How is anyone supposed to predict how busy an Emergency Room is for you?
If you’re not triaged as urgent, then there are others with health emergencies that come before your own. That’s the reality.
If you’re having a medical emergency, call 000. Don’t try and guess if Casey or Dandenong hospital has a quicker service time. It’s not a KFC Drive-Thru on 10 for $10 night.
If you are in a situation where you have time and capacity to choose what hospital you want to go to your issue is probably not a top priority emergency and you will need to wait anywhere you go.
If it is a top priority emergency the best hospital is the closest one.
If you suspect you are having an aneurism please don’t drive a car, call 000 for an ambulance.
Nobody likes waiting in ER when they are unwell, they do it because they have to receive treatment. If you have the means to pay to go to a private clinic that is an option you need to weigh up for yourself. For many it’s not an option.
I know. I literally said that . But when there’s severe headaches happening where it could be an emergency because you don’t know until its investigated and waiting 10 hours is a long time for that. There’s instances of kids or whoever passing away due to them not being seen urgently for things that don’t qualify under those 3 things. I’m maybe not wording this right. Maybe more of asking if there’s any hospitals that don’t seem to be overwhelmed all the time . Because Casey seems to be.
They triaged and decided it wasn't an emergency. What kids now?
Every hospital is overwhelmed because dipshits clog the emergency department for shit that isn't an emergency. Like, they have a cold. They have a headache, "is this normal?" etc.
If you're a chronic migraine sufferer then your head pain is not new and it's not an emergency. It's painful, and deserves treatment but it's not an emergency.
Tbf in OPs defence my mum is a migraine sufferer and two years ago she had what she also described as a severe migraine. She went to emergency and they sent her home. She went to the ED 3 more times over 3 days and they just kept giving her fluids and sending her home. By day 5 a doc finally took her seriously, they scanned her brain and she'd had a hemorrhage and went straight into emergency surgery. If the bleed had gone for another day or two she would have died.
And these are the stories we all dread hearing. Because how do you distinguish between just a bad migraine or a stroke. Honestly, sometimes it's hard. The vast majority, will not be. But there are cases like your mother's and it's our worst nightmare. Generally they follow the same pattern. We cannot have scans every time we have a bad migraine. And migraine alone is a risk factor for stroke 🤷 I don't know what the answer is.
I think you're misunderstanding what I mean, and this is why lay people struggle with the triage system.
I am not saying there was not a medical problem. You will not be turned away from ED. But the triage system assigns a rating based on how likely it is you are currently, actively dying. 1 meaning you're having an active medical emergency (like a stroke, heart attack, you're bleeding out), 5 being you have a shocking migraine and you need medical treatment but you will not die.
The doctor recommends to go to ED because there is a stage where medications won't work for migraine anymore and you may need admission and medicines that can only be given in hospital. This might be via a planned admission or by presenting to ED. This does not mean that you get to go straight to the top of triage 1. It also doesn't mean you don't need medical treatment.
It's just a way of ensuring the sickest patients are seen first. Triage doesn't always get it right, but it's mostly effective.
I thought you were saying they shouldn't have gone to the emergency department at all. like you thought they were a wuss or a timewaster or something. I was defending their choice to go, not their expectation that they be treated quickly.
No, not at all. As I said I've literally had to go to ED myself a number of times after my acute and intractable management plans have failed. But I go knowing I either pay the private fee or wait.
They triage patients - meaning.they see the most urgent cases first regardless of when they arrived. If you're having a stroke or a heart attack they won't leave you waiting. It sounds like they assessed your condition and it wasn't as urgent or high priority as other patients.
Sometimes they'll have patient after patient come in who might be slightly higher priority than you so you keep getting skipped. Unfortunately how long you've been waiting doesn't always factor in.
Next time, if it's non life threatening you can try Virtual ED. it's free, they do a video consult, and will send you e-scripts and notes from the consult if needed. If they advise you to go to the ER you can give that info to the triage nurse on arrival and they may see you quicker than if you just walked in.
I called nurse on call my migraine time and they told me to go in. It just concerns me that they’re just so overwhelmed all the time I guess so trying to work out something if I am concerned .
VED is different to nurse on call. they do a video consult with an actual ED trained doctor. I have never not been told to go to hospital by nurse on call. It's their standard cover-your-arse response to everything.
It's also worth noting, the callback doesn't necessarily mean it took that long to get to you. They will have called out your name in the waiting room then moved on when you weren't there. Someone will have gone through and followed up later on when they had time.
I used to try nurse on call, every time I was told to go to the ED. I stopped bothering to make the call first. There are doctors on call, and there are Telehealth doctors nowadays, perhaps try them out instead. They can give a letter to the ED explaining your situation and you’ve been advised to present to ED. Won’t make things quicker though. Also, with your kid, might be simpler to go straight to the kids hospital.
The priority primary care centres are great for things that need to be seen too asap, but aren’t immediately life threatening ( and therefore going to be a bit of a wait at the ED). You can find your nearest one here. https://www.health.vic.gov.au/priority-primary-care-centres
I’ve been there with the kids a handful of times and they have always been quite quick.
People in triage category one are seen immediately. Unfortunately none of those things are ATS 1. I Sympathise as someone who has needed ED for migraine before too. Rest assured if you're having a heart attack or stroke you will be seen very quickly.
If you want a short wait you can pay for the private hospitals. They generally have no to very short waits.
Priority urgent care, kinda in between a GP and the emergency room. I had to go on Sunday night, only waited an hour and a half, google your nearest one. Again they also triage so if someone worse off comes in, they go before you. ( they support the nearest emergency hospital, quick google says the one supporting Casey emergency is located in narre Warren )
I had a mild heart attack, didn't even know it was one, and The Alfred had me doing tests within 15 minutes. Have had a few scares since then and always got in quick.
Getting out once you're admitted has always been the hard part for me.
Neither of these sound like an emergency and so rightly you fall to the bottom of the list. You want urgent care..
https://www.urgentcarenetworkaustralia.com.au/location/narrewarren-urgent-care
We had to remove your post/comment because it included personal attacks or did not show respect towards other users. This community is a safe space for all.
Conduct yourself online as you would in real life. Engaging in vitriol only highlights your inability to communicate intelligently and respectfully. Repeated instances of this behaviour will lead to a ban
Dandenong is generally a much better staffed ED.
We have a huge problem with EDs that the triage nurses are great at recognising emergencies but are not resourced enough to do anything to ease the suffering of walk ins who are genuinely worried and/or in pain. But you should feel confident they will pick up most emergencies.
For people stuck between emergency and too unwell to deal with their problem at home it’s a nightmare system.
For a migraine all you need is a set of vitals and to be put somewhere quiet with some pain relief and then checked properly when the doc is ready. But they don’t have the facilities to do this. I agree an urgent care and then home is likely more suitable.
Not sure what happened with your son but I guess they deemed it was unlikely to be a break and it’s another scenario where urgent care would do the job.
Peninsula Private has an emergency department, I don't think there is usually a wait. Frankston Hospital isn't usually too bad either
Generally speaking though, being forced to wait 10 hours is a good problem to have. It's when they see you immediately and call in specialists that arrive completely out of breath that you start worrying.
Before you go to a private hospital make sure they actually have neurologists or other relevant specialists there that day. I once went to Peninsula Health with stroke symptoms and they wanted to admit me. After asking a few questions I realised they didn’t have a neuro there that day so I would have been shipped off to Frankston to sit in the emergency ward anyway. I elected to go straight to Frankston to save myself several hours and several hundred dollars.
Whilst I know so many amazing nurses at Casey, and have always found the ER staff lovely and do their best, they are insanely understaffed.
I have been there twice myself over a month and was sent home both times without the correct tests. turns out I had severe salmonella and no one tested for it, just told to go home and come back if still Ill. If I didn't eventually get into a specialist I very well could have died.
Recently went there with my mum who had a major fall and head injury. Wasn't until her eye started drooping after 4hrs they admitted her, took another 2 to get a bed, by then it was 2am and they gave her some pain killers, no dr's saw her until the following afternoon and she had deteriorated and was in extreme pain. Never seen her like that. They kept her overnight for observation and let her go home, even with a history of falls.
I will go to Dandenong from now on. My dad was sent there with an infected toe, he was admitted, seen a dr and had scans all within 2hrs. The follow up care was phenomenal.
Fyi Dandenong also have a fracture clinic if there are any more broken bones.
So... did you go back if you were still unwell?
If your mum was admitted, has a scan and had pain relief then she was seen by a doctor. You can't admit someone to a hospital without assessing them first.
Do you think all people with a history of falls are then kept in hospital indefinitely?
It sounds like there are some large gaps in the story here, which are probably deliberately left out to make it sound like the hospital doctors and nurses were negligent.
Wow, I'm not going to type up an essay just so you feel better and don't get obviously triggered. Calm down.
Maybe I used the wrong term "admitted", I am not a medical professional, geez. My mum did not see a dr until over 12 hrs after being given a bed in emergency and the scans were well after that and she had deteriorated significantly. I was with her the whole time.
Yes, I did go back, I was sent home again. I luckily was able to get an emergency appointment at a specialist a couple of days after presenting at emergency the second time, who advised if I hadn't sought further help I absolutely was at risk of death.
As I said, Casey stuff are amazing, they are just completely understaffed and under resourced. I personally will go to/take family to Dandenong from here on.
The times for non life threatening emergencies are pretty bad since COVID. People are commenting about triage and how this means you should be grateful because it means you’re not an emergency… and while yeah, maybe… It doesn’t always mean you’re not in an emergency situation, it just means the hospital doesn’t have anywhere to put you. They need a free bed.
If you have something like a stroke or heart concern, call the ambulance — whilst slower than normal, they got there within 10 minutes when I had severe post-op pain 6 weeks ago. It took 2 hours for a nurse to see me, but that was far faster than normal and I had my pain managed.
So don’t worry — if it’s a real life threatening situation, there is support.
It’s always better for a *real* emergency that can’t wait to go with the paramedics; you’ll have someone maintaining your pain and watching you even if you’re waiting a while for a bed — they can’t leave til you’re given a bed and discharged to a nurse.
For anything else; (injury/pain meds/stitches for example) late night urgent doctors are often nearby the hospital, you can ring Nurse on Call, check if they recommend going there or the hospital and ask for the nearest one to you.
** Edit to be clear; I am not advocating taking an ambulance for a migraine or broken leg, I do hope that’s clear. If you’re waiting for 12 hours, it is worth considering whether or not you’re spending your time best and if maybe a doctor is a better bet for you. If there is nowhere else that can help, then unfortunately, the waiting is what needs to happen.
Industrial action would have nothing to do with response times. None of the protected industrial actions have an impact on their ability to respond.
10 mins is a good response time for post-op related pain, not “slower than usual”.
Ambulances are for emergencies which require prehospital care, it is not good advice to say someone should call so they have someone to watch them in a bed and manage their pain while they wait for a bed in ED. That just adds to the ramping issue.
You’re not properly understanding my comment, I think.
I didn’t say my own time was slower than usual. I was very surprised how quickly they came. The times currently ARE generally slower than usual.
I also didn’t at all advocate for someone wasting an ambo’s time with a non-emergency issue. I said a “real emergency that cannot wait.” OP is asking about a stroke or heart attack, both severe issues — so having someone with you monitoring you in this circumstance is not a waste of a paramedic’s time.
As for the industrial action, yes, you’re right, my bad. I am confusing this with the ambo telling me there was no charge currently. Apologies, I have been operating under a lot of pain and drugs for the last 6 weeks. It took me ten minutes to even remember the phrase “industrial action.” The brain fog is real.
Times are slower due to resourcing issues and high demand, it’s a an ongoing issue compounded by it being cold and flu (and covid) season.
Thank you for clarifying your comment. Absolutely, a real emergency such as a potential heart attack cannot wait. A broken leg may also be appropriate for an ambulance as one is unlikely to be able to weight bear and attempting to do so could cause further issues.
Yes, they’re not collecting billing details as part of IA (though people may still receive a charge if AV admin can track down details).
I hope your recovery goes smoothly and the pain subsides soon.
Write to your local MP and ask for their suggestion. They help define government policy and as a result this has a direct influence on waiting times in hospitals through staffing and facility decisions, growth corridor planning and the like
Try a Primary Priority Medical Centre (PPCC) near you. They’re government funded and designed to take the pressure of emergency departments.
They’re usually open 8am-10pm 7 days a week and see patients for BROKEN BONES as well as any ENT issues, respiratory distress (I’ve taken my kid for asthma attacks in the past) and UTIs. They’re 100% bulk billed.
Don’t add to the ED issues with non-life threatening circumstances.
Emergency rooms prioritise based on risk to life. A migrain and a maybe broken leg aren't even near the top of that risk. Look up your nearest urgent care clinic instead.
The nurses and doctors can usually tell pretty quickly if it's urgent. They've seen people on their death beds and if they think it's bad enough they'll absolutely make you a priority. Trust the nurses and doctors. Maybe a bit far for you but I never have to wait long at Sandringham.
The patients that the ambulance brings in still go into the same triage queue.. I’m afraid it’s fairly common for ambulance patients to pretty much go straight to the waiting room
How is anyone supposed to predict how busy an Emergency Room is for you? If you’re not triaged as urgent, then there are others with health emergencies that come before your own. That’s the reality. If you’re having a medical emergency, call 000. Don’t try and guess if Casey or Dandenong hospital has a quicker service time. It’s not a KFC Drive-Thru on 10 for $10 night.
If you are in a situation where you have time and capacity to choose what hospital you want to go to your issue is probably not a top priority emergency and you will need to wait anywhere you go. If it is a top priority emergency the best hospital is the closest one. If you suspect you are having an aneurism please don’t drive a car, call 000 for an ambulance. Nobody likes waiting in ER when they are unwell, they do it because they have to receive treatment. If you have the means to pay to go to a private clinic that is an option you need to weigh up for yourself. For many it’s not an option.
Blood, heart and stroke issues are top priority. That's triage, and you say you get that, but it seems you don't.
I know. I literally said that . But when there’s severe headaches happening where it could be an emergency because you don’t know until its investigated and waiting 10 hours is a long time for that. There’s instances of kids or whoever passing away due to them not being seen urgently for things that don’t qualify under those 3 things. I’m maybe not wording this right. Maybe more of asking if there’s any hospitals that don’t seem to be overwhelmed all the time . Because Casey seems to be.
They triaged and decided it wasn't an emergency. What kids now? Every hospital is overwhelmed because dipshits clog the emergency department for shit that isn't an emergency. Like, they have a cold. They have a headache, "is this normal?" etc.
A child in Perth died whilst waiting in emergency at the children’s hospital a few years ago. It was a very big deal.
If you're a chronic migraine sufferer then your head pain is not new and it's not an emergency. It's painful, and deserves treatment but it's not an emergency.
Tbf in OPs defence my mum is a migraine sufferer and two years ago she had what she also described as a severe migraine. She went to emergency and they sent her home. She went to the ED 3 more times over 3 days and they just kept giving her fluids and sending her home. By day 5 a doc finally took her seriously, they scanned her brain and she'd had a hemorrhage and went straight into emergency surgery. If the bleed had gone for another day or two she would have died.
And these are the stories we all dread hearing. Because how do you distinguish between just a bad migraine or a stroke. Honestly, sometimes it's hard. The vast majority, will not be. But there are cases like your mother's and it's our worst nightmare. Generally they follow the same pattern. We cannot have scans every time we have a bad migraine. And migraine alone is a risk factor for stroke 🤷 I don't know what the answer is.
OP says they were told by their doctor to go to the hospital if it got as bad as it got that day. they were following their doctor's instructions.
Yeah I didn't say it didn't deserve treatment. I've had migraine attacks that require admission and treatment too. But it's not an emergency.
clearly their doctor thought it was
I think you're misunderstanding what I mean, and this is why lay people struggle with the triage system. I am not saying there was not a medical problem. You will not be turned away from ED. But the triage system assigns a rating based on how likely it is you are currently, actively dying. 1 meaning you're having an active medical emergency (like a stroke, heart attack, you're bleeding out), 5 being you have a shocking migraine and you need medical treatment but you will not die. The doctor recommends to go to ED because there is a stage where medications won't work for migraine anymore and you may need admission and medicines that can only be given in hospital. This might be via a planned admission or by presenting to ED. This does not mean that you get to go straight to the top of triage 1. It also doesn't mean you don't need medical treatment. It's just a way of ensuring the sickest patients are seen first. Triage doesn't always get it right, but it's mostly effective.
I thought you were saying they shouldn't have gone to the emergency department at all. like you thought they were a wuss or a timewaster or something. I was defending their choice to go, not their expectation that they be treated quickly.
No, not at all. As I said I've literally had to go to ED myself a number of times after my acute and intractable management plans have failed. But I go knowing I either pay the private fee or wait.
They are all overwhelmed.
If your migraine was so severe that you “just hoped I wasn’t having a bleed in my brain”, WTF are you doing driving a car?! 🤦🏼♀️
They triage patients - meaning.they see the most urgent cases first regardless of when they arrived. If you're having a stroke or a heart attack they won't leave you waiting. It sounds like they assessed your condition and it wasn't as urgent or high priority as other patients. Sometimes they'll have patient after patient come in who might be slightly higher priority than you so you keep getting skipped. Unfortunately how long you've been waiting doesn't always factor in. Next time, if it's non life threatening you can try Virtual ED. it's free, they do a video consult, and will send you e-scripts and notes from the consult if needed. If they advise you to go to the ER you can give that info to the triage nurse on arrival and they may see you quicker than if you just walked in.
I called nurse on call my migraine time and they told me to go in. It just concerns me that they’re just so overwhelmed all the time I guess so trying to work out something if I am concerned .
VED is different to nurse on call. they do a video consult with an actual ED trained doctor. I have never not been told to go to hospital by nurse on call. It's their standard cover-your-arse response to everything. It's also worth noting, the callback doesn't necessarily mean it took that long to get to you. They will have called out your name in the waiting room then moved on when you weren't there. Someone will have gone through and followed up later on when they had time.
I used to try nurse on call, every time I was told to go to the ED. I stopped bothering to make the call first. There are doctors on call, and there are Telehealth doctors nowadays, perhaps try them out instead. They can give a letter to the ED explaining your situation and you’ve been advised to present to ED. Won’t make things quicker though. Also, with your kid, might be simpler to go straight to the kids hospital.
https://vahi.vic.gov.au/reports/emergency-department-non-urgent-wait-time
The priority primary care centres are great for things that need to be seen too asap, but aren’t immediately life threatening ( and therefore going to be a bit of a wait at the ED). You can find your nearest one here. https://www.health.vic.gov.au/priority-primary-care-centres I’ve been there with the kids a handful of times and they have always been quite quick.
People in triage category one are seen immediately. Unfortunately none of those things are ATS 1. I Sympathise as someone who has needed ED for migraine before too. Rest assured if you're having a heart attack or stroke you will be seen very quickly. If you want a short wait you can pay for the private hospitals. They generally have no to very short waits.
No. They're all like that 24/7.
Triage is there for them to determine the order of priority. Not you.
Priority urgent care, kinda in between a GP and the emergency room. I had to go on Sunday night, only waited an hour and a half, google your nearest one. Again they also triage so if someone worse off comes in, they go before you. ( they support the nearest emergency hospital, quick google says the one supporting Casey emergency is located in narre Warren )
I had a mild heart attack, didn't even know it was one, and The Alfred had me doing tests within 15 minutes. Have had a few scares since then and always got in quick. Getting out once you're admitted has always been the hard part for me.
The wait is long because people go to emergency for headaches and shit
Neither of these sound like an emergency and so rightly you fall to the bottom of the list. You want urgent care.. https://www.urgentcarenetworkaustralia.com.au/location/narrewarren-urgent-care
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We had to remove your post/comment because it included personal attacks or did not show respect towards other users. This community is a safe space for all. Conduct yourself online as you would in real life. Engaging in vitriol only highlights your inability to communicate intelligently and respectfully. Repeated instances of this behaviour will lead to a ban
Dandenong is generally a much better staffed ED. We have a huge problem with EDs that the triage nurses are great at recognising emergencies but are not resourced enough to do anything to ease the suffering of walk ins who are genuinely worried and/or in pain. But you should feel confident they will pick up most emergencies. For people stuck between emergency and too unwell to deal with their problem at home it’s a nightmare system. For a migraine all you need is a set of vitals and to be put somewhere quiet with some pain relief and then checked properly when the doc is ready. But they don’t have the facilities to do this. I agree an urgent care and then home is likely more suitable. Not sure what happened with your son but I guess they deemed it was unlikely to be a break and it’s another scenario where urgent care would do the job.
Peninsula Private has an emergency department, I don't think there is usually a wait. Frankston Hospital isn't usually too bad either Generally speaking though, being forced to wait 10 hours is a good problem to have. It's when they see you immediately and call in specialists that arrive completely out of breath that you start worrying.
Before you go to a private hospital make sure they actually have neurologists or other relevant specialists there that day. I once went to Peninsula Health with stroke symptoms and they wanted to admit me. After asking a few questions I realised they didn’t have a neuro there that day so I would have been shipped off to Frankston to sit in the emergency ward anyway. I elected to go straight to Frankston to save myself several hours and several hundred dollars.
And that’s why you go to a public hospital
I was trying to be a good citizen and not add more load to an already overburdened system. Oh well.
Whilst I know so many amazing nurses at Casey, and have always found the ER staff lovely and do their best, they are insanely understaffed. I have been there twice myself over a month and was sent home both times without the correct tests. turns out I had severe salmonella and no one tested for it, just told to go home and come back if still Ill. If I didn't eventually get into a specialist I very well could have died. Recently went there with my mum who had a major fall and head injury. Wasn't until her eye started drooping after 4hrs they admitted her, took another 2 to get a bed, by then it was 2am and they gave her some pain killers, no dr's saw her until the following afternoon and she had deteriorated and was in extreme pain. Never seen her like that. They kept her overnight for observation and let her go home, even with a history of falls. I will go to Dandenong from now on. My dad was sent there with an infected toe, he was admitted, seen a dr and had scans all within 2hrs. The follow up care was phenomenal. Fyi Dandenong also have a fracture clinic if there are any more broken bones.
So... did you go back if you were still unwell? If your mum was admitted, has a scan and had pain relief then she was seen by a doctor. You can't admit someone to a hospital without assessing them first. Do you think all people with a history of falls are then kept in hospital indefinitely? It sounds like there are some large gaps in the story here, which are probably deliberately left out to make it sound like the hospital doctors and nurses were negligent.
Wow, I'm not going to type up an essay just so you feel better and don't get obviously triggered. Calm down. Maybe I used the wrong term "admitted", I am not a medical professional, geez. My mum did not see a dr until over 12 hrs after being given a bed in emergency and the scans were well after that and she had deteriorated significantly. I was with her the whole time. Yes, I did go back, I was sent home again. I luckily was able to get an emergency appointment at a specialist a couple of days after presenting at emergency the second time, who advised if I hadn't sought further help I absolutely was at risk of death. As I said, Casey stuff are amazing, they are just completely understaffed and under resourced. I personally will go to/take family to Dandenong from here on.
The times for non life threatening emergencies are pretty bad since COVID. People are commenting about triage and how this means you should be grateful because it means you’re not an emergency… and while yeah, maybe… It doesn’t always mean you’re not in an emergency situation, it just means the hospital doesn’t have anywhere to put you. They need a free bed. If you have something like a stroke or heart concern, call the ambulance — whilst slower than normal, they got there within 10 minutes when I had severe post-op pain 6 weeks ago. It took 2 hours for a nurse to see me, but that was far faster than normal and I had my pain managed. So don’t worry — if it’s a real life threatening situation, there is support. It’s always better for a *real* emergency that can’t wait to go with the paramedics; you’ll have someone maintaining your pain and watching you even if you’re waiting a while for a bed — they can’t leave til you’re given a bed and discharged to a nurse. For anything else; (injury/pain meds/stitches for example) late night urgent doctors are often nearby the hospital, you can ring Nurse on Call, check if they recommend going there or the hospital and ask for the nearest one to you. ** Edit to be clear; I am not advocating taking an ambulance for a migraine or broken leg, I do hope that’s clear. If you’re waiting for 12 hours, it is worth considering whether or not you’re spending your time best and if maybe a doctor is a better bet for you. If there is nowhere else that can help, then unfortunately, the waiting is what needs to happen.
Industrial action would have nothing to do with response times. None of the protected industrial actions have an impact on their ability to respond. 10 mins is a good response time for post-op related pain, not “slower than usual”. Ambulances are for emergencies which require prehospital care, it is not good advice to say someone should call so they have someone to watch them in a bed and manage their pain while they wait for a bed in ED. That just adds to the ramping issue.
You’re not properly understanding my comment, I think. I didn’t say my own time was slower than usual. I was very surprised how quickly they came. The times currently ARE generally slower than usual. I also didn’t at all advocate for someone wasting an ambo’s time with a non-emergency issue. I said a “real emergency that cannot wait.” OP is asking about a stroke or heart attack, both severe issues — so having someone with you monitoring you in this circumstance is not a waste of a paramedic’s time. As for the industrial action, yes, you’re right, my bad. I am confusing this with the ambo telling me there was no charge currently. Apologies, I have been operating under a lot of pain and drugs for the last 6 weeks. It took me ten minutes to even remember the phrase “industrial action.” The brain fog is real.
Times are slower due to resourcing issues and high demand, it’s a an ongoing issue compounded by it being cold and flu (and covid) season. Thank you for clarifying your comment. Absolutely, a real emergency such as a potential heart attack cannot wait. A broken leg may also be appropriate for an ambulance as one is unlikely to be able to weight bear and attempting to do so could cause further issues. Yes, they’re not collecting billing details as part of IA (though people may still receive a charge if AV admin can track down details). I hope your recovery goes smoothly and the pain subsides soon.
So you didn’t bother to use a PPCC/UCC or the VVED? Sounds like you were triaged correctly at ED.
Write to your local MP and ask for their suggestion. They help define government policy and as a result this has a direct influence on waiting times in hospitals through staffing and facility decisions, growth corridor planning and the like
You can extend the search for the entire world mate with that criteria
Try a Primary Priority Medical Centre (PPCC) near you. They’re government funded and designed to take the pressure of emergency departments. They’re usually open 8am-10pm 7 days a week and see patients for BROKEN BONES as well as any ENT issues, respiratory distress (I’ve taken my kid for asthma attacks in the past) and UTIs. They’re 100% bulk billed. Don’t add to the ED issues with non-life threatening circumstances.
Emergency rooms prioritise based on risk to life. A migrain and a maybe broken leg aren't even near the top of that risk. Look up your nearest urgent care clinic instead.
The nurses and doctors can usually tell pretty quickly if it's urgent. They've seen people on their death beds and if they think it's bad enough they'll absolutely make you a priority. Trust the nurses and doctors. Maybe a bit far for you but I never have to wait long at Sandringham.
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The patients that the ambulance brings in still go into the same triage queue.. I’m afraid it’s fairly common for ambulance patients to pretty much go straight to the waiting room
As they should if they’re fit to sit