Can you jump waiting list ringing 999?
 

say you had kidney stones in agony and youre on a 6 month waiting list for the operation to remove them.....then one night youre in agony and you ring 999

does this then mean you have a better chance of leaping that waiting list and getting the operation asap?

I assume you get prioritised for treatment, they send you to the acute ward I recall.....but if youre in screaming pain are they then more likely to rush you for the operation? is agony reason enough or does it have to be life threatening? Ive seen people with kidney stones, theyre in 24 hour agony and to let them wai months is inhumane

often wondered about that but never really asked the question?

Don't think it is quite as simple as that, I doubt kidney stones are classed as an emergency in the same way as say a burst appendix or a heart attack. They would take your history, you would have to tell them you are on a waiting list, they would probably treat you with medication, keep you in a corridor for a few nights and send you home.

My partner had to attend A&E in January and was told he would need an operation but they would do a procedure to alleviate the symptoms initially which was done in theatre. We asked why they would not do the actual op then rather than operating once, then in a few weeks but were told as the op wasn't an emergency as such they couldn't do the op then but he would be accelerated up the waiting list. He had the procedure and then the actual operation 6 weeks later. They won't do non emergency surgery at night time due to the costs of theatre staff etc

I would doubt it, all that would likely happen was if you were already on a waiting list for an operation that you would again be seen by whichever consultant you were dealing with,for him/her to then decide if anything could be done more quickly.

They will only give you pain management, morphine or pure codeine tablets (party! Haha...). The only way you would jump a waiting list is if your life was in danger. They dont really care about your pain or discomfort.

My sister had a benign tumor on one of her ovaries. It wasn't cancerous so she was waiting for an operation for 6 months. By the time they operated, it weighed 22lbs, was the size of a rugby ball, she could barely eat because it was compressing her stomach (she lost over 4st of her body weight) and it was painful and difficult for her to breathe because it was so big, it was restricting her lungs. Basically, she was house-bound in pain and extremely unwell for several months, waiting for a relatively simple op, because her life was never in danger.

Oh that's awful TS! hope she is better now. It was the same for gall stones, there is such a huge waiting list that it's a delicate juggling act to do the ones that are acute as a priority.
I know it's annoying but if they can manage with pain relief then fine if not then your GP may refer you to surgical assessment. NEVER 999 without good reason, you could be killing someone...

thats disgraceful. yet another example how the nhs is grotesquely mismanaged. spend more time on getting people scanned and getting the operating theatres working and this would save billions on 6 months worth of medication and bed blocking....and lets not even get started on the enormous middle management waste and corruption

I dont think so, or else everyone on the waiting lists for operations would just ring 999 :S

I do know they have to check you thoroughly though if you go by ambulance, and they would have to give you pain management and such. I guess it might *possibly* move you up the queue a bit if during the checks they found that your problem was a lot worse?

Nope.

For a kidney stone that was causing extreme pain you would be given pain relief then sent home after being told drink plenty of water to see if you can flush it alone, you would still have to arrange the op for removal and join the end of the waiting list.

You don't get any different treatment travelling by ambulance than you would walking into A&E.

You do at our NHS, and I was told that too. I was having chest pains and they checked me over in the ambulance(couldnt find anything but wanted to do further tests), then told me that I could go with them now, or go myself if it didnt lessen off in a few hours, but if I went myself the wait would be longer in A+E whereas going with them fast-tracks me straight to who I need to see. And that I would get pain relief on arrival rather than having to wait for the triage bit :/

Turned out to be inflammation of the rib cage, so not too serious.

Edit. Oh, also got the option of gas and air in the ambulnce, but it wasnt bad enough to need that and I know from experience that G&G does nothing for me :joker:

Well you do really because from the ambulance you have to get taken through the ambulance admittance room and they have to check you over asap like Vicky posted above whereas if you walk into A&E you check in and sit waiting for hours before even getting to talk to a doctor or any other medical staff.

Yes you may be seen faster but the treatment you ultimately receive won't be any different. And you've taken an emergency ambulance, so if it's not an emergency don't call one.

Tbh I would say being given pain relief immediately rather than hours later is quite a difference in treatment.

Who's to say whats an emergency for certain people and whats not though, if you are in agonising pain with a kidney stone and it's making you double over then I would class that as an emergency tbh.

Also I'm not sure if all a&e is the same but in ours if you go there by ambulance they check you over and you get sent to the emergency receiving unit to wait, if you walk in to a/e they tend to send you back to your seat once you finally get seen until they sort out a prescription and stuff for you.

Well it's up to you I suppose, if you can manage it then do if you can't its a different matter, just common sense really.
In answer to the OP no, you won't get the operation you need any quicker.

Yeah, kidney stones isnt classed as serious as far as I am aware, however seeing my father literally bent over for over an hour pretty much screaming when I was a kid..well, the amount of pain he was in I would say it WAS an emergency.

He never went to the hospital though, silly man. Waited til docs was open and drove himself there when he could hardly walk :facepalm:

id also say that a 999 call out would perhaps encourage the doctor in the hospital to make a note on your records of the urgent need for the operation, this in turn could be communicated to your own GP and this may well speed up your wait on the waiting list.

No that is not how it works at all. It is more likely your notes will lost when they ask for them to be sent to A and E and never find their way back to records, and you will never receive an appointment. :joker: Worked in the NHS years ago, it was hit and miss then, God knows what it is like now.

People are way too harsh on the NHS.
I've been in and out of hospital all of my life and have never had one bad word to say. :idc:

Yes, sometimes it's horrible to have to wait for things and they can become excruciating, but there is simply not enough time and money in the day to operate on everyone. Even if I was in massive pain, I would accept the pain relief because there will be people in line who will have had (insert illness) longer or may have a more life-threatening form of it.

When were you last in? The difference in the last two years or so is staggering. Genuinely shocking.

I disagree, people are nowhere near harsh enough. just look at how daniel was treated today? were too grateful for apathetic often unprofessional uncaring yet phenomenally expensive service
25000 people dies in one year from undiagnosed blood clots in uk hospital beds