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AIBU?

To be annoyed with the hospital?

43 replies

ANormalOne · 10/07/2013 09:00

Ended up walking out of hospital last night with my 5 month old DD - poor thing was exhausted and had been refusing feeds all day with a high temperature - there was only one other family in the A and E waiting room with us as it was around 3 in the morning, so it wasn't heaving, and we were made to wait for over three hours, we didn't even see a triage nurse. Managed to get a doctors appointment for her today and she seems to be picking up, thankfully.

I get that there's issues with staffing, but surely that's a ridiculous amount of time to have to wait with a sick baby?

OP posts:

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OhThePlacesYoullGo · 10/07/2013 09:05

Just because there weren't other people in the waiting room doesn't mean that it wasn't full. You don't know whether there were other kids with life threatening injuries or illnesses who were being seen.

Sirzy · 10/07/2013 09:07

If you were happy to walk out then you obviously weren't that worried.

When staff where helping save my sons life it took them a few hours (on 2 occasions) I am sure other people got bored waiting then!

Wheresmycaffeinedrip · 10/07/2013 09:09

Hospitals are usually fab with getting babies and small children seen. If you didn't even get triaged then I expect they were busy with an emergency.

MrsHoarder · 10/07/2013 09:11

YABU

If it wasn't that much of an emergency you should have called OOH rather than go to A&E. For all you know they had had several casualties arrive in a critical condition in ambulances (often a separate entrance to get to resus faster).

Note that that doesn't mean you would have been seen faster if you rang 999.

crashdoll · 10/07/2013 09:11

YABU and also, it's not an accident or an emergency if you walk out because the wait is too long.

CandidaDoyle · 10/07/2013 09:12

Did you try calling your out of hours doctor to ask for an appointment?

Gobbolinothewitchscat · 10/07/2013 09:13

This kind of thing annoys me so much. DH is a dentist and had a child patient with severe mental and physical special needs in yesterday. He booked an hour for the appointment which should be more than enough time but the child understandably had a total melt down and was very distressed. DH's morning clinic ended up over running by half an hour but still some twats complained bitterly - even though they were advised he was running late ( not the reason) and offered the opportunity to rebook as soon as they arrived.

Healthcare professionals aren't usually sitting in a ward or surgery with their feet up - they're normally late for a reason.
Presumably DD was triaged when she got there anyway so if she had been assessed as seriously ill, then someone would have seen her sooner if possible.

ANormalOne · 10/07/2013 09:13

I get that they may have been helping others who needed it more, but surely there should have at least been a triage nurse available? She wasn't even looked at so had it been something serious she would have been left for over three hours, there wasn't any staff around that we could see aside from a receptionist who wasn't there most of the time.

I wasn't happy to walk away, but I guess IABU.

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pizzaqueen · 10/07/2013 09:15

yabu

was it an accident? and seems it wasn't an emergancy if you walked out and went home?

did you call nhs direct or out of hours first?

they may have been dealing with many other emergancies behind scenes.

arethereanyleftatall · 10/07/2013 09:16

Triage are fantastic at seeing babies and children in priority order. if there was a problem they would have seen you straight away.
It sounds like your DC is fine which is great. A & e wasn't the right place to take her with her symptoms, it should have been the doctor.

Sirzy · 10/07/2013 09:18

Did you ask how long it was going to be? Tell the receptionsist you were worried?

Sometimes in A and E they have actual emergencies. They may take multiple members of staff to deal with. Shit for people waiting but more shit for the person needing that attention. Fwiw at one point DS was being treated by 3 doctors, 4 nurses and had some HCAs running around/looking after me. I am very sorry for anyone who had to wait longer than they deemed acceptable though!

ANormalOne · 10/07/2013 09:21

NHS direct told me take her in because she hadn't had any liquids for 12 hours and has had issues with feeding previously . We have managed to get some fluids in now with a syringe, but she's still unwell. Looks like IBU and don't really understand how hospitals work, at least I'll know for the future.

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Gobbolinothewitchscat · 10/07/2013 09:21

If there was no triage, something exceptionally serious must have happened last night.

Hopefully you will accept that it was reasonable of them to continue dealing with this extremely serious incident(s)?

I presume that if you had thought that DD was becoming more ill or had appeared very ill when you arrived then you would have kept chasing things up with the receptionist?

arethereanyleftatall · 10/07/2013 09:22

By high temperature do you mean 40, or thereabouts? If so, than I'm surprised you weren't seen.
If you mean 38 or thereabouts then YABU and wasting a&e time.

arethereanyleftatall · 10/07/2013 09:23

Sorry, cross post.

Onesleeptillwembley · 10/07/2013 09:27

Well she either wasn't ill enough for A&E or you were negligent taking her home. Either way, you're way out of order.

ANormalOne · 10/07/2013 09:28

Gobbo, I accept that now. Like I said, I obviously don't know a lot about hospitals and this has been a learning experience.

I did ask the receptionist a few times how long it would be and she just told me I would be seen soon, I'm overly polite so I definitely wasn't shitty with her and I did let her know when we left so she didn't worry.

Her temp was going between 37-39, I'm a first time mum and she's had loads of feeding problems, so I probably just worried for nothing.

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Sirzy · 10/07/2013 09:29

Glad she is on the mend now

Gobbolinothewitchscat · 10/07/2013 09:30

I am glad DD better now - meant to say that in my first post.

ANormalOne · 10/07/2013 09:32

Thanks. Her temp is down bit she's still gagging when she feeds, I'll just have to see what doctor says.

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HappyDoll · 10/07/2013 09:33

YABU but you obviously realise that now. I hope DD is perking up today.

It might be a good idea to talk to your GP about OOH options and what you should do if the same thing happens again, NHS Direct are not the best source of advice at the moment and I have found them to be overly cautious which leads to a real push on A&E services.

ANormalOne · 10/07/2013 09:36

I will do Happy, they told me her high temperature was enough of a concern to bring her to A & E. I think thr air conditioning in the hospital helped cool her, this heat doesn't help.

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arethereanyleftatall · 10/07/2013 09:36

Don't worry, it's scary being a first time mum, they're just so very previous. glad she's ok.

arethereanyleftatall · 10/07/2013 09:37

Precious

Sirzy · 10/07/2013 09:41

Maybe worth trying to buy a fan to keep her cool during this weather? And keep offering milk (and water if needed) little and often?

This weather isn't quite as nice when you have a baby who doesn't like the warm!

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