To be furious

Get a taxi to the hospital then. Not the NHS’s fault your DH was drinking and you were feeling a bit nauseated. Don’t blame the ambulance service for responding to emergencies that needed immediate attention, a seizure is very rarely life threatening.

If OP is too dizzy to drive she can't drive or they might crash and then yes they'd possibly get to A&E quicker but they might also die

Then you apologise to the taxi driver who will either be very understanding or charge the cleaning up fee the charge drunk students who vomit. If it is safe for her to go in a taxi then they should go in a taxi. It's either an Accident or Emergancy or it isn't.

I'm not blaming you but I'd have to be pretty damn sick not to drive my child to the hospital

If she wants to get changed quickly there's no reason DH can't watch for 2 minutes. How long does it take to get changed? (Unless OP has mobility issues then it might take a bit longer but presumably DH isn't a complete write off due to the alcohol)

So you don't think ambulances should be available if people need them?

You having a Covid jab and your husband being drunk isn’t a reason for an ambulance though. An ambulance isn’t a free taxi.

@Threelittleduck I'm so sorry about your Daughter. My DD too had mysterious seizures and we called an Ambulance each time, blue light to Hospital she was eventually diagnosed with Epilepsy on her 3rd Ambulance visit within a few Months. Does she have a consultant yet? Thankfully each Ambulance was just a few minutes but we did have to wait 4 weeks for an EEG and MRI. I can't really complain as our situation was dealt with so well, the team looking after her each time were amazing. How is she today?

Yes, ideally enough ambulances should be available for everyone without any wait. However, this is not the case and will not change anytime soon. I’m utterly flummoxed as to how you are ‘furious’ about this yet can’t realise the dysfunction in your own household though.

Your DH being over the limit and not being able to drive is fine, I don’t see it as an issue. However, I’d be furious at my DH if he was SO drunk he couldn’t organise a taxi, grab some towels and a bin bag and left me to deal with it all by myself. No need for anyone to get changed, go in your pj’s if you are in them. One can sit in the back with DD (on towels over bin bag) and the other in the front of the taxi, the driver will understand. Surely, DH being over the limit doesn’t mean he can’t co-assist his child to hospital in a taxi unless he is fall down drunk needing to be helped to walk?

I worked in A&E for decades. I wouldn’t give a second thought to anyone in their pj’s or disheveled who had raced in (by whatever means, I wouldn’t know if you drove or got a taxi and couldn’t care less either way). However, if someone blathered on that they had to wait ages as no ambulance and it was obvious they just couldn’t organise something as simple as a taxi, while I wouldn’t show it, internally I’d think it really odd. Did have people saying they could not afford one which makes complete sense, but not the case with OP seemingly, just a general level of dysfunction when there are two adults who can’t manage it between them.

Can DH watch her while you quickly get some clothes on? Even when the ambulance comes you'll want to be dressed as you'll be in hospital a long time at the other end too

It’s terrible that the ambulance would take that long but when you heard 4 hours and knew you couldn’t drive you should have ordered a taxi

Two seizures in 24 hours is dangerous.In future, perhaps it would be better to take a taxi op as there is a condition called staticus elepticus, which is very dangerous, where the body struggles to get out of the fit and is hard to treat… that’s presuming these are epileptic rather than reflex anoxic seizures, which are less common but my 16 yo dd has and has been having since she was a toddler.

I am not saying this to berate you, rather to explain the risk. I hope your dd is ok.

Her daughter had another seizure after they called an ambulance for the first one she had. She's 16 not a young child. She hasn't been diagnosed with anything yet she's on no medication no rescue meds and they don't know what the severity of what they are dealing with.

So until that person is put on medication the advice is to ring an ambulance. After 3 seizures they have to investigate. Some show seizure activity on a CT scan and put on medication straight away.

But that wasn't the case with my children and we had to ring an ambulance every time they had a seizure.

Understand regarding, it’s quicker to go in a taxi and every seizure can vary.How do you manage, if your child in loosing control of their continence in a taxi? Which happens regularly when someone is having a seizure.

The hospital won't care if you arrive in your PJ's just shove a coat on their used to it. I often take DD to hospital by taxi for cluster seizures. I can get her there quicker by taxi than it takes to get through to ambulance service. But now she's had 3 seizures they have to investigate further and consider putting her on medication.

As you weren’t there you wouldn’t know for sure if it was an actual medical emergency Her daughter is at the hospital now, that’s all that matters now.

I am in the US where we pay between 1k and 1600 if we call out an ambulance. That is the actual cost to the system even though you do not pay with the NHS.

So we usually drive our kids in to hospital when we need to and that is what you need to do or get an uber? Maybe I have become Americanized but I do not think this warrants an ambulance- they are surely for heart attacks and strokes and the like and for this kind of thing you need to get your own child to the medical care facility. The system does not have enough ambulances to send them out to taxi you into hospital so your husband should not have drunk frankly??My fury would have been directed at him. You get your person to the facility unless their life is actually under threat, always. Ambulances are for life death emergencies only.

This is exactly why we all need to accept things are going to be painful for some time.

The Tories let the NHS rot while handing out backhanders to their pals.

We need to let Labour sort this out, but it’s not going to happen immediately and it’s going to take ££££. If we want a better NHS, we’re going to have to swallow some unpleasant budget decisions.

I hope your DD stops having seizures soon OP and things settle down.

This is one of those missing the point posts, people have literally died waiting for ambulances and have died in A & E.

My brother was prone to seizures and I remember circa 2008 the advice was always to ring for an ambulance and one always came pretty promptly. He was 30 odd at the time too so not a child.

Hope DD is better soon.

Yes

Taxi? Uber? Neighbour? Friend? Family?
🤔

You are not wrong OP.

I hope all is going well at the hospital and you get to the bottom of this.
It's terrifying when your child has seizures.

I understand that, because as we know, there are massive delays with ambulances.I was explaining to another poster why, an ambulance might be necessary rather than a taxi.I don’t think it’s helpful to be telling people off, for calling an ambulance in a medical emergency and berate, which is the approach you’ve taken.In a very difficult situation, it’s for the next of kin to decide.

Getting an ambulance in does not necessarily speed up treatment - this is one of the myths that causes over-use of ambulances.

Sure, ambulances should be available, but equally, why was your DH still drinking after she had the first fit and hospital was likely needed?

If he was absolutely hammered before the first fit and stopped drinking and still not sober enough to drive 4 hours later, fair enough but you could have got a taxi, given her some pads to wear, sat her on a towel and a bin liner just in case...

She needed seeing. That doesn't automatically equate to needing an ambulance.

It’s more to go with, regarding a serious health condition (with epilepsy the person could go into a coma) calling an ambulance the patient would get medical care by a paramedic sooner than the patient making their own way to the hospital.
By getting a taxi the patient potentially could have another epileptic fit on the way.Also by making their own way to the hospital, treatment would be delayed, due to waiting to be triaged and long wait times.