Broken finger or not..... update

[Louby]

Thanks everyone for replying to my post the other night. I decided to go to A & E today after what you all replied and after seeing a friend who broke 2 fingers which are now permanently bent as she didnt get them looked at soon enough. Felt a bit daft as the swelling has gone down loads but suprise suprise, I have fractured/chipped my middle knuckle and they said I have to keep it straight for 10 days, then go back for physio. I had to laugh as they said they would strap it up so I couldnt move it, they put 2 bits of tape on it and gave me some tubigrip. Needless to say I can still move it. Not complaining though the nurses and doctors were lovely.
Thanks again for advising me, hopefully I will have a straight finger thanks to you lot

 

[Laurenm01]

Aw bless you! Hope you recover well (no crooked fingers!).

 

[Brandysnap]

Well, Louby,
You've taken up a lot of A+E resources time. Cos of a finger, which most of us deal with ourselves.

Please think on that.

There's a lot of smashes on M60, M62, M56, M6 in your area, + i firmly hope that they will continue to take precedence over your broken finger.

 

[Louby]

Im well aware of that Brandysnap. Thanks for your support.
This was done last week, I wasnt going to go and 'waste' their time but Im glad I now went. Im left handed and play the violin and need a straight finger if possible. Cheers anyway

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

Hey Brandysnap! Pantyhose in a knot? Poor old Louby - she did the right thing and who's to say that idiots who drive too fast deserve more resources than Louby? Lighten up FGS! Louby, did the same thing myself about 7 weeks ago when a runaway ned sent me flying into a wall. Hope you make a good recovery x

 

[Louby]

Thanks Lauren and Box of frogs. Felt really stupid going today with a finger of all things and wasnt going to go until I seen my friends fingers last night. Im sure my 2 hr wait would have been 8 hrs if an emergency would have come in. Im well aware I was bottom of the pile.

 

[Louby]

Sorry Box of Frogs, not venting at you. I only wanted to thank peeps on here

 

[Dizzykizzy]

[ QUOTE ]
Well, Louby,
You've taken up a lot of A+E resources time. Cos of a finger, which most of us deal with ourselves.

Please think on that.

There's a lot of smashes on M60, M62, M56, M6 in your area, + i firmly hope that they will continue to take precedence over your broken finger.

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow! That was a bit uncalled for wasn't it?
Louby had already said she DIDN'T want to waste anyone's time.
Hope you heal up quick Louby and don't have further problems.

 

[mainpower]

I injured my finger last year, it's a Mallet finger deformity, had it in a splint for three months in total, but I am one of the unlucky ones who has to have an operation to fuse the joint or arthritis will set in, plus just having the end of my finger dangling means it catches on things.... painful! I didn't go to a & e straight away, thinking it was just a break, but was in there with my son who'd had a car crash, the nurse spotted it and told me to get it checked.
Triage exists so those motorway casualties take priority over fingers.... and having been told by Occ Health to go to a & e to get my back checked as my GP says three months of pain is not long enough to warrant investigation (and I work in the NHS) tells me a & e is a resource open to all of us, and probably a reason why a & e is split into Majors and Minors.
Hope it gets sorted Louby...

 

[ISHmad]

Brandysnap your post made me feel sick.

A good friend of ours went to A&E as she had broken her finger but the amount of pain she was in after a few days appeared to be disproportionate to the injury. It turned out that she had a cancerous growth inside the finger and ended up having some fairly radical treatment.

A&E are very good at prioritising emergencies and nobody is going to mind waiting when more serious admissions come in. I didn't and I know lots of others who haven't either.

OP hope your fingers are mended soon.

 

[JoG]

Well I am with Brandysnap on this one - probably because i work in the Emergency services.

Yes it needed seeing to, but as it was not seen at the time it was injured then it is neither an accident nor an emergency. The best thing to do with a situation like this is to go to your GP who will then refer you to x-ray/fracture clinic and leaving us hardworking A&E lot to have a little bit more time for higher priority cases. It also means you spend a lot less time sitting in a waiting room catching god knows what illnesses from all the other people there

OP - hope the finger heals well and straight, but perhaps you could learn and help your friends to learn when to use services such as your GP instead of A&E

 

[Louby]

Thanks for the support, I think I was just a bit took back by Brandysnaps reply.
Its true what you say JoG, I will hold my hands up and say I never even thought of going to see my doctor as 'Im not ill' and felt totally stupid sitting in A & E with a swollen bent finger. I cant remember the last time I went to my doctors, no please dont think I go to A & E for everything lol, I dont think Ive ever been before but on a lighter note as I hate it when posts on here turn into slanging matches, I reckon my doctor wouldnt have sent me for an xray anyway.
Thanks again, in future I will remember the docs

 

[misst]

Oh Brandysnap - that was mean.

As ex A/E sister and now a specialist minor injuries nurse I wish more people would attend promptly for these "small problems". As someone else said triage exists to prioritise emergencies and fingers will almost always go to "minors" where they will be dealt with appropriately. Fingers left untreated can cause major problems later so should not be ignored.

Also please note the the OP DID have a fracture and DID need xray and treatment.

Louby I hope your hand is better soon. Remember most GPs are useless at minor injuries (just not their specialty) and you need to see the appropriate people - which you did.

 

[mainpower]

[ QUOTE ]
Well I am with Brandysnap on this one - probably because i work in the Emergency services.

Yes it needed seeing to, but as it was not seen at the time it was injured then it is neither an accident nor an emergency. The best thing to do with a situation like this is to go to your GP who will then refer you to x-ray/fracture clinic and leaving us hardworking A&E lot to have a little bit more time for higher priority cases. It also means you spend a lot less time sitting in a waiting room catching god knows what illnesses from all the other people there

OP - hope the finger heals well and straight, but perhaps you could learn and help your friends to learn when to use services such as your GP instead of A&E

[/ QUOTE ]

My GP said I had a bee sting..... even though I told him I'd knocked it. And as I said in my previous post I am three months with a bad back and my GP said come back if it's still hurting in another three months. GPs won't always refer, something to do with budgets I think.
And at the risk of upsetting any a & e workers..... my son was taken in by my OH after dropping a gear box on his foot, when I finished my shift (upstairs in pathology) he'd been waiting nearly 4 hours... when I went in to remind them of breech times the orthapaedic doctor was playing solitaire and the nurses standing around chatting, it was coming up for handover time and no-one wanted to be held up, I suppose.

 

[Spyda]

Ah, well done for going! Glad it's going to be okay

 

[Kallibear]

Did you get signed off work for 6weeks like I did

?

When I broke my finger (very similar circumastnace) I phoned my GP, who told me they weren't interested and I was to take myself off to A+E promptly.

I went just after 9am on a weekday morning and was in, examined, Xrayed, bandaged, book into physio and sent home withing half an hour.

As for 'wasting time' - I would have been shoved to the bottom of the line had something serious come in. And since A+E is full to bursting of F****** stupid druken idiots from friday evening through to monday morning, I'm pretty sure the staff would much prefer to deal with a coherent and polite muppet with a broken finger (i.e me)

 

[ladyt25]

OMG! I can't believe people have even made a comment about wasting A&E time!!! I am not one who goes to A&E for nothing at all but, had I had a swollen and painful hand that was still swollen and painful after a week I am afraid I would have done similar.

Sorry, what exactly would a GP have done? Oh, referred you possibly but that could have taken a fair bit of time (certainly if anything like my GP!). I am sorry, surely A&E are to help. Forget the 'emergency' bit, it still warrants as an accident!!!

I'd like to think I pay my NI and taxes to be able to use the services I am paying for! If the poster had not gone and had not found out what was wrong and just gone on as normal, what if she'd then caused further damage and then had to end up with say surgery to repair the damage. Surely that's more costly and time consuming!!!

I much prefer paying for genuine people to go to A&E for genuine concerns then be paying my taxes for fat people to
have unnecessary weight loss surgery thanks!

Glad your hand is feeling better Louby.

 

[Louby]

And me lol. When I apologised to the nurse for the hundrethed time (sorry its only a finger!) Nurse did say to me that it was nice to deal with polite person for a change.
6 weeks, lucky you.

I started a new job last week so theres no way I could have any time off yet. Im left handed so god knows how I will write tomorrow???

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

JoG, here's the thing. I broke my finger after being run down by a loose horse. Everything hurt at the time but often a good night's sleep puts things into perspective. The following morning, my finger was very painful and very swollen. So I rang my GP surgery to explain what had happened and he TOLD me to get myself down to A&E because (a) it WAS an accident and (b) it would need to be x-rayed. Deary me, some people do forget who pays their salary.

 

[littlemisslauren]

I am shocked at the replies to this thread!
I broke my little finger a couple of weeks ago, I had a rather large git of a horse decide to take me for a flying lesson on the way to the field and I guess my finger was in the way!
This happened on a sat morning, I thought it was just sprained and worked the rest of the day, by the time I got home that night it would have been prime drunken idiot time in A&E.
I woke up on sunday and my finger had gone blue and it was so swollen it looked like it was my thumb rather than little finger! I went to A&E on sunday afternoon, was xrayed and seen to within 2 hours. I felt stupid sitting there with a swollen finger, but I needed to be seen and didnt fancy waiting 3 weeks for an appointment with my GP.

 

[Hippona]

OMG...what a furore....

as an ex-A+E sister and now an advanced nurse practitioner in primary care.....

... an acute accident/injury should go to A+E, however small it may be....because it is a) an accident and b) an injury- you will be triaged immediately and dealt with appropriately....yes you may have to wait but you will be dealt with....

If someone sees me for the same thing a few days later in surgery, then I can refer direct for an x-ray via the acute pathway......you miss out A+E, go for an xray and if there is a fracture you will be dealt with in hospital....

Either is ok....neither is timewasting.......

 

[ester]

surely if OP went to GP and then GP sends her for xrays to hospital anyway that takes up more nhs time??

I have never been to a and e for years but went twice this summer. I did feel a bit like I had wasted people's times when I had my ankle xrayed the day after a fall on hard ground to discover it was a bad sprain...... it was ridiculously painful though, much worse than the arm that I later broke!

Far worse was last time I went to my local small hospitals accident and emergency/minor injuries unit....... I had managed to flick harpic in my eye and eyes are too important to mess about with IMO. was the person who couldnt hear because they had wax build up, they knew what it was, they had a docs appointment for 2 days later and the hospital wouldnt syringe anyway

 

[Serenity087]

Some NHS workers like to act above their stations and prioritise patients outside of their means...

A broken finger can go both ways, A&E or GP. The GP route is likely to take a few days longer (assuming the GP is feeling on the ball and thinks it's broken).

As the OP is a violinist, I'd have said A&E was the right choice. Because the clue is in the name. Accident AND Emergency.

Kicking out broken fingers is going to do nothing to improve the idea that A&E is now just another way of fiddling the figures and pretending they can perform. I am disgusted that it's NHS workers who have told the OP to keep her fingers out of A&E. That REALLY isn't going to help public perception and I hope to the Gods I don't work with you, or go to your hospitals when I am in need.

I don't want to be waiting in A&E knowing you've decided, as "emergency workers" and not Qualified Doctors, that I don't need to be seen.
It's sickening.

 

[Brandysnap]

Oh for heaven's sake, forum friends!
I feel I have to apologise for my comments, as they follow on from another forum thread on this theme, hence have been misconstrued by many.
Louby thought she'd broken a finger. I said I broke one once, no fault of horse, but I just stuck it together with a bit of sellotape + carried on my job (typing at the time).
Loads of water under bridge, + varying views....+ I'm thinking what the hell are you all kicking off about?
Louby didn't need to go to A+E - all they did was put Tubigrib on finger + next one. I did that with sellotape, + carried on typing, + playing piano. Granted violin is a little more difficult, but Tubigrip only for 10 days?
Not an A+E problem in my view, + I suspect Louby agrees.
Best wishes to all, BS x

 

[PapaFrita]

[ QUOTE ]
Well, Louby,
You've taken up a lot of A+E resources time. Cos of a finger, which most of us deal with ourselves.

Please think on that.


[/ QUOTE ]
Aren't you just lovely? Louby pays taxes and is JUST as entitled to go to A&E as all those drunken yobs that need their stomachs pumped at 2am...
My GPs always gave me an appointment 2 weeks later than when I was actually sick. How is THAT any blinking good?

 

[Brandysnap]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Well, Louby,
You've taken up a lot of A+E resources time. Cos of a finger, which most of us deal with ourselves.

Please think on that.


[/ QUOTE ]
Aren't you just lovely? Louby pays taxes and is JUST as entitled to go to A&E as all those drunken yobs that need their stomachs pumped at 2am...
My GPs always gave me an appointment 2 weeks later than when I was actually sick. How is THAT any blinking good?

[/ QUOTE ]

Hi, PapaFrita, but, er, we're in UK, not Argentina, where you are.

Maybe medical services out your way have more money than bankrupt UK's, where jobs are already going in public sector?

 

[PapaFrita]

[ QUOTE ]

Hi, PapaFrita, but, er, we're in UK, not Argentina, where you are.


[/ QUOTE ]
Yes, I was aware of that. I meant in the UK and not Argentina. I did live there for over 30 years, you know.