Which hospital to take son having asthma attacks near London

[Funnyname00]

My DS keeps having asthma attacks and needing to go to an and e almost daily. I’m not happy that my local a and e just gives him steroids and send him home (after 8h of waiting) and then the next day the same thing happens again. This has been going on for weeks and no one seems interested in getting his asthma under control properly.
next time it happens I think I’m going to take him to a different a and e. I’m near London. Is there anywhere that will be better with his asthma/allergies? Or are all hospitals just at breaking point now 🙁

You need to get him properly treated at a GP, to get his asthma under control

The gp has been completely useless

You need to ask for a referral to a respiratory consultant

You need an urgent appointment with a GP. A and E will deal with the emergency ie asthma attack but not the long term treatment.

Cross posts. Have you asked for him to be referred?

A and E will only deal with an acute issue and stabilise. See the practice Asthma nurse and ask for a referral.

You need to see the asthma nurse at the practice. Is he on preventer inhalers used with a spacer? Does he have a plan of how much ventolin to give, via a spacer, if he starts wheezing and at what point to go to hospital?

A referral to where? The nurse and gp have been unhelpful and useless and impossible to see🙁

To a paediatric respiratory specialist?

If it is an emergancy take him to the nearest A&E or call an ambulance.

Can you request another doctor at your practise OP? Others are a lot better than others sometimes

Do you have community paediatric respiratory nurses? Ask your go for a referral to paediatric as an outpatient for asthma management? Doesn’t have to be a children’s hospital. Or after an admission to a&e do you get any follow up from community nurse team?

Different areas have different set ups no area is exactly the same.

Which direction near London? If north or west, the Royal Free in Hampstead has a dedicated paediatric A&E. I think the Whittington do too, but they have a worse reputation than the Royal Free.

But like PP, you need to tell your GP that you have been at A&E X times in X days and demand a referral to a respiratory specialist.

My daughter had two admissions to hospital and multiple trips to the GP before I got so fed up and paid to see a consultant privately. In just one visit he got her asthma under control and we never went to A&E again.

How is the GP useless? If he’s having an acute episode why are you waiting 8 hours in ED?

What’s your son on and is he actually taking it, regularly and reliably, via a spacer?

www.asthma.org.uk

If you get an opportunity to have a read

What has the GP said exactly? Are you just waiting for preventative inhaler to kick in or has he not been prescribed anything for daily use?

Taking him to a different A&E is unlikely to get him referred to respiratory specialists in that hospital for follow-up care, though.

Surely A&E will just treat the emergency and then you'd have to go back to your local asthma nurse/clinic via your GP (or however it works in your area) for follow-up treatment anyway?

Also, if it's severe enough to warrant an A&E visit, I wouldn't waste time travelling across town when there's a nearer A&E department to use, as it sounds dangerous.

You need to get your child urgently referred to a respiratory specialist for a proper drug regime

several acute admissions means the asthma is not under control - you need to see the GP and ask for an urgent referral and in the meantime ask for a preventative inhaler as we as salbutamol for acute attacks

my child is seen at the Royal London for this and they are great but a referral needs to be done. My local hospital couldn’t help with the complex symptoms either and also wrote to my GP to help with a referral to a specialist team

What do you mean by an asthma attack?
Do you mean an attack of asthma ie wheezing, coughing, tight chest etc or an actual full blown asthma attack where he is fighting for breath?
If it's the latter I'm surprised any A&E would make him wait 8 hours! 😱
When I've been in with asthma attacks, once via ambulance and once a friend took me, I've been triaged really quickly and given a nebuliser within minutes.
Asthma can be deadly, there's really no waiting around time.
At my GP surgery, the asthma nurse is much more knowledgeable than the drs as it is her area of expertise.
Do you have a specific asthma nurse your son could see at the GP practice? Mine is so thorough and if anything asks to see me more then I feel is necessary sometimes.
Hope you get it sorted, uncontrolled asthma is frightening and dangerous.

A&e simply treat the problem there and then. He needs to be assessed by the practice nurse and referred to a respiratory consultant by the GP.

Has his inhaler technique been assessed? He may need a spacer if his technique isn't good. Is he on the right inhaler combination? This is usually done by the practice nurse until seen by a chest physician.