what i was told in A&E
 

ok i want to know if this is normal, or if i have been discriminated against. please let me know if you've been told this before.

i had a cut that was really deep and gaping... i had been into A&E 2 times in the month prior to that with cuts pretty much exactly the same size and had them stitched. however this time i was told "if you come in here regularly, we generally don't stitch." she then proceeded to tape up my injury. it took a month to heal and got infected. no surprises there.

has anyone else been told this? is that a rule they have that they don't stitch if you go in often? and if so....what is their reasoning behind that?
thanks.

Hi, firstly could you please remove the size of your wound as it is against the rules...thank you.

Under the NHS nice guidelines, anyone who goes to A and E with self harm injuries is entitled to treatment. Now they may argue that they treated you by taping the wound...but it doesnt sound satisfactory to me if the wound was gaping and deep. Ive been going to A and E on and off for several years and have never been told that. Mayve contact PALS if youre not happy with the treatment you recieved

i've removed the size. sorry i'm new, didn't mean to trigger anyone.

don't think i will contact pals. not into all that. the only thing i'm worried about now is if i ever need to go back...that they won't treat me.

There is no hard and fast rule about this. If the wound needed stitching they should have stitched it. If departments think that someone will just remove the stitches then they may well just steri-strip it but short of that I don't believe they should have treated you like that.

i don't know why they would think i'd remove them, since i never ever have. but i guess that must be why they didn't stitch it as there is no other reason i can think of.
thanks for your reply

Their reasoning probably is that by stitching your wounds, they are reinforcing your need for attention thus you will continue to self harm in order to come back and get stitched.

I'm not saying I agree, but I've heard medical professionals say that before.

However, you are still entitled to proper medical care. Is there another A&E nearby that you can go to? You are entitled to a second opinion, so if the doctor refuses to stitch then ask to see another one.

I had to go to a&e several times to have wounds stitched, after a few times of then being bad, I did worse.

I think some of them forget what their job description entails and they go on personal preference. They basically thought they were wasting their time with me so refused. I did have to go to a&e 6-7 times and should have gone on other occasions but I got seen to on the ward (IP)

Make a complaint is all I can say, they should treat any injury which needs it.

go to the media?

make a complaint and ask for a different doctor the next time.

They should stitch if that's what the wound requires. It's not their job to judge whether someone "deserves" it. For instance if someone is injured in a car accident because of driving while drunk they still get treated.

I've never heard of them refusing to treat someone outright. But if one of the nurses wants to tape when you think they need to stitch perhaps you could ask to speak to their manager there and then?

I have had this happen to me in A and E for slightly diffrent reasions but still self harm related. Staff get exasperated so forth and so on but that doesn't make it right or fair. If you needed stitches than you should of got them. defantly make a complante,

thanks for all your support in saying this wasn't right.
does making a complaint actually do anything....i mean....do they get spoken to or something? because one time a couple of years ago i took an OD, and the consultant Dr kicked me out of the hospital (while i was still hooked up to a drip and heart monitor) simply because i'd admitted to smoking weed before my OD, and he didn't want to help anyone that was making their symptoms worse by taking drugs. he told me i was banned from the hospital. i made a complaint to PALS, because obviously i was being discriminated against.....but i don't know if it did anything. i doubt he got spoken to. and i just ended u feeling really helpless that even though i was trying to complain, my voice wasn't being heard......which is why i don't bother with complaining anymore...:(
ugh i hate the fact that i've been treated so badly in hospitals so many times.

A complaint should make a difference and I hope it does and I think even if there's only a chance of it making a difference it's worth doing, and make sure you mention about the wound getting infected etc.

Alongside that however if that is going to be the hospital's attitude I would advise trying to go to a different A&E if you can possibly get there, if not if they try and not stitch you again when you need it (if you get in that situation again which obv. I hope you don't) explain the damage it did last time.

I've been treated like sh*t at A&E many, many tiimes.

Complaining became futile but I don't think that should stop you complaining if you feel strongly about it.

They can be bastards at my A&E and they can be lovely. Depends on the shift. I always pray for the good shift when I need to go. The paramedics however in my area has always been great to me though.

Any complaints to the hospital/ NHS Trust should be dealt with, yes and brought to the person who caused the problem. This doesn't mean you will find out; I'd not imagine you would at all. Basically they'd tell them, it'd be anonymous. There'd be several members of staff known senior to them or maybe the same level and they'd have meetings to discuss it and such.

The NHS and other services should not discriminate against you for wounds being caused by SH or because of the number of times you've been. If a wound needs stitching then it should be. The exception to this may be if you keep removing the stitches yourself not long after they've been put in but still. Also, skin grafts are different too and they do have a right not to let you have them do to SH unless they are vital but that is for different reasons altogether as skin grafts are more invasive, used primarily for burns in the case of SH and are very prone to breaking down and not working especially if not looked after properly.


Can I also just say that no posts on the First Aid Forum (or in fact any board on RYL) should mention the depth of a cut (the same as the number of cuts/ size or anything indicating that such as the number of stitches/ tissues you can see or have cut into). This is for the safety of other members of RYL to reduce how triggering a thread is and also to reduce the competitive nature that threads can lead to. If you think this is needed then you can PM the info to a member of the FA Team which at the moment includes myself, KimB (Bitter_Angel) who is away at the moment for personal reasons and Jeremy (Jetforce).