To be furious | Mumsnet

Threelittleduck · 2024-10-21T00:09:43+00:00

How has the NHS come to this? My DD had a seizure in the summer. We went to hospital but discharged later. Nothing has happened but today she had two seizures. One at around 9 and one an hour ago. Called ambulance after her seizure at 9, they said it would be hours for an ambulance but 4 hours? After she's had a second seizure? I can't drive her as had a Covid jab yesterday and am feeling sick and dizzy and DH has been drinking. I mean thank fuck it's not life threatening! (I know she'd be higher priority before anyone takes that seriously). She's asleep on the sofa now and I'm sat with her, feeling tired, ill and worried about DD Is this what the country has come to? Is that government actually going to do anything to help our healthcare system and support those who work in it.

RampantIvy · 22/10/2024 14:12

I agree @SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 22/10/2024 12:32

To those posters who are saying that @Threelittleduck should have womaned up and driven her dd to hospital despite feeling dizzy and lightheaded, the NHS says that you should NOT do any dangerous activity, including driving, if you are feeling dizzy.

"do not do anything that could be dangerous while you're dizzy, like driving, climbing a ladder or using heavy machinery"

Here

Dizziness

Dizziness is a common symptom that’s not usually a sign of anything serious. Find out what you can do about it and when to get medical help.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/dizziness

Verbena17 · 22/10/2024 09:59

That’s good news @Threelittleduck . Hope she gets some good rest and doesn’t have any more seizures.

Original poster

Threelittleduck · 22/10/2024 09:33

Like I said doctor recommended going by ambulance and even after the wait they think it's still the best option. As I said she did have further seizures yesterday and one could have happened while I was driving which would panic me and she could have hurt herself.
Not that it matters now
Spoke to the doctor who hopes to discharge her around 2pm

OP posts:

GillBeck · 22/10/2024 08:41

Verbena17 · 21/10/2024 23:25

You clearly know not a lot about seizures. The fact she had 2 very close together is especially worrying and without oxygen, taking a taxi is risky if her DD had been having full tonic clonic seizures.

They didn’t have oxygen at home while they waited for hours either.

Verbena17 · 21/10/2024 23:38

So glad you and DD were taken in eventually @Threelittleduck .
I think you were correct not taking her in a taxi.

Seizures are really scary - even when you’ve seen them have one before!
My son’s last seizure was in the early morning. He was 6 and we had caught the ferry to France at 4:30am so he hadn’t eaten, had low blood sugar and was tired from waking. About 10 mins out of the Calais terminal, down the autoroute, he started having a seizure in his car seat, as he was falling asleep! Luckily there was a rest stop and services not far ahead and we quickly stopped and laid him flat out on the grass and put him into recovery position.

When he came round, we got him to eat and drink and then he went to sleep in his car seat fine. He had 6 seizures in 6 months - 5 of them when falling asleep.
So scary!
I hope your DD is seen soon in the neuro clinic 🤞

Verbena17 · 21/10/2024 23:25

You clearly know not a lot about seizures. The fact she had 2 very close together is especially worrying and without oxygen, taking a taxi is risky if her DD had been having full tonic clonic seizures.

Mumandcarer80 · 21/10/2024 22:54

AhBiscuits · 21/10/2024 06:51

If my daughter was having an actual medical emergency of course I would drive with covid / a bit of dizziness. It's amazing what you can do when you have to.

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Anyone with common sense wouldn't. You might as well be drink driving. You would be very silly to even consider it.

justbeingasmartarse · 21/10/2024 22:33

LizzieVereker · 21/10/2024 09:00

Nobody is going to crash because they feel a bit dizzy and sick after a jab. This OP has the word “entitled” running right through it like a stick of rock.

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Starlight7080 · 21/10/2024 21:28

I hope your dd is doing a bit better today .very sensible not to drive. My dd had a covid jab felt dizzy a few hours later and fainted .

Drowningnotwaving74 · 21/10/2024 17:27

Please stop with the it's the evil tories rhetoric Labour started the rot

Hope your OK now OP and your daughter is feeling better.

I got rushed in Thursday and after 11 hours saw a doctor who said my heart was fine (was by then had been sat for 11 hours lol) sent me for an xray and when I got back I was a sweaty gasping chest pain mess I watched the staff look through me rather than notice in case it meant they had to admit me 😆 whilst other patients tried to get me water etc.
It's over run is the problem I think

GillBeck · 21/10/2024 17:22

imjusthereforAIBU · 21/10/2024 15:08

You are right that waiting time for ambulances and to be seen by A&E/consultants/specialists are worryingly and unacceptably long and I expect that there are people dying waiting to be seen.

My grandmother fell at her nursing home last week cracking her skull on a sink. She was then non mobile so could not be put into a car/taxi. She waited 7hrs for an ambulance to arrive, then spent another 5hrs in the back of the ambulance in the A&E bay waiting to be admitted because there was nowhere else for her to wait/no beds.

She's as fine as any 95yr old with a skull fracture could be, and I get that she was "stable" hence the wait being deemed acceptable. I have to trust that everyone seen before her needed to be seen more. But it's very hard to see a loved one wait like that, so I sympathise completely.

I hope your daughter gets some answers soon.

The other reason for the long wait would be that she was in a nursing home so would have had nursing support/assessment available.

GillBeck · 21/10/2024 17:18

The NHS is free at the point of use for UK citizens

No, this is wrong. It is free at the point of use for UK residents. UK citizens who live abroad are not entitled to free NHS treatment.

RampantIvy · 21/10/2024 16:05

BirthdayRainbow · 21/10/2024 07:16

No one is saying that. Grow up.

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@Threelittleduck thank you for the update. I hope they can get to the bottom of this. Hopefully, you will get some sleep tonight and feel better tomorrow.

middler · 21/10/2024 15:23

middler · 21/10/2024 11:37

just so you know the NHS is not free to visitors from overseas if we have to go into hospital- our US insurance would reimburse us and we would have to pay for that hospital care. A and E is free, so long as you are not admitted, you just may have to wait 11-12 hours as we discovered on one trip we made and found we had to access it and it was very shocking how long the wait time was- we offered to pay but the billing system is only in place if you are admitted onto a ward, but that is in place.

NHS per night is I believe somewhat less than we pay in the US where hospital stays with minimum procedures run at 5k to 10 k a day/night- this is without any surgery involved so just your bed and nursing care maybe a scan, a drip and blood work. I don't think the NHS is quite as much as that because it is not run as a business thank goodness and let's hope it never is...but it cannot go in in the form it is today. Total restructure is required. Sadly in the last 24 hours there will be people who have died in the UK waiting for an ambulance. And again tomorrow.

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Oh crikey, I'm not lecturing you. These forums are a moving conversation where people you know contribute to the conversation, no need to be so prickly.

I am informing you that NHS care in hospitals is not free for overseas visitors so you know you are informed about that since I read that you were under the misunderstanding that people come in from overseas and use hospitals for free.

The NHS is free at the point of use for UK citizens and that is what I was referring to as I think was clear. What you pay in NI contributions is a tiny amount of the true cost of what the NHS actually costs of course.

I am very glad to hear the OP's daughter got the care she needed once she got to hospital and she did in fact get an ambulance after a wait, and it's a shame in a scary situation she was unable to access something that she assumed she would be able to access but we learn to temper our expectations through these experiences and the ambulances are only going out to people in dire emergencies it would seem, having lost a family member, who really did need one, I can personally vouch on that front.
Hope the OP can get some rest today.

Original poster

Threelittleduck · 21/10/2024 15:21

BirthdayRainbow · 21/10/2024 07:16

No one is saying that. Grow up.

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Actually yes at least one poster said I should drive despite feeling dizzy

OP posts:

imjusthereforAIBU · 21/10/2024 15:08

You are right that waiting time for ambulances and to be seen by A&E/consultants/specialists are worryingly and unacceptably long and I expect that there are people dying waiting to be seen.

My grandmother fell at her nursing home last week cracking her skull on a sink. She was then non mobile so could not be put into a car/taxi. She waited 7hrs for an ambulance to arrive, then spent another 5hrs in the back of the ambulance in the A&E bay waiting to be admitted because there was nowhere else for her to wait/no beds.

She's as fine as any 95yr old with a skull fracture could be, and I get that she was "stable" hence the wait being deemed acceptable. I have to trust that everyone seen before her needed to be seen more. But it's very hard to see a loved one wait like that, so I sympathise completely.

I hope your daughter gets some answers soon.

Freeyourminds · 21/10/2024 14:38

@Threelittleduck Thank you for the update
Hope your daughter gets seen by the neurologist clinic soon and has some respite from the seizures.

Edited, made a typo error.

Quitelikeit · 21/10/2024 14:37

It’s a disgrace op. Your story is the norm now.

Even I would probably use a taxi if o had to get to hospital urgently

Most ambulances are queued up outside of hospitals as they can’t get the patients out of the ambulance due to no beds

Original poster

Threelittleduck · 21/10/2024 14:32

And people who are slating my DH for drinking is unfair. She hadn't had a fit in ages, he was invited out for drinks with his mates, no-one could predict this would happen.
Infact the doctor last time said it's really common to have one fit and never suffer again. Obviously not the case for DD though.

OP posts:

Surprise50 · 21/10/2024 14:31

Thank you for the update OP. Hope you get to the bottom of it all and your dd gets the treatments she needs going forward.

A friend of mines ds had a seizure completely out of blue at midnight when he was about 11. Never had one before, was fit and healthy. Friend rang 999 to be told if the seizure has stopped then that’s fine, just crack on, see Gp routinely! Friend was beside herself, the blase attitude of 999 was astonishing. A fit and healthy child does not have a seizure out of nowhere. One of the most scary times of her life.

Original poster

Threelittleduck · 21/10/2024 14:24

Okay the call handler said there would be a wait, they didn't say 4 hours, that was how long I'd been waiting for at that point.
My DH couldn't come with me as we also have a 4 year old so someone had to stay home.
DD had two more seizures at the hospital but they then gave her medicine for epilepsy fits and (touch wood) has been okay since, just totally exhausted.
They have decided not to do a brain scan as it was clear in the summer but she has been moved up the list for neurology clinic so hopefully will be seen this year.
They are keeping her in overnight with a view to discharging her tomorrow with appropriate medication.
And just for the record the ambulance was pulling up when I put they arrived they were not in the house.
Why isn't it possible to text and sit with a child who is sleeping but has also had a seizure? Doctor's recommend you come to hospital in an ambulance so if following their advice makes me entitled then so be it.
Thanks to all those who were supportive and realise dealing with a fitting teenager (especially at night when things seem worse) is scary and worrying.

OP posts:

Freeyourminds · 21/10/2024 14:22

GillBeck · 21/10/2024 13:17

OP was not doing CPR. The ambulance service triaged her call and decided a four hour wait was ok so the ambulance could attend higher priority situations where the caller might have been doing CPR. Given it had already assessed no medical treatment was needed for the next four hours then driving or taking a taxi (OP has not said taxis were not available so that your taxi situation is irrelevant here) would be an appropriate response.

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You’ve taken @DyslexicPoster thread so literally.It was meant to be positive and light hearted.Which was needed in this thread.

GillBeck · 21/10/2024 13:17

DyslexicPoster · 21/10/2024 12:40

It always amuses me when people say get a taxi. I cant get taxis,where I live. They just don't operate. I'm 20 miles away from a big town, five from a market town. No one comes out to us unless pre booked and even then they are notorious for not turning up. I'm a hour train from London so surely there must be more rural places than me?

Luckily I own a car, but what if you don't? Your broke, rural etc?

Someone locally drove to hospital having a heart attack breaking the speed limit. I don't blame him.

Plus he passed "your ok to text, you don't need a ambulance" test.

OP I hope your dd is OK. Its easy to judge until you need the ambulance and you realise its not coming. My friends mum was on hold to 999 when doing cpr. Even the most worthy and in need die waiting for ambulances but us British love to do the old stiff upper lip pray to the nhs alter. Free at source means jake shit when you can get a ambulance and you can't do cpr in a car or taxi. Maybe order a minibus taxi to do cpr on the floor is the MN answer? Get all your able bodied neighbours to drag the body on? I found a tiny frail old lady on the street once. I couldn't even lift her as she was dead weight

OP was not doing CPR. The ambulance service triaged her call and decided a four hour wait was ok so the ambulance could attend higher priority situations where the caller might have been doing CPR. Given it had already assessed no medical treatment was needed for the next four hours then driving or taking a taxi (OP has not said taxis were not available so that your taxi situation is irrelevant here) would be an appropriate response.

Freeyourminds · 21/10/2024 13:10

@DyslexicPoster your post is so good, you just summed it up.