black, swollen digits & quite a lot of pain. The worst outcome was the inability to use the hand & now walk with anything but slippers on.

Unsurprisingly A&E was very busy. It was the day after Boxing Day & I imagine that a lot of people, like me, had waited until the festivities were over. A&E is a microcosm of human life. All ages, ethnicities etc etc. Even 2 lots of police with handcuffed prisoners. You know you are in for a long wait whatever the injury or pain level & people cope in different ways.

I took a book by Caroline Lucas about politics - very good, but I couldn't concentrate. So I watched instead - for hours. Over an hour to be triaged. Then an Xray, then a Nurse Practitioner.

The thing that struck me, having been on holiday with an American who didn't "do" queuing, is how compliant we Brits are. The waiting room was almost full. None of us knew how long we would be there. There is no clue. I have been to A&E's where they have an electronic display giving an estimated waiting time - but not at the JR. Giving information to patients isn't high on the list of priorities.

You don't know who is at the front of the queue or where in the process everyone is. The workings of the system are a mystery. You don't know if the relevant practitioner knows you are there. But it does all work - very, very slowly. You just have to have faith & be a patient patient.

People were quiet. They didn't pester staff, who were obviously working efficiently to protocols. We were all resigned. I think I went off into a zombie like state & had to fight not to go to sleep.

The question is should A&E work any more efficiently? Should there be more staff? Should more money be put into this very front line service? I imagine you could throw lots more money at it, but would that be the right solution?

Personally I would just like to see patients being consulted & informed more. I can see it from the point of view of the staff. They do their best & their best is excellent. But doing this day after day can result in staff distancing themselves from the patient as an individual. People can become numbers to be processed through.

You are trapped in a waiting room. If, like me, you are on your own, you can't pop off for a drink, or go to the loo, or a walk, (not that I could), without worrying that you will miss your name being called.

It's probably never going to be a good experience, but I do think there is room for improvement.