1. sunlover

    sunlover Registered User

    Dec 6, 2011
    Unfortunately hubby tripped over my shoes on Christmas night,(no he did not have too many beers)I helped him up
    and went back to bed,he woke up a lot which was unsual! Morning came and his eye/cheek so swollen phoned 111 and they told me to take him to A and E,saw the nurse who took temperature etc and gave him Paracetamol and said 3 plus hours to see a Doc,he’s got Alzheimer’s ,did 1.30 and left!
    Hospitals need training,they have no idea! Maybe start a new campaign!
  2. Beate

    Beate Registered User

    May 21, 2014
    I'm sorry but I find that unreasonable. 3 hours is not that long a waiting time for the overstretched NHS, and they are doing the best they can. Are you suggesting people with dementia should get prioritised over more critical or even life-threatening cases? No person with dementia is the same, and long waiting times are the norm now. I recently spent 11 hours in A&E, and their medical care was exemplary.

    I fully understand how traumatic A&E can be but I'm guessing it's more of a lack of staff problem than anything else.
  3. Cat27

    Cat27 Volunteer Moderator

    Feb 27, 2015
    I hope your husband is ok now?
    I well remember how stressful an A&E stint can be with a loved with dementia & how half an hour seems like 2hrs.
  4. sunlover

    sunlover Registered User

    Dec 6, 2011
  5. nae sporran

    nae sporran Volunteer Host

    Oct 29, 2014
    Sorry you had such a stressful Christmas Sunlover. I know how hard A&E can be when you have dementia and lk after someone with dementia, hope your husband is a bit better now.
  6. sunlover

    sunlover Registered User

    Dec 6, 2011
    He is thank you,never had to use 111 before and took their advice(so helpful)
    Hospitals need training on Alzheimer’s and it’s one of my New Years Resulations,get involved in local group
  7. sunlover

    sunlover Registered User

    Dec 6, 2011
  8. sunlover

    sunlover Registered User

    Dec 6, 2011
    No not to a emergency! But should be put top of list to minor ailments!
  9. Jessbow

    Jessbow Registered User

    Problem is, everyone thinks they should be pushed to the top of the list because of their disability.

    There are so many disabilities that think they need priority treatment, I honestly think its better just to go in turn, especially with minor ailments.
    Yes its inconvenient, but its the same for everyone.
    ( I wouldnt like to prioritise one disability over another)
  10. maryjoan

    maryjoan Registered User

    Mar 25, 2017
    South of the Border
    Our local hospital ( Royal Devon and Exeter) is attempting to put protocols in place to make the transition through a hospital visit/admission/discharge easier for people with dementia.

    It is taking quite some time to organise for many reasons.

    The biggest problem with a dementia patient in a medical situation ( and I have been in many from minor to life threatening with my OH) is that they need a family member or carer with them as they cannot always tell the medical staff what the difficulty is, or remember what advice is being given to them.

    Waiting is very frustrating, and I have had a long wait into the early hours of the morning (1.30am), with no car, no public transport and no way of getting home.
    I am a lifelong campaigner with some successes, but sometimes we have to accept that in a none life threatening situation - it is what it is - and we simply have to wait along with everyone else, no matter how unreasonable, and tiring it is.

    The NHS is wonderful when it comes to saving life - as I found out with my OH. But when it comes to recovery time, discharge, rehab, there just is not the money there for it to do better than it is - not at the moment.

    Just an aside and food for thought. My ex husband is having a hip replaced on Friday next week - privately - it is costing him £13,500. A friend is in extreme pain and needs both hips replacing - she cannot afford to go privately, and she has been told she will have to wait at least another year.

    Short answer - the NHS is wonderful - it has it's limitations and we have to accept that. Would we want to be in the US where you have to prove you can pay before they will save your life??
  11. Theresalwaystomorrow

    Theresalwaystomorrow Registered User

    Dec 23, 2017
    Hi @sunlover, I totally agree with you, of course you weren’t asking to be prioritised over emergency’s however much more dementia awareness is needed in hospitals and I thing they are trying to campaign for this.
    I don’t know how you managed 3 hrs! Before my mum went into care I took her to her doctors and it was horrendous, she was shouting out, kept getting up, really really agitated so I agree the mind is a terrible thing if you can’t get it to rationalise !!! Others waiting might feel the same but at least they can put it in perspective, try doing that to pwd!
    Like IV said before we need new fresh campaigners, the younger generation are not going to be so tolerant with this disease or the support the government is giving it at present .
  12. BeardyD

    BeardyD Registered User

    Jan 19, 2016
    I've taken my wife to A&E 3 times after falls. The third time she had broken her finger and it was swelling badly. She was treated immediately. The other times (once for a broken toe and once for a bad gash on her head) we had to wait for 3 hours after triage. Medically the treatment was excellent but each time there were only 2 other people waiting to be treated, so much for being overstretched. If I were a cynical person (I prefer the term "realistic") I would think they were trying to get their figures to look bad to help with their claim for more A&E space. They didn't get the money for A&E but they've managed to build a new office block.
  13. jugglingmum

    jugglingmum Registered User

    Jan 5, 2014
    Presumably you were in 'minors' if you had walked in, whereas the A & E staff are covering minors, majors and trauma. Ambulance patients are normally delivered into and stay in majors or trauma at our local hospital, so not visible to walking wounded. When I took my dau in with pneumonia we remained in minors, but put near nurses station for observation purposes.

    When I took my son in (later told in no uncertain terms I should have called an ambulance), we were instantly transferred from minor to trauma, with a patient rapidly moved out of the trauma bay for him (routed through majors) with 11 drs and nurses stood around the bed to assess. This removed considerable resource from the rest of the A & E dept, and will have slowed everything down. We had a nurse stay at the bedside the entire time son was considered high risk, with a full crash pack, including carrying this crash pack to xray and into the CT scan room, a doctor also stayed with him for the journey to and from xray and CT, again removing resource from A & E so things aren't always visible. On this occasion there was only one other person in minors when we arrived and they were queuing for xray when we got to xray, and jumped ahead of them. xray and CT scan area were held clear for him so he could be taken straight in and out given the risk they considered him to be. So you can't see the full story from the waiting room.

    I have often been sat in minors with only one other person and seemingly no movement for a long time, but often this is because either staff on minors have been called through to majors or patients in minors have moved from the waiting area to cubicles and are being dealt with there.

    In my local A & E only staff can move between minors and majors so you can't see how many patients are being treated in majors. The nurses in my local A & E are assigned specifically to minors or majors but the Drs are covering both (discharge with dau was delayed over 1.5 hours whilst waiting for allocated Dr to return from majors)
  14. RosettaT

    RosettaT Registered User

    Sep 9, 2018
    Mid Lincs
    I agree more awareness is needed. My OH collapsed Christmas day and has been in hospital almost since. Every department has rung me so far saying something along the lines off 'I have spoken with your husband, but he's not making sense'. A, he has Alzheimer's and b, an infection that has knocked his mental capacity for 6. What do they expect? They have been told time and again, he can't at this point make decisions and other than telling them his name, he doesn't understand the questions they ask because they are too complicated and long for him to understand. They need to ask in very, very simple terms what they want to know and he would get there eventually.
  15. sinkhole

    sinkhole Registered User

    Jan 28, 2015
    I was in A&E with my mum on Saturday from 8pm to 2:30am. The carer had already been there with her for 3 hours before I arrived.

    I agree that once you see someone the treatment is usually very good, but the before and after parts are just not fit for purpose. There are quite a few really basic things which could be improved with not much money, but I don't believe the will or motivation is there for them to be done.

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