ER...Well, A&E Actually...

Unexpected events yesterday...Mum had what appeared to be a small fall but they can cause problems and by the evening we needed to seek medical help.

In the UK we have something called NHS Direct where you get advice for medical problems and they usually decide if/when hospital treatment is required and they will arrange for an ambulance to get you to hospital. The problems of people swamping the system asking about Swine Flu meant that we were going to have to wait until 3am for a phone call(that's 7 hours after we called)

A good friend suggest phoning the Out Of Hours Dr service and when we did we were told that we should've phoned sooner and...there was admission that waiting that long for help was not acceptable. And a Dr said in such circumstances it was right to be checked out quickly as delay could cause problems. So after that call we were in hospital approx an hour later by ambulance.

I was told by the ambulance man that our trip from home to the hospital cost around £1,000.

Mum was really given a full check out at A&E and says she has never had such an MOT(that's my word)But I remember they gave her as full check up at the other hospital she went to after her fall last December but they were much quicker and efficient this time. Naturally when you are worried and in pain being prodded, probed and moved around makes things seems worse.

I suspect that some nights in A&E are busier than others but to me it seemed very quiet perhaps that was in Mum's favour because they could spend more time with her. At a weekend I suspect and it has been shown on many tv news programmes such places are buy with people who have been affecting by drinking or getting into fights.

They kindly made us cups of tea.

Of course, sods law, just as Mum just started drinking hers she was taken away for the x-rays.

There were occasions where 30 minutes or more would pass before someone arrived to need medical help having made their own way there...or having been brought in by ambulance.

Between midnight and 4am all I saw was someone having a finger patched up, someone off his face for drink and they could not get a response, he was totally out for the count but I gather it's the second time for him and his Mum was very angry.

A policeman arrived with someone and sat outside the room whilst he received treatment.

And towards the end a workman came in in his builder's uniform and a machine had gone wrong and at first he thought he's broken his arm but it appears it had damaged his thumb and the little bit of skin between the forefinger and thumb was all clotted up and bleeding and thumb seemed loose.

They gave us the option of a taxi or ambulance to come home but we decided for quickness and easiness(and Mum did not want to be seen coming home in an ambulance )

It cost almost £20 and was driven by a Romanian who had lost his job in Romania and so ended up here but he wasn't sending money home and wanted a National Insurance number so he can contribute to the UK economy and he is spending his wages here on British goods but he is having difficulty getting the paperwork through, one government department has given the go ahead...another is dragging it's feet he said.

In December last year they had an address for Mum that she had not lived at for over 60 years...last night they had another one she has never lived at.

Yes, even if I was well, I would have to be at home for Mum...

X-rays show no broken bones but she is still in pain and a small amount of movement causes it but I am hoping that as the days pass the pain will improve.

She is very much relieved to be home and though it's more work for me...so am I.