Abandon all hope, ye who enter here, is not the sign above the entrance to the Accident and Emergency Department of Our Lady of Lourdes hospital just outside Drogheda, but there should be one. I had the misfortune of spending some of the night and the morning there last week.
After a speaking event, which went well, I suddenly felt hideous abdominal pains. I thought they would go but as the minutes went by I was going down fast. Was it because I had not eaten? Had I drunk too much water too quickly? I had experienced gallstones attack and four labours (just on gas and air) but this was bad. A friend ended up driving me home and the out of hours doctor told me to go to accident and emergency “right away”! Don’t delay, just go. If you can’t move, call an ambulance, is what I was told
Well, if a doctor tells you to go to Accident and Emergency immediately – you go. I checked in at about 11pm. I could tell instantly this was going to be a long wait. A very long wait indeed. Also, it was going to be an uncomfortable wait as those seats in the waiting area are little better than spikes. This is done intentionally to let the patients know just who is boss (it’s not you) and not to get too comfortable. There was no chance of that.
The staff themselves were very helpful – the triage nurses and reception staff. I am not here to criticise them. But as the hours ticked by and I huddled into a corner desperately trying to get some sleep, there was not a doctor to be seen. When my name was called at 2am, I thought finally.
What a fool I was! This was just the triage nurse calling me back to check I was not dead. By then the pain had gone, thanks to the painkillers. It will be morning before you are seen, she said. Oh, I think I’ll go back home. You can if you want, she said, but you will have to check back in, in the morning. Come before 8am.
So, I got an uber home and never was I so grateful to see my bed. I returned to Accident and Emergency the next morning, well before 8am. The first thing I noticed was the same poor woman who was in her dressing gown the night before, was still there twelve hours later. This was confirmed when she asked one of the nurses when she would be seen as she had been there for 12 hours.
Thankfully by this time, the pain had well and truly gone, so I did ask myself why exactly I was there. Indeed, they told me to come back in, but it was obvious I was never going to be seen. Ever. I never saw a single doctor walk through any door either – they were obviously a protected class.
The hours ticked by and I understood that I should get my GP to give me the once over. By 10am, I was cracking, went to reception and told them I was well enough to go to my GP. Oh yes, came the reply. You haven’t been here very long.
So, the two hours I had waited that morning was clearly the equivalent of 20 minutes when in Planet Accident and Emergency. And the four hours the previous night also didn’t count, as I had essentially set the clock back to zero for having the temerity to go home.
Thankfully the GP did give me the once over and the all-clear later that day. I am grateful to the staff that did see me, and I am grateful that I was not a teenager with sepsis in Limerick Accident and Emergency Department as nobody saw her in time to prevent her tragic and unnecessary death.
Whatever way you look at it, I am sorry, but the whole operation in the Accident and Emergency Department of Our Lady of Lourdes is a clown show. How can it be acceptable to keep that woman waiting for 12 hours for instance? I overheard some slightly shocking time scales – 8 hours, 10 hours. The thing is, and I am afraid I am going to have to get it out again and slap down the old ‘when I was in London card’ but the department was not really that busy.
Sure, there were people there, it wasn’t empty. But it wasn’t that busy even counting the patients coming in on an ambulance. If you want to see a busy A and E department then you should go to King’s College in Denmark Hill, south London. That’s busy. And even though they are dealing with your stabbings and gunshots to the head and the daily machete attack and gangland feud and all the rest of it, you are unlikely to be waiting for 12 hours there, no matter how ‘minor’ your own accident or emergency is.
I am not sure what the solution is other than sending more GPs in there who can assess and quickly get rid of the worried well, such as myself. I sensed there was quiet a few of those parked on the wooden torture chairs. But that’s hardly the public’s fault when it seems everything gets sent to A and E now, just in case. Clear the decks, ass covering, it’s not my problem.
A long-term solution would be for the ordinary Irish voters to get another group to take up the cause of the shocking state of the health service. Someone the government actually listens to. Perhaps some NGO. Maybe the United Nations or someone ‘In Europe’.
The opinion of these people are the ones our government cares about. If they are on twitter then they must have the following signs as a minimum after their twitter handle: the Pride flag, Ukraine Flag, a nod to BLM, and something about how great women’s football is. Once you spot these people, start lobbying them to lobby our government on your behalf.
I understand that once the Irish government finishes implementing all the Hate Speech laws and Surrogacy Laws, and dragging out the lecterns to recognise the State of Palestine the lads are tired, exhausted and all out of puff.
But surely, they have some time and energy left over to take up the concerns of the Irish voter? It’s not like they have been in A and E for twelve hours and counting.
I tell you what is much more damaging to your health than being on the receiving end of some imaginary hate speech crime wave – having a serious health condition but then being left for hours on end in A and E. What I’m sure is much more popular with your average voter is instead of liberalising the laws around the purchasing of babies, would be sorting out the health system.
What I would like to see are the three amigos of Taoiseach Simon Harris, Tánaiste Micheál Martin and Green Party Minister Eamon Ryan dragging their lecterns out to tell us in a Very Important Announcement about how they were going to cut waiting times at Accident and Emergency. Now I understand this might not get them on CNN that night, more’s the pity, but I for one would really welcome it.