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.

When I last went with dc with a broken arm! , we waited hours . There was a couple with 2dcs. Liked everyone to hear their phone call. Their 5yo had an ingrown toe nail and wanted them to OPERATE!. They were huffing and puffing about the wait. Then the dad pipes up actually whilst we're here shall we get other dcs ear checked as they were complaining last night. Both dcs were running round the play area eating sweets and crisps.
I was so angry as lots of genuinely ill children who needed to be there.

In our area they often send you to A&E for kids when there are no GP appointments soon enough. They have GPs working in A&E to deal with such things. We got sent for a suspected ear infection. I was incredibly apologetic and felt a complete fraud, but the staff said that is how the system is set up. They dispensed the drops and sent us on our way. Right pain as it is 45 minutes each way.

Because every time you call 111 for advice for a sick child they send you to A&E it's a shit system.
I've been told to ring to get an out of hours gp appointment when my ds has suddenly become poorly/lethargic and each time they said straight to A&E, both times because he either had a high temp (40c) or episodes of frequent diarrhea which they treated as a red flag as well as it had been going on for over a week and they were worried about dehydration.

In the end nothing serious but they said they'd ring to check I'd taken ds to hospital, so I was pretty pissed as i just wanted a doctor to check him over.. Don't blame the parents blame the system and lack of out of hours non emergency care.

Stop being so mean. None of those parents thought their child just needed eye drops. They were also worried they were looking at an emergency. Nobody goes to the ED for the craic.

We were there once and someone had been to the GP but wasn’t happy and wanted a second opinion. Such timewasting.

Honestly it’s ridiculous the things people go with!! My DS is 3 now but as a baby every time he got a virus or cold he would end up wheezing badly - first time I left it as long as I could then called 111 they sent ambulance as his SATS were v low. Second time I went docs and she called 999 same reason. Since then we’ve had inhalers on repeat prescription so luckily it hasn’t happened for a long time!

But every time the waiting room was packed and most children were playing or shouting or generally being kids. Not an issue except if they’re well enough for all that they clearly do not need to be in A&E

I think there’s a few reasons;

It’s very hard to get a GP appointment or to be taken seriously and not dismissed or fobbed off - add that the never ending stories on social media and the news of bad medical care and medical professionals missing crucial details causing serious illness or death that we’re all much more worried even when it is something minor

As a culture we are also now much less resilient when it comes to illness - maybe a gradual build up from the nhs being started? The care is there it doesn’t cost and most have no memory or knowledge of how it used to be when you had to just carry on as sick pay didn’t exist.

Also social media and the judgement is a huge factor!! People ask for advice on groups or forums and there’s always people advising A&E as they once knew someone with similar symptoms and it turned out to be a serious illness. Or for ‘peace of mind’ then the parent asking advice ends up going as they can’t shake the what if.

The other issue is 111 - they always always err on the side of caution. So send a lot to A&E - probably scared of being sued.

I really think there should be a charge for A&E if you’re triaged and found that you don’t need to be there. If you’re there and your issue warrants being there - no charge, but if you shouldn’t be there - charge them. Nothing ridiculous maybe say £40? Enough that it will deter those misusing the service.

I must be lucky because the few times I’ve been to A&E there are never families having picnics!
Once had to go because my DD broke her foot and the school had checked and given her a wet paper towel! I did have to take her elder sister as she was 9 years and I couldn’t carry her!

111 actually send a small percentage to A&E - they used to send us the stats and it was about 10% of calls.

People are dumb though - we had someone bring their dc in at 9pm on a Friday because she had a verruca!

I imagine because they are simply following advice from 111, can't get a GP appointment and are concerned or their child also has an underlying condition which can potentially make colds more serious.

I'm certainly not going to judge considering how well children can look but how fast they can potentially go downhill.

My DS had a stomach bug last year, it had got worse after a week and he had bad abdominal pain, and was passing blood every half an hour. I called 111, and they told me to take him to A and E "within the hour" .
According to several of MN I shouldn't have been there. I dont feel bad about taking him, everything you read says if you are passing blood or if diarrhea symptoms worsen , then to seek medical advice....which I did. It was 5am on a Saturday morning, and the pharmacy, and GP were not open. The hospital did some checks for appendicitis....which obviously would have been an emergency, but it wasnt that. In the end we were sent away and told it was "just a bug" but it seemed different to anything else id experienced in 18 years of parenting ....🤷‍♀️

I also had to take him when he was younger and he had swallowed a non edible item. I did take his sister as well because I couldnt get hold of DH.

Right well I'd think that explains a lot of it then!

And the rest will probably be down to a combination of panicking parents, 111 sending them there and the kids being more in need of attention than they appeared to you as a non-clinician who saw them in a waiting room.

My DS was turned away from A&E with drops and a diagnosis of one of the things you just described. 6 days later he ended up seriously ill and on IV antibiotics for 4 days! I knew something was wrong, but really had to push to be taken seriously. You have no idea what these children and parents are going through besides listening to a 5 minute conversation.

Because 111 or the GP tells you to take them?

Because, as someone who worked in A&E one of the reasons is that everyone wants everything right now.

Since Covid no one has time for their child to be ill. They’re busy. So they want treatment and the last thing they want to hear is to ride it out.

Covid and only allowing one parent into the dept was blissful if I’m honest.

Our local hospital has an attached ooh doctors that 111 direct non-emergency concerns to and consequently we have an a&e department that sees 85% of patients within 4 hours. And when I went it was much shorter than that. So it's a system that can work, but it needs to have the right resources.

I must add, our out of hours GP is just by the A&E department, so that may have something to do with it too.

Don’t they triage patients so the most serious cases are seen first? They might not need to
be there, but surely they can be seen by a nurse for things like conjunctivitis? I find it hard to believe anyone would want to sit for hours if they didn’t absolutely have to. It’s not exactly a fun place to be.

We have been a handful of times. 3x broken bones and once when DS2 had viral meningitis as a baby. All those times the waiting room was very busy but we were seen quickly.

Without fail my child has croup/associated breathing difficulties in the middle of the night every single time she has a common cold. You might be seeing children who have had steroids an hour+ ago who are waiting to be observed for half an hour in a room so that they can then leave. I have been close to needing an ambulance for her before but now I know the red flags better I can catch it before it gets bad which leads to my child appearing well to strangers. But luckily the health professionals have her notes!!

Covid or no covid, I very much want everything for my child RIGHT NOW and it's not because I'm busy, it's because I don't want my child in pain for a second longer than need me. I don't want to ride anything out waiting 2 weeks for a GP appt. If there are no GP or 111 appts, you best believe I will happily sit in your A&E if my child requires medical attention.

Yes my dd need a scan once and a X-ray another time gp sent us to a&e rather than wait months for the referral

Not every parent can take PAID emergency time off; that is the key point. Not everyone has an employed job, some are freelance, so if you don't work, you don't get paid. Even in an employed job, you're not entitled to paid time off for emergencies.

Can’t get an appointment. Have to work so can’t take a kid in the day. You have Jo idea what might be going on. Basically the idea that gps can just offer 9-5 (which yes I am aware they are contracted to) and then general underfunding of gp with an aging population means the service is inadequate for what the population requires. Pharmacists can prescribe more but again often shut at 5/ close on Sundays and in my area won’t give eye drops for under 2s.

I watch a paediatrician on YouTube, she gives advice on what to do with routine ailments.

She did one short clip saying they know walking through the hospital doors can have a miraculous effect on children. That all staff know this so you should not be bothered.

On the subject of conjunctivitis and eye drops, I thought I had conjunctivitis and got some drops from the GP. Over the weekend my eye became more and more sore so I went back to the GP who sent me straight tot he eye hospital.

It was actually iritis, it is painful and can lead to blindness. The next time it happened I went straight to the eye hospital A and E.

I do think sometimes it’s hard to make the call. I had a swollen eye one weekend and was getting worse so went to pharmacist for some drops, who gave me them but told me to go to A&E - I felt fine and just had a swollen eye so felt like a fraud. I was admitted with IV antibiotics as had orbital cellulitis and very glad I didn’t wait to see what happened!

You can’t see a GP. Pharmacists won’t see a very young child. Until your sick child has been told by a medic that they can attend childcare, you can’t force childcare to take your sick child. And people can’t afford a day off work.