Having spent most of Saturday in two hospital A&E departments, a number of things struck me:

1. When I used to go years ago you could see why people were there - broken limbs, blood eveywhere, etc. Nowadays, they are jam packed but not with that sort of case.
2. Mrs Dally thinks it's because doctors no longer do out of hours work and so people with minor ailments go to A&E.
3. White, middle class British types are under-represented - presumably because they are risk-averse, play by the rules, etc.
4. On Saturday evening the place we were at was rammed and Mrs D counted only 8 white people, 5 of whom were Polish. None of the staff were white and English. The one white nurse was Irish, all other nurses / doctors were from ethnic "minorities" (sic).
5. Many self-inflicted case - men dangerously drunk at 2.00pm, and vomitting, for example.

all tanned from holidays abroad?

Your point?

Why were you counting the colour of people and were the apparent "Poles" wearing national costume or showing you their ID papers?

From points 1 and 2, I see you are a medical man

I wasn't, Mrs D was.

Why?

My point is, why is there a disproportionate, apparent misuse of A&E by some people? Perhaps they can't be bothered making doctor's appointments? Maybe it's because doctor's appointments are often hard to come by? Surely, A&E should be used appropriately and by people in real need and not just as a means of queue jumping? Perhaps there should be a charge made for persistent abusers of the system, drugs, and alcohol? There are some serious issues in all this, not least just how depraved our society is.

No idea. Boredom. Shock at how out country has changed. Who knows?

Because A&E Department 1 decided after 5+ hours that they didn't have the expertise (which was clearly the case!) to make a judgement. They told us they'd 'phoned ahead to hospital 2, who were expecting us. When we got there we still had to wait in A&E reception for an hour or two, before then being taken to a cubicle where the male nurse just left us. After a few hours and him seeing me pacing he let me know the reason for the delay! At midnight the doctor came to (predictably - I almost quoted, verbatinm, in advance his decision) decide to do nothing. So, 10 hours during which time they tried unsuccesfully (before asking us to!), wash the dried blood off juniors face and eye. I am not complaining about that just the fact that at neither hospital did anyone keep us informed (and presumably no one else). Hospital 1 was open plan with 8 workstations in the middle where the medical staff sat and did paperwork and talked but rarely went to see the patients (who probably numbered about the same). I am unclear how this modern system is either good or efficient? Surely, the major element of care is human contact and empathy?

Our local hospital is known as the "L&D". The paramedics refer to it as the "Limp & Dreadful" - which isn't that inspiring when they're talking your offspring in by ambulance! We've had reason to take junior out of there for her own safety before now. The two hospital A&E's we visted on Saturday (both a little further South) were dreadful in comparison! It seems the further North you go, the better the hospitals from our experience.

I will add that locally we do have a very good "minor injuries" unit which is great. Never have to wait more than 5 minutes - presumably as the system abusers do not know it exists. (Edit - or, thinking about it, you actually have to have an injury to be seen there].

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DALLY IN A SL@G THE NHS OFF SHOCKER!!!

So, H&S was trying to avoid accident prevention – to Dally; and A&E was, for him, an 'unpleasant' place to be ...

The plot thickens.

Mrs D took junior back to school today. One of the nurses was horrified by the incompetence of the two hospitals. Hospital 1 stuck a dressing on with the wrong tape but worse hospital 2's Max-Fac specialist put a dry rather than wet dressing on the wound (against what hospital 1 had previously got right). In consquence, school took half an hour to carefully remove the dressing that had stuck to the wound, whilst junior was screaming in pain. As Mr Max-Fac wants junior to go back a week to day, he'll no doubt get a piece of Mrs D's mind!

1. The point I was making was it was Saturday and there were no sporting, etc injuries but the place was still packed.
2. Clearly not enough.
3. I don't know of health cover that covers A&E requirements.
4. No, 8 white people. Loads of other people.
5. Yes but it seems to me that triage does not usually prioritise the potentially serious cases over the self-inflicted and non-serious. That's what I find wrong not the access to treatment for all.

I think for people who turn up to A&E rather than going through GPs there needs to be sanctions. It would be wrong to charge them because that may put off people in genuine need who play by the rules. Maybe each person / family should have a scorecard and when they've done it 2 or 3 times they should be charged?

You should fooking know.
You're never out of the place with them offspring of yours.

I've only ever been to a doctors/hospital, for my own needs, once in the last 35 years.
It'll be just my luck to be stuck in a queue behinds the likes of your tribe, if and when I require assistance.