Dear Diana,
Last year I had something alike. but with much more pain. I was unlucky to search the ER beccause of kidney pains at the same day as they had to take a lot of traffic wounded persons. Enter at 9PM, accepted at 10PM and then sitting in the waiting room till 3AM the next morning. Admitted to a hard bed, but without any pain medication. Not until 8 AM did a doctor had time to see me. At around 9AM I got an anti-inflammatory shot and around noon I was released. Anyone who have had running kidney-stones can understand what that night did to me.
Next time I might tell that I have swallowed some explosives, to get faster help.
Greetings
Ginnie

Assuming you're capable of either driving there yourself or finding someone to drive you, arriving in the car park is likely to induce cardiac arrest as they charge you something like £2 for half an hour (err...enough time to use a coffee vending machine and scarper?), £4.50 for 2 hours (visitors only) or about £12 for all day (more like it!). You arrive in A&E to find about 30 hard metal chairs screwed into the ground, and an electronic scrolling display board announcing a 3-4 hour waiting time (see why the 2hr ticket's worthless for patients?).

On the other hand, once you eventually meet the medics, all treatment is completely free of charge, and if you need outpatient medication, several groups of people are eligible to escape the £7 prescription charge (or if they can't but need regular medication, obtain a prepayment certificate [fixed charge, regardless of how many prescription items you need]).

 
 
--Ben

I suppose it's a question of the size of the hospital service area plus a few (!) other variables that determine how fast you get treated.

As has been noted, patients are at least minimally triaged so the most critical ones (usually) get treated first. As for size, I've seen four bed ERs that were two (or three) beds too many for the normal demand. And I've seen public hospitals that had eight beds which was less than half as many needed on a "normal" night. (JPS - Tarrant County in Fort Worth.) Funding for an "emergency" situation, if funding isn't limited in any other way, still depends on a "best" estimate of needs. Sometimes there isn't going to be enough.

Add funding to the issue; and I've seen several different models, none of which are anywhere close to perfect; and you have a prescription for requirements in excess of capacity.

Urgent care clinics and immediate care centers (shopping mall doctors) can be faster and (sometimes) cheaper because they don't have to budget for in-patient care. It may be the future of medicine, but I've noticed that many of those close in a year or less. My own doctor, who tried to start a private practice after the clinic she worked at closed, had to shut her doors in less than a year. She tried to open up as the economy was tanking, and people cut back on luxuries like non-emergency medical treatment. :-(

It is a complex issue, and nobody has found the perfect system. Right now we have the U.S. Congress trying to find a system that is both affordable, effective, and palatable to all sides. And politically viable. "Hi, we're from the government, we're here to help you." Why do I not find that comforting? :-(

In short, going to the emergency room is like getting a penicillin shot in the caboose. It takes too long, hurts like hell, there is no dignity in your situation, and you leave feeling worse than you did when you arrived - if you are lucky.

KJT

"Being a girl is wonderful and to torture someone into that would be like the exact opposite of what it's like. I don’t know how anyone could act that way." College Girl - poetheather