Woman 'so embarrassed' after having to go to A&E for 'silly' reason

A woman has shared her embarrassment after having to go to A&E for the “silliest” reason, with the nurse who triaged her “annoyed” at her for “wasting hospital time”. At first, she visited her GP but was then sent to A&E for further treatment.

The NHS states the accident and emergency department is designed to provide care for “serious injuries and life-threatening emergencies”, with all patients “assessed by a doctor or nurse before any treatment takes place” - a process called triage. This is designed so staff can determine who is in most need of treatment, with more serious ailments treated first.

A&E departments are notoriously busy and people are often expected to wait for quite some time before they can be seen. One woman was mortified after being sent to the department for what she dubbed a “silly” reason - she was bit by an alpaca.

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The alpaca is a species of South American camelid mammal and are, generally, friendly and gentle animals but accidents can happen.

The alpaca, named Ben, broke the woman’s skin with his bite and she was worried it was becoming infected so visited her GP but the doctor sent her to A&E for an important follow up step.

In a Reddit post titled “What’s the silliest reason you have had to go to the GP or A&E?” the woman shared details about the incident.

She penned: “I was once bitten by Ben the alpaca. I was feeding him and he bit me very hard. It broke the skin and I was bleeding. After a couple of days, I saw my GP because it bled quite a bit and I was worried that it was starting to get infected.

“They gave me antibiotics and then sent me to A&E to get a tetanus shot, because they ‘don’t do that anymore’.

“I felt so embarrassed when I got to the hospital and the nurse who triaged me was annoyed at me/GP for wasting hospital time. To be fair, I felt the same. What an absolute waste of time!”

She added: “Ben the alpaca was not harmed and he’s still a beautiful boy and I drop into see occasionally. He’s bit me more than once and I keep putting my hand near his mouth. I deserve everything I get! No more doctor visits though for 10 years until my tetanus shot runs out again!”

She then asked other Reddit users to share the “silliest” reasons they’d had to visit the hospital and people were keen to share.

One person said: “First pregnancy, 35 weeks, didn’t know what labour was supposed to feel like so went to maternity assessment unit thinking I had a UTI because I'd been having vague back pain and cramping.

“Nope was 5cm dilated in active labour, pretty sure the midwife thought I was an absolute moron”.

Someone else said: “I got pecked in the eye by a chicken once.”

A third shared: “Spilt a cup of tea at work, slipped in the spilt tea, I went down and instinctively tried to protect the tea, however it splashed in my eye.

“Boss took me to A&E because I got boiling hot tea in my eye and was very diplomatic about not calling me an idiot.”

And another added: “I once had to go to A&E because I had the worst stomach pains I’ve ever had. I was 14 and could barely even stand because I was in so much pain. After a quick examination they thought I was at risk of a burst appendix so I was kept overnight for observation and they planned to operate the next morning.

“During the night I did the biggest fart I’ve ever experienced in my life. Weirdly, all the pain disappeared after that.”

If you're not sure if you need to go to A&E, you can call NHS 111 to check your symptoms, and they can tell you what to do.