"My recent admission to A & E"

I recently woke up in the early hours with blood streaming from both nostrils and was unable to stop it. My wife rang 111 and they decided to call an ambulance. Which, considering it wasn't an emergency arrived within half an hour and the paramedics were superb. They calmed me down very quickly and I was in A & E within 20 mins.

Once there my first impression was that the stories I had heard about people waiting on corridors were true. It was 2,30 am on a Thursday morning and there were people waiting on trolleys on the corridors, including myself. Having said that I was treated with amazing speed, professionalism and consideration by all the staff I was in contact with. The consultant decided I needed to be kept in but there wasn't a bed available so I had to wait on the corridor. It was 15 hours before I was transferred to a ward but in that 15 hours I began to understand what incredible difficulties the A & E staff are working under. It is obviously not there fault that there is insufficient space or facilities in the A & E building to deal with the shear volume of patients that they have to deal with and how they managed to stay so calm was beyond me. What also became apparent was that the percentage of patients that were over 75 was very high (I am 70 myself but a lot more active than a number of the patients I saw) and that in reality they didn't need to be at A & E but there was just nowhere else for them to go. The ambulance staff that respond to their calls are also in a quandary as they cannot leave them at home alone and  A & E is the only option for them. What is needed is a sort of Half way house between the GP surgery and A & E. It was an eye opening 15 hours and I have nothing but the highest praise for the people that work there. How they can get out of bed each day knowing what they are going to face is beyond me, I know I couldn't cope with the constant pressure and they deserve all our respect. I also saw some of the problematic patients they have to deal with and again I was amazed at the way they kept so calm and polite. What an amazing group of people.