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How long a wait do you have ?


suein56
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Reading this made me remember the 2 visits I have made to Accident and Emergency in Vannes, when I was ill but not at death's door. The wait each time was approx the same as in the article re Brest.

http://www.ouest-france.fr/bretagne/brest-29200/brest-un-patient-decede-sur-un-brancard-aux-urgences-4056348

My question : are we unduly unlucky ref waiting times in Brittany or does anyone on here fare worse or better ?

Edit : sorry about unclickable link - I will try and remedy it in the morning.

Sue
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I have always been seen immediately but maybe that was because both times I was an ambulance case, once was late at night and the ambulance took me directly to the eye hospital, there were only night staff on duty but they rostered in an opthalmo who was there waiting when the ambulance arrived, after an initial examination they called in the surgical staff and I was straight into the operating theatre, it all happened within a couple of hours if I remember correctly.

 

Another time was mid afternoon, a head trauma, ambulance again to Amiens Nord, seen pretty well straight away then sent to another site for a CAT scan, another ambulance took me there and brought me back, my scalp was stitched up, cant recall if it was before or after the CAT scan, no delays at all that I can remember except the wait for my girlfriend to come and collect me.

 

I went for a post op check up after a detached retina operation, the pressure they measured was so high that they kept me in and operated immediately, i did not even have any pyjamas or a toothbrush.

 

Absolutely no complaints from me.

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My one/two experiences are very similar to Chancer's.

Taken by ambulance to hospital and seen almost immediately. Given first aid and transferred to a specialist unit where there was a short wait - sorry but I did not have the wits about me to set a stop watch. The ambulance journeys were far longer than the waits.
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Three experiences in 11 years.

Mrs G on two separate occasions and both times she was seen almost immediately. After tests which were quickly done, both resulted in her being admitted and again, there was no messing about. A quick call to the ward and up she went.

The third occasion was our son who gashed his wrist when down here on holiday. About a 20 minute wait, then triage and a quick look-see by the doctor who had the nurse clean up the wound and then came back a bit later to stitch it up. None of the situations could have been dealt with more quickly nor professionally.

However ............. when I remarked on this to the doctor, she said that it wasn't always that way, but then you'd expect that. Add to that our neighbour, whose son had a really bad experience at another hospital recently, but that was more a case of mis-diagnosis (and very nearly life-threatening) than a particularly long wait.
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It is much quicker if you are taken by ambulance as you might expect.

The last time I went in with a blocked intestine (being me I know what it was [:P]) it was a night, so I had to wait about 4 hours in a cubicle until the Doctor was free, he agreed with the diagnosis so I was sent up to the ward, a naso-gastric tube put in to drain off the bloat and the a wait until the morning when the scanner opened.

We have 3 different emergency departments and I chose to go the one where I had  had an operation for a strangulated hernia last year.

If I had gone to the main Hospital the scanner is available 24/7

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One and only experience was with OH about 3 years ago.

3 pompiers were very quick on the scene, so was our former mayor, bless him.  Off they shipped him to hospital.  I stayed back to pack him a few things and take his papiers.

By the time I got to the hospital, he'd been seen by a doctor and was undergoing tests.  I asked if he'd been given a drink of water (had the problem of his nearly passing out with thirst and a raging fever in hospital in A and E in Bridgend, Wales)and the doctor in charge of his case assured me that, as soon as they could (I suppose after establishing that he didn't need a general anaesthetic), they would give him a drink.

After the tests, the results of which were inconclusive, they weren't sure where to send him.  But, when I got to have sight of him, he was on a drip, all the cuts on his face had been treated, and he was in hospital gear with all his own things packed up for me to take home.

I had to ring the next morning to find out what ward he was in.  Good job they didn't tell me intensive cardiology or I would have been scared out of my wits.  I was able to speak to him directly on the phone and when I visited that afternoon, he was well and truly wired up in Intensive Care and been seen by different specialists and given drugs of various kinds.

So, perhaps we were truly lucky.  The incident took place at 6.30 pm in March.

Apologies for writing at some length but hope this might be informative and important for some.

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I shall have to ask friends and my son if they have any idea as to waits these days. I know that seeing a GP is not what it was and one friend has complained bitterly over the last couple of years.

Ambulances, well, never ambulances, never saw one take anyone in for an emergency, from our village, always the sapeur pompiers and it was always quick at hospital.

Frankly, of the too many times we had to go, with my casse cou youngest, not much better eldest and followed closely by husband, we would have been happy with 4.5 hours just to be seen initially. We have waited far longer and a couple of times  seen sooner.

I was the exception, as I went in at around 5 and was seen immediately, had a few tests and then literally dumped in the corridor by 8... on a bed and rarely seen, and was viciously told off when I solicited help, I was very unwell. They put me in a little ward at 23h.

So far our longest wait in England has been about 4.5 hours, and have usually been seen within an hour or two..........that, is OK.

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Thanks to everyone who has replied; it has made most interesting reading. From all the comments about waiting times it seems that in our small extremity of Brittany we might be about average.

Ref Idun being told off for daring to enquire whilst waiting to be seen I do remember being gently admonished by a nurse for delaying going to Urgences until the Monday. She was at pains to stress that they were open on a Sunday and that next time (!) I shouldn't wait.

Sue
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At my nearest hospital in Frejus the average wait is 4 to 5 hours, longer in season. Must admit from the experiences of my friends living full time in the area, the consensus seems to be to avoid the local hospitals if possible and try and get to Nice or Mougins, but not always possible in an emergency!
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LOL I did not enquire, not at all, I asked for assistance and made it clear that I needed immediate help from a passing nurse. No one had checked on me for several hours and I felt really ill and was clear that I needed to go to the toilet. She said she would be back, did not come back and my bowels evacuated all over the bed and me. I was in the corridor and one of my son's friends was stood there waiting for some one, he one of many people in the corridor.

And the nurse went mad with me when she came back. She shouted and was nasty with me. I was too upset to do much about it.  I had been put on a drip and the cot sides were up on the bed, so I could not get out of bed on my own....... hence I asked for help.

Frankly I cannot think of a decent nurse I encountered during my 10 day stay there, not one. The aide soignantes were lovely though and helpful and kind. If the nurses were not good with me they were truly horrible with the lovely lady in the next bed.

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