Senior GPs in Northern Ireland are urging patients to drive themselves to hospitals instead of waiting for ambulances due to long wait times in emergency departments. They say patients are increasingly afraid to seek hospital care.
Senior GPs in Northern Ireland have expressed growing concern over patients avoiding hospital visits due to fears of lengthy wait times in emergency departments (EDs). Dr. Frances O'Hagan, representing the British Medical Association (BMA), revealed to a Stormont committee that patients in her practice are increasingly apprehensive about seeking emergency care.
She shared that her GP colleagues often advise patients, some experiencing serious symptoms, to bypass ambulances and drive themselves to the hospital. 'We are saying to people - bundle them into the car, if they are elderly or they have chest... (complaints), because they will get there quicker,' Dr. O'Hagan told MLAs on the health committee, highlighting the severity of the situation.Dr. O'Hagan further explained that patients arriving by ambulance are not guaranteed priority treatment. 'You will not. You will spend your time outside in the ambulance - through no fault of the ambulance staff or the ED staff,' she said, emphasizing the dedication of healthcare professionals despite the overwhelming strain. 'They are working really, really hard. But if you want to get your person seen quicker, it is better to get them, however you can, to the hospital under your own steam.'Dr. Ciaran Mullan, also from the BMA, corroborated Dr. O'Hagan's observations, stating that he is encountering more patients hesitant to seek hospital treatment, even when medically necessary. He told MLAs, 'The other thing that has crept in and was never the case is whenever you have been looking after somebody and they are becoming more acutely unwell and you decide that they need... urgent or emergency care, and we will get an answer to say: 'You're not sending me to the hospital, are you?' ' That is the reality of some of the acute access difficulties we are facing now, where somebody feels that they are frightened to go to the hospital.' The situation has reached a critical point where patients are choosing to forgo essential medical care due to the fear of prolonged waits and inadequate access to timely treatment
HEALTHCARE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS NORTHERN IRELAND GP AMBULANCE WAIT TIMES
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