UK should start charging for A&E visits
Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 8:44 pm
A woman who couldn't remove her false nails and another who had paint stuck in her hair are just some of the 'inappropriate' patients turning up in A&E, according to research.
A new campaign is urging people not to go to A&E unless their condition is a genuine emergency, after figures suggested as many as a quarter of people who go to A&E could care for themselves or use alternative treatment.
Other bizarre examples include someone seeking treatment for a sick dog, and a man requesting an ambulance after being bitten on his finger by a guinea pig.
One woman wanted someone to cut her toenails because she could not get a chiropody appointment.
Meanwhile, one mother took her child to A&E because they had stepped in dog poo and she wanted staff to clean it off while another woman called 999 because she had diarrhoea.
A further woman rushed to the department saying her hand had turned blue - it turned out to be dye from her jeans.
A man also dialled 999 because he was suffering from constipation, while another went to A&E because he had a hangover.
Across England, unnecessary A&E attendances are estimated to cost at least £80 million to £100 million a year. Every attendance at A&E in the UK costs a minimum of £59.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... z1d3QbU4Al
