ER patients search through 14 PAGES of touchscreen questions before being asked: Are you losing a lot of blood?

Nowadays everyone expects a long wait in the emergency room, even if you are in pain.

But a new plan threatens to add to the pain – with an iPad check-in system that even asks if you’re ‘squirting’ blood before summoning a doctor.

Amazingly, there are fourteen pages of multiple-choice questions before patients are asked, “Have you lost a lot of blood?”

The screen will then say: ‘We are checking for very heavy bleeding. It would spray, squirt or be enough to make a puddle.’

NHS England’s new ‘Urgent Care Center self-service’ program then requires the patient to find the energy to tap one of the options: Yes, No, or I’m not sure.

The questions include asking if the patient has ‘lost enough blood to make a pee’

Anyone fighting to breathe must wade through as many pages before arriving at the question, “Do you have sudden, rapid swelling of the lips, face, tongue, mouth, or throat?”

And those seeking help after committing suicide must fill out even more pages before being asked grimly on the computer screen, “Are you here because you tried to take your own life?”

Only at a later stage are they asked: ‘Have you taken or swallowed anything poisonous or harmful? Think of medicines, an overdose of medicines, medicines intended for someone else, cleaning products, plants or an object such as a battery or magnet.’

Patients must wade through pages of questions before being asked if they have swallowed something poisonous or harmful

Another question asks whether the patient has difficulty breathing and “sudden, rapid swelling.”

The new iPad-style emergency devices are already in use across much of south London. The Mail on Sunday notes them in operation at the Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH) in Orpington, as well as hospitals in Beckenham and Sidcup, which are 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 they were bleeding.

A member of PRUH’s non-medical reception told the MoS: ‘Since they arrived a few weeks ago we have been told to send people to the iPads even if they are clearly bleeding.

“We’ve seen people bleeding and all kinds down there.”

NHS England, which designed the programme, said hospitals were happy to use it to improve efficiency.

But last night the director of the over-60s campaign group Silver Voices, Dennis Reed, said: ‘I am extremely concerned that these types of self-check-in screens in A&E could be dangerous and lead to life-threatening delays.

‘Some patients, including the elderly, will be so stressed or ill when they arrive at the Emergency Department that they will no longer be able to complete a digital questionnaire.

“The first thing they want to do is talk to a real person who can ask them what’s going on and assess them appropriately.”

The check-in systems first ask for the person’s identity, followed by a long page asking “What was their gender at birth?” with the answers Man and Woman.

A long explanation follows, saying that the hospital needs to know ‘a person’s registered sex at birth, not their gender identity’, and for the first time suggesting that they should talk to staff ‘if you don’t have a (gender) option that represents them correctly’. .

The check-in systems first ask for the person’s identity, followed by a long page asking “What was their gender at birth?” with the answers Man and Woman

The patient is then asked whether he has made an appointment, been asked by a doctor or has recently been in hospital.

Only then will the screen ask for the ‘reason you are here’, with options such as symptoms or an injury, and mental health concerns.

If you click on ‘Symptoms or an injury’, you will be taken to ‘Do you have an injury?’ and if you answer ‘yes’ you will end up with ‘Have you lost blood?’

It then comes to the question of whether your blood ‘squirts, squirts or is enough to make a puddle’.

A ‘yes’ here advises a possibly blood-soaked patient too late to go directly to the front desk staff.

This advice is given to others only after they have painfully had the opportunity to say that their throat swells easily.

Suicide attempts are given even more screen pages before human contact is encouraged.

Dr. Tim Cooksley, former president of the Society of Acute Medicine, said: ‘It would be preferable if we had well-staffed and well-run emergency departments, where patients could be assessed quickly by a real person.’

Last night a PRUH spokesperson said: ‘E-kiosks were introduced at PRUH last week to reduce waiting times and improve patients’ care experience.’

An NHS England spokesperson said: ‘For a small proportion of trusts there is a digital kiosk tool to help identify and assess patients’ symptoms in cases where it is safe to do so.’