A&E patients wade through 14 PAGES of touch-screen questions before being ... trends now
Everyone expects a lengthy wait in A&E these days, even if you are in pain.
But a new scheme threatens to add to the agony – with an iPad check-in system that even asks if you are 'spurting' blood before summoning a doctor.
Astonishingly, there are 14 pages of multiple-choice questions before patients are asked: 'Have you lost a lot of blood?'
The screen then reads: 'We're checking for very heavy bleeding. It would be spraying, spurting or enough to make a puddle.'
NHS England's new 'Urgent Care Centre self-service' programme then requires the patient to find the energy to tap on one of the options: Yes, No, or I'm Not Sure.
NHS England's new 'Urgent Care Centre self-service' programme requires patients to check themselves in when they arrive at A&E
The questions include one asking whether the patient has lost 'enough blood to make a puddle'
Anyone fighting to breathe has to wade through the same number of pages before getting to the question: 'Have you got sudden rapid swelling of the lips, face, tongue, mouth or throat?'
And anyone seeking help after trying to kill themselves has to complete even more pages before being asked starkly on the computer screen: 'Are you here because you've tried to end your life?'
It is only at a later stage that they are asked: 'Have you taken or swallowed anything poisonous or harmful? For example, drugs, an overdose of medicine, medicine meant for someone else, cleaning products, plants, or an object like a battery or magnet.'
Patients have to wade through pages of questions before being asked if they have swallowed anything poisonous or harmful
Another question asks if the patient is struggling to breathe and has 'sudden, rapid swelling'
The new iPad-style A&E devices are already in use across much of South London – with The Mail on Sunday finding them in operation at Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH) in Orpington, as well as hospitals in Beckenham and Sidcup, similarly run by the King's College Hospital NHS Trust.
When The Mail on Sunday visited PRUH, two non-medical staff behind a glass screen looked embarrassed as they said those needing help had to 'check themselves in on the iPads' in the waiting room, even if bleeding.
