"Attended A&E following direction from out of hours"

After calling 111 and being advised by the out of hours GP who called me back to attend A&E, I arrived at QE A&E at 5.30pm. Certainly not where I wanted to be on a Sunday, but I wouldn't have gone had I not been feeling so desperately unwell. 

Standing in the entrance to A&E was a nurse stood with their arms folded, a security guard and a second nurse sat on chair. I asked if I was at the correct entrance and the nurse stood with their arms folded, walked towards me, held the door ajar and said -  why are you here?

I informed the nurse I'd been advised to attend by the out of hours GP at Katie Road, Selly Oak. They asked why, with the most appalled and inconvenienced look, and I informed them I'd been experiencing dizziness, temperature and sweats, pains in my legs and arms and the out of hours GP suspects I have an infection, given some other recent medical events.

The nurse then opened the door further, said come here and pointed to a chair. They then took my blood pressure, whilst still in the entrance of the A&E. They didn't advise me either way as to my blood pressure, but rolled their eyes, looked over at the other nurse, sat down and told them I'd been told to come here by out of hours. The nurse who was sitting down asked if they'd given me a letter, to which I said no as I was directed here by the out of hours over the telephone and both nurses just glared at each other. Then one handed me and piece of paper and said - out there second door on the right.

I stood up, struggling to balance due to dizziness, took the piece of paper and began to walk down to where I'd been directed. 

I don't actually have any previous comparable experience, but why is turning up to A&E, following direction from out of hours services, met with such inconvenience and disdain? Just over 24hrs on and I cannot stop thinking about the look on the faces of the nurses at my sheer existence. I felt so desperately unwell, yet walked away feeling so deeply embarrassed to have even dared to turn up. No way on God's earth would my choice ever be to go to A&E. I called 111 because I'd tried to self care at home for 2 days, taking paracetamol and ibuprofen and was becoming increasingly more unwell. 

I turned up expecting to have to wait a long time and had no expectation of this being seen straight away, but one thing I didn't expect was just how utterly rude, dismissive and visibly put out by my arrival the group of gatekeepers at the door would be. 

When I went through the other entrance with my piece of paper I was met by a security guard who then asked me why I was here and where I got the piece of paper from. After justifying my intrusion for a second time, I was directed through to a waiting area. 

Once called through by the doctor, they took me through, sat me down, held their hands out and said -  why are you here, why have you come to A&E on a Sunday? At this point I began to cry, I just said that out of hours told me to come. The doctor took my blood pressure etc and told me that I'm experiencing these symptoms because of ear wax and I need to contact my GP to arrange to get them cleaned and I don't appear to have the type of infection I was initially concerned about.

I write this experience, whilst I lay as an inpatient at Hartlands Hospital, currently receiving IV antibiotics for quite a serious infection. I didn't quite make it home to my front door after I left the QE. I ended up passing out at the bottom of my road and was brought here by a neighbour, thankfully.