Emergency medical need and no transport

[Slatted]

I really have had enough of hearing that there is nothing that can be done when my friend needs medical treatment at the out of hours or A&E but has no way of getting there...she is on benefits and public transport to the hospital where the out of hours clinic is stops at 6pm meaning there is no way to get there easily or really at all without money.

 

Doctors say she should come in immediately but back off as soon as she says she has no transport and then she gets a lot worse waiting for the following morning when she can get her one and only friend with a car (when on benefits most people cannot afford to run one) to drop her at her emergency appointment....or struggle on the buses....only to be told off for not coming in earlier....

 

It is just a matter of time before things just get out of hand before she can find any way to get to the hospital or gp....they used to do home visits for such things or at least suggest a way to get there....now nothing.

 

I know it is money etc but I fear it will kill someone, if it has not done so already.

 

Is there anything she can consider for the emergency need for medical help. Ambulances will charge if they believe they have been called without good need and she has nothing spare for a taxi...especially as it would cost almost a third of her weekly benefits to get there and back....

 

It is not as if she can claim it back and even if she could she does not have it to pay out in the first place..

 

Sorry if this is a bit unclear I am tired and worried as she has a nasty infection in her arm from a bite, saw gp today and told to go back or out of hours if antibiotics not help....it is travelling up her arm and getting worse but she can do nothing until after 8.30....or go to A&E on first bus of morning if she can make it.....and feeling worse and worse by the hour....

[Marianne7]

I really sympathise, as I was in a similar situation myself recently. I had to call a close friend who lives about 10 miles away, at about 11 pm. This was to the Minor Illnesses And Minor Injuries service were I live ~ people do not go direct to A&E unless absolute emergency or are transferred from MIAMI (as I was).

 

Has your friend caledl NHS Direct? They will say whether you should call an ambulance or not. When did she get the bite? From what sort of creature? When was she prescribed antibiotics? Was she given a tetanus jab (if she hasn't had one recently)? If she only started antibiotics today they possibly haven't started to take effect, but will do in the next 24 hours.

 

My advice is to call NHS Direct; if they think your friend should be seen immediately they will tell you to call an ambulance.

Edited July 24, 2012 by Marianne7
Typo

[Slatted]

NHS Direct tell her to ring out of hours and she has had so many illnesses etc over the past year and every time just been given runaround.....she hates seeing doctors at the best of time.

 

And my point is as much because she has always had to put off medical treatment due to cost not need...and it has been confirmed as something that has harmed her but as she also has a mental health diagnosis they think she wants to be ill...and then she is also judged when she does reach hospital or doctors until later than they would have expected.....so she is reluctant to start process...damned if she does and damned if she doesn't.

 

It is an infected mosquito bite they think..started in her fingers over a day ago and is now up to her elbow...she saw gp today and was told to go back today if not better...she has not got better and has told me is gettin worse by the hour...lives far enough away from the gp....she has had two antibiotics as was prescribed two a day...I know it takes time but I thought the implication was that it would arrest the spread...it has not, apparently.

 

It is ridiculous how it is these days isn't it?

 

And I am not with her she has just told me she feels awful and is going to bed......that is how she is....took over 24 hours to respond to the fact that her hand was swelling up ......I just know from a previous friend that had a similar travelling infection (hers from a cat scratch) and was told would have died if not at A&E when she was as could have reached heart...... waiting can cost.....physically.

 

Thanks for getting back to me so fast.

 

I have told her to call NHS Direct at any time and that they can then bear responsibility for if ambulance is needed.....

Edited July 24, 2012 by Slatted

[Marianne7]

I am sorry about this situation, but it's not entirely the fault of the situation now-a-days. There are other problems to do with your friend's mental health which are also involved. Does she have a mental health worker? Better still, are there any friends or relatives close by who could convince her, or better still, take her, to the doctor in the morning? Because it seems to me that she isn't managing very well by herself with regard to other health matters, and whatever the outcome of the possible infection, that needs to be dealt with too.

 

NHS Direct will only know the details of the current problem, so she doesn't have to be worried about that. If they tell her she needs to get herself to A&E she must trust them. If the cost of getting to her GP is too high she really needs to change to another practice ~ I realise that's something for the future, but it needs to be done. No one has to put off treatment because of cost ~ if she is on benefits she will be getting free prescriptions.

 

For her sake I think a good friend needs to step in and take charge of things, at least for a while, because your friend is clearly struggling. Even in better times A&E isn't really the answer if someone was told to go to their GP and did not. I don't mean to sound harsh, but am just being realistic.

[Marianne7]

Hi Slatted

 

Have just checked "infected mosquito bites" on the NHS site. It says the site may swell up over an area of 30 cm (12 in) and may stay swollen for 48 hours or more. But that this isn't dangerous unless the swelling affects the airways ~ not the case with your friend, as it's her arm.

 

Hope this is of some help to you both.

[Slatted]

Thank you for that.

 

Her finger tips had severely swollen yesterday and now is the hand and arm up to elbow so is pushing the 12 inches...and GP today did say to do more if getting worse...she is not eating and feeling really ill, apparently...so I really was concerned that she has no real way of getting to A&E, still doesn't until the morning and then it will be two buses...

 

It was the final straw issue that meant I wrote this post.....it was about transport and funding and availability of medical care outside of standard hours....

 

 

There is no nearer GP....it is only about three miles away but no direct bus during day and if you feel ill is uphill so a struggle..and of course GP and NHS hours now seem more office hours so a long wait if get worse after about 6pm....people get ill out of those times but the treatment options are severely reduced...especially if you lack funds for a taxi....

 

She did see her GP this afternoon so it was not as if she delayed much after that.

 

She is getting therapy and help for her past but is still judged because of her actual scars and because she has a history on file...that is what I meant...she finds she is judged even when she has tried her best to get medical help but been blocked by funds etc..I am sorry I introduced what is really a separate issue. One that I was first hand witness for on many occasion in the past year...she has got medical issues that need investigation.....

 

 

It is not as if you can always get an emergency appointment with GP the next day either...not at her surgery....I have tried for her at times when she was so ill she could not make the call.....

 

I mourn the demise of the NHS and fear that it all hinges on who you speak with at Out of Hours or NHS Direct as to whether they believe an ambulance necessary....and that waiting for anything she is then judged for.....even if she gets to see GP or doctor the next day.

 

Please believe that poverty does exist and means that medical care is restricted and can mean people suffering longer than would otherwise, perhaps, be the case.

 

It was not the cost of medical treatment I was talking about but the cost of getting to the place where you can receive it....even bus fares are expensive when you are on so little...sometimes there is no money available for days.....

 

 

 

 

Anyway I have told her to ring NHS Direct if she gets any worse....

Edited July 25, 2012 by Slatted

[Marianne7]

Hi Slatted

 

I, too, fear for the future of the NHS, believe me. Perhaps I'm lucky that I live in a town. But also I do know what it's like to be short of money ~ have been on benefits myself and understand what you mean. I have been helped out many times by my friends ~ if I'd had to depend solely on benefits I wouldn't have managed, which is a terrible indictment of our current situation. I really hope that your friend can be seen today.

[Slatted]

She managed to get an emergency appointment this morning and feels up to getting to the GP thank goodness.

 

The irony is that we live in a city but not a big one but there is simply no money to get ease her to the places she needs to be...buses are not cheap or regular in most cases here....only London seems to have great transport.

 

I have never understood why hospitals do not have better sources of transport, especially is out of hours and A&E are both in that building....

 

I have no further cash to lend her...I have 60p til next week...

 

Thanks for your interest.