A&E Timewasters

[Eve]

I found this article on the local news site today:

http://menmedia.co.uk...target-ae-timewasters

"The top 10 examples of timewasting visits to A&E and 999 calls in the region are:

- A patient attending A&E complaining that her false nails were hurting her and asked that staff remove them.

- A patient attending A&E requesting that someone cut her toe nails as she could not get a chiropody appointment.

- A man who dialled 999 as he was suffering from constipation - he was otherwise fit and well.

- A child was brought into the department by her mother after she had trodden in dog faeces and the mother could not bear to wipe it off. She requested that A&E staff cleaned the shoe.

- A man who called 999 for an ambulance after he was bitten on the finger by Guinea pig.

- A woman who called 999 as she didn’t have transport to hospital.

- Female called 999 because she had diarrhoea.

- A woman who went to A&E because she had paint in her hair which she couldn’t remove.

- A woman who went to A&E because her hand had turned blue – it turned out dye had transferred from her jeans.

- A man who attended A&E because he had a hangover".

This shortly followed an article on a campaign about assaults on staff. The people who work in these kind of environments deserve a medal.

[joko]

people can be so idiotic.

isnt it time they introduced a second 'urgency' number - for important but non emergency calls?

i know everywehre has a proper landline number, but no-one knows it off the the top of their head - if they did im sure people would use it... something simple such as 333 or 555 etc
with a proper campaign advertising it, it would 'sink in'

even if it only connects to the nearest local police station desk rather than a dedicated team

[joko]

i do also think they should be fined.

if they knew it would happen they may not be so quick

i wonder if there is a way of automatically charging the phone?

[Mamyalynne]

This is planned

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NHS_111_(England)

[Sqad]

No surprise at all.....just see some of the answers in AB suggesting going to A&E.

There is gross abuse of a free NHS system by people who have only known a "spoon fed" healthcare programme which has never been affordable and never will be.

Another one..." women who went to A&E because she had run out of contraceptive pills and all chemists were closed and she was on holiday"

A&E...A is accident (self explanatory)
E is emergency...just to help define this...shortness of breath, intense pain or sudden loss of consciousness.

[emmie]

suggest there is a notice up which says a and e accident and emergency only, time wasters will wait until hell freezes over. Or is that a bit strong.

[NoMercy]

Bobjugs once attended a woman whose daughter had a sore throat. The woman worked for the NHS !!

If people were made to pay the cost, they would likely think twice nectar time.

I once heard of a man who dialed 999 because his pregnant wife had a craving for a kebab in the middle of the night and there was nowhere open!

F****** morons.

[joko]

i agree...people shoudl be fined...but only for really daft things... people who call 999 and are in hysterics and panic stricken because of a spider may seem silly to us, but people with genuine phobias can be genuinely distressed - and could potentially hurt themselves trying to escape (such as climbing out of a window to get away from a spider)
also not to put people off calling for fear of being fined...

i think also the name should always be written and spoken as accident and emergency...because i suspect if asked many people dont register immediately what A&E actually means... some possibly even think its a proper word in itself, like ayannee, hehe