Hospital emergency departments

are for emergencies. How many times does that need to be said? The Senior Cat and I were both concerned about using the ambulance service on Saturday.
I knew there was no choice and that the ambulance service would say the same - which the two officers who came made very clear to the Senior Cat.
This morning however there is a letter in the state's newspaper claiming that the only reason for crowded emergency departments and the ramping of ambulances was that the federal government has made it impossible for people to go to the doctor. "It's too expensive," the writer said, "People can't get in. They can't afford to visit a GP."
I disagree. People take our health system for granted. They head off to their GP expecting antibiotics for a common cold - and to feel instantly better as a result.
Nobody wants to be ill. We would all like to feel instantly better but it doesn't work like that. People call ambulances for things which should be dealt with by a GP.  
Someone I know fell in his yard recently and drove a spike through his hand in the process. His wife is an eminently sensible woman. She knew it needed medical attention. She wrapped his hand firmly in a clean cloth and then a clean towel and took him to the Emergency Department. He was seen quickly but they were asked,
     "Why didn't you call an ambulance?"
Her response was that she had been able to deal with the situation and knew that, because serious bleeding was involved, he would be seen as soon as they could.  
     "You know while we were there someone came in off the street with a grazed knee and demanded immediate attention," she told me.
People go into emergency with a common cold and other minor ailments. They expect the staff to rush to their assistance. Some of them genuinely won't know whether it is urgent or not but others simply believe it is their right to walk in and demand attention "because our taxes pay for it".
There is no such right. Emergency departments are for emergencies and for those who by reason of age or infirmity are not able to deal with the situation themselves and who are or genuinely may be seriously ill. They are for the parents of the small child who is alarmingly silent after having fallen some distance and for the teenager who has clearly broken his leg on the football field and the man with severe chest pain. They aren't there for someone who has grazed his knee because, having failed to do up the laces on his trainers, he fell while racing across the road five metres from the pedestrian crossing.  
It is people like Mr Grazed Knee and those with the common cold who really clog up Emergency Departments - and the local GP clinic.