Why do parents take children to A&E when it's not an accident or an emergency

[MigGirl]

So spent Tuesday evening/early morning Wed in A&E with DS as he was having an asthma attack which we couldn't control at home. I would have preferred an out of hours appointment but 111 sent us to A&E.

It's been a few years since we have had to do this, as his asthma has been very well controlled. I wasn't to happy with the number of children there who only had viral colds, at lest three went home with just eye drops for conjunctivitis. Yes we could hear everything that was going on, not ideal either.

We where there till 3am who takes their small child to A&E after 10pm at night when they just have a cold and sticky eye. Surely you wait until the morning and ring the GP, I know GP services can be stretched but ours will always see ill children the same day.

I'm annoyed now as DS has come down with a cold and we probably caught it there, he'll be lucky if we don't end up with another vist for his asthma as colds are often a trigger.

Is 111 sending to many people to A&E when they should really have an out of hours appointment? No wonder the waiting times are so long if they are having to deal with so many minor aliments.

111 can only triage so much before it becomes too risky when nobody can see and examine the patient, and worried parents are likely to feel symptoms are more severe or threatening than they are. It’s no surprise therefore that the threshold for 111 responders sending people, particularly children who are inherently vulnerable, to A&E, is low. Our local big A&E triages on arrival and has separate paediatric A&E and an Out Of Hours service all under the same roof. We’re in a rural area so there isn’t a separate out of hours service you can use that isn’t part of a hospital set up.

Loads of people on here were saying a parent was awful for not taking their child with a sore throat who was feeling unwell to A and E. I thought it was crazy.

But also 111 sends way too many to A and E IMO. I guess they can't afford to get it wrong so they end up sending everyone just in case.

Well yeah 111 always says to go there as there is nowhere else to send you to if you're in desperate pain. But I don't think a gummy eye or a cold would make them tell someone to go there. They'd tell them to go to a pharmacy?

It does seem odd. And people who bring their whole family with them. With a picnic or hot food?! It's not exactly a fun day out is it?

I have never called 111 and not been sent to A&E. I dont call 111 lightly but in none of the cases had I previously thought A&E was in order.

My Dad was sent ot A&E by his GP because he needed a scan and it would have been months to wait otherwise.

People are there becuase the system is broken.

I have no fucking idea but I saw similiar nonsense when I had to take my son in as a baby as his oxygen levels were low and he was A NICU baby / underweight.

and similar in adult a&e when my resting hr was up at 205 and I had to go in.

It blows my mind ... who is their right mind goes to the horror show that is a&e in the middle of the night unless desperate

Day out. Attention-seeking.

Once you been told by an "expert" at 111 that your child needs A&E you'd have to be quite brave not to take them, even if you think they're wrong.

Because people don't use their common sense.

My daughter was bitten on the face by an Akita and we were in A&E for hours with an open wound on her face because it was absolutely packed with kids.
Some were clearly poorly and needed urgent treatment but some kids were running up and down, I assumed they might have been the patient’s siblings until their name was called and they shouted “THAT’S ME”. It was nuts.

This - sad but true

Our GP does not see anyone same day as far asi can tell.

if you rang them up with an ill child you’d probably get told to go to the pharmacy.

111 are known to send to a and e as a precaution because they cannot examine or see the child and children deteriorate a lot quicker than adults do.

As others have said if 111 says to go to A&E then you go.

children tend to become ill rapidly so it’s not surprising some end up in a&e because they’ve all of a sudden spiked a temperature or become lethargic only to then perk up pretty quickly.

what about the single parents who can’t get a day or time off work for the gp the next day so only adoption is a&e.

what about the children who do have underlying conditions and they may only have a cold but need to be seen asap incase the rapidly decline

so many reasons

People are very disempowered with regard to their own health, very widely lacking any hands on involvement. It’s like cooking.. loads of people can’t cook now, either. Alarming, really.

It's one of the only places where you know you will get seen (eventually) - especially if you don't have an Urgent care centre which is open access (and these can be nurse led only which may limit treatment options)

For some parents this accessibility makes it worth the wait.

I think it makes people feel safe to be there sometimes.

Agree with pp, it's generally 111 sending people there. As a worried new mum I thought that if 111 said A&E and I didn't go, they'd report me to social services or something.

Also have you seen the regular late-evening MN threads where people post saying "my child is ill. Can this wait until morning?".
For every one poster who replies, I'd ring the GP first thing tomorrow" there's at least 50 saying "A&E. NOW."

Because people are stupid, sadly. Based on our local FB group, the average mum doesn't understand the difference between ibuprofen and paracetamol, often getting then confused with the brand names. They are even less able to adjust dosages between the two different types of medication, let alone understand the time schedule of alternating the two. Many are also convinced that letting children have a fever is the best option and refuse to administer any OTC medication.

A typical FB emergency is always a mum who didn't give any medicine to a baby/toddler because she genuinely believed it was good for them. Then the fever spikes to a critical point, she panics and asks if she needs to go to A&E and the answer of course is always yet. So she brings a kid to A&E where doctors have to administer the same treatment that could have easily been done at home at an earlier point.

Because if 111 tell you to go to A&E with a child, and you don’t, and something subsequently happens to that child, you’ll have serious questions to answer.

Because GP and other frontline services haven’t got capacity.

Because in most of the UK Sure Start centers, health visitors and other early intervention services that would often have been places parents asked for advice, have been axed or cut back.

Because parents are increasingly isolated, and fewer of us have informal advice networks around us, who we can turn to.

i could go on, but parents in A&E unnecessarily isn’t the problem. It’s the symptom of many problems. Few of them the fault of individual parents.

Multiple reasons 111 send everyone. Anxiety, past history of parents such as previous child dying, the child having underlying condition you don't know about. Child being there for reasons you don't understand. People need to stop being so judgemental its nobody's buisness accept the medical staff of why someone is accessing health care.

Every parent can take emergency time off for sick children.

The worst is the families who turn up mob-handed as though it's a day out!
Fair enough some lone parents can't get last minute childcare but when it's two parents and three kids...gtf

Because 111 and pharmacist will both send you to a&e at the drop of a hat.

last summer my daughter had an awful rash all over her body. This happens every single year when the school opens up the field. I swear they put something on the field that kids are allergic to but deny it even though I know at least 15 in her year had a similar rash… but I digress.

I took her to the village pharmacist which is located inside the doctors surgery. The pharmacist refused to give any piriton and said I should take her to A&E. Now this wasn’t an accident. Nor was it an emergency. And if it was an emergency then surely knocking on the doctors office and checking first would make better sense?

now in that circumstance I was advised by a medical professional to do so. I didn’t take her as my intuition said just piriton would be fine, so I went and got a second opinion from the Tesco pharmacist whi gave the piriton.

so it’s not always attention seeking or boredom

When I lived in the city, a&e had an out of hours walk in gp service based there but same waiting room, you could just go and queue up and it didn’t have to be an emergency or even urgent, it was for anyone who needed to see the gp for non routine things which conjunctivitis would include.

But if you phone 111.they triage you and then.a.and e triage you also

In the few times we have been to a and e I can fully assure you we didn't really fancy going to a and e at a3am either and when we have got there the DC seem absolutely fine and are on the go and we are shattered and on our knees.

DC go.downhill very very fast and can also improve very quicky.

Thankfully we have always been reassured on those occasions it's always better to be safe than sorry !

I’ve taken my child to a&e a few times and not known if A&E or minor injuries was the right place to go. His life wasn’t in danger but it’s difficult to know if an injury is minor or not. On one occasion my son was bleeding from his eye after an injury and I was told that I shouldn’t have bright him to A&E but that seems pretty bad to me and the GP isn’t open at 6pm.

I was ready to tell you that maybe the parents don’t have enough medical knowledge to make a decision but your examples make it clear that’s not the case.

Being generous I wonder if the parents are going after work because they can’t take time off to see the GP during the day and don’t know that a pharmacist could help with conjunctivitis?

I wouldn't have even thought to ring 111 unless my child was really ill though, as in high temperature which wouldn't come down with medication. Or like DS struggling with his breathing. The only time I've been to A&E with DS has always been his asthma and DD when she burt herself and ended up with blisters.

Like another post said some of these kids where running round the waiting room playing with all the toys.