[lkramer]

A few years ago I had an infected gallbladder. It was enormously painful, and I went to ER. It might not have been potentially fatal (I'm honestly not sure if you can die from it), but I didn't know that. I just knew I was in a ridiculously amount of pain.

Anyway, so I went to the ER and to begin I did sit in a chair like you said, however I don't think anyone was keeping an eye on the patients, since by the time someone came to look at me, I had been writhing in pain on the floor for an hour or so, and it had taken another patient to call a nurse over.

All and all it took 4 hours before I got to see a doctor, but this was pre-pandemic.

Still, I think you're probably right and people do show up to A and E for non-urgent issues, however it's probably also tied to how difficult it is to see a GP these days.

[dekhn]

Your last sentence is really my underlying point: people use the ER for non-urgent issues because it's available. Ideally, we'd have far more non-ER urgent care (which costs much less to staff and run than an ER) and that would be most people's place to go when their normal doctor couldn't see them.

For the gallbladder, if it's just an infection, not fatal. If it's a gallbladder attack, it can lead to rupture. Definitely needs emergency surgery.