Gone to A&E with DS - 2 hours and not triaged yet

[Eggbump]

At softplay and DS hit his head which went into a large egg shape straight away. Staff wouldn’t do ice pack as said given size could only say shoulder go to an and e. I’ve been over two hours waiting to be triaged in paediatric bit. Son seems ok now, no longer nauseous. Should I just go home?

If it’s got a bump and he doesn’t appear to have any other symptoms I would go home. Check for fluid from the nose or ears though.

DD had a severe bump with a split when she was 2. A couple of days later she was slightly off in herself and had fluid coming from her nose. We ended up being blue lighted to a specialist children’s hospital and she was scheduled for surgery at 4am pending she scan results. Thankfully all fine.

But as a mum who has gone through a lot of bumps, with what you have said I think I’d let them home and observe very closely for a couple of days

That’s interesting, upthread someone says it’s order of arrival. We described symptoms then sat and waited, he was boiling hot and listless and shakey, people were avoiding us he looked so unwell. Do they keep an eye on people, how would anyone know which person was which though?
he was in for five days with pneumonia, not identified until day 4.

What details did they ask you for when you arrived? Did they ask you what had happened?

I think if you arrive with chest pain, or slurred speech etc. you would be seen first.

OP I’m glad your son has been seen now and you’re home, but misinformation like this post has to stop.

you are NOT triaged in order of arrival, being taken in my ambulance will not get you seen any faster. You are triaged based on severity & risk of presenting complaint - I.e the sicker you are, the faster you’re seen, regardless of wether you arrived via car, taxi, ambulance, walked or even bloody magic carpet!!!!

The last thing the ambulance service needs is this false narrative that if you go in by ambulance you’re seen quicker 🤦🏼‍♀️

That wasn't what I meant.
I meant if you came in by ambulance then you have already told medics the reason why you are coming to A+E.
You've already been semi triaged in a way.
The hospital will know in advance that a child is being bought in with a major trauma or injury because the paramedics have told them.
If it doesn't appear to be a major trauma or injury but an ambulance does take you in they still make you wait in the waiting room alongside walk-ins.
I didn't mean that arriving by ambulance gets you seen quicker.

This happened with dd once when she fell against a table leg, a massive egg on her head. I phoned nhs 24 and they told me just to keep an eye on her and the things to watch out for. But if I was already in a&e I’d just wait probably.

It’s never according to arrival time I don’t think. In ours you present immediately to a desk and they ask what’s up. So you say “I have a six month old with breathing difficulties” or whatever and they send you into a waiting area where the nurse calls you and triages you. The nurse part never requires a long wait. Then everyone is put in order of urgency (when we had a six month old with breathing difficulties we were pretty much whisked through).

I think we may be very lucky despite being in a big city with lots of people. The longest we had to wait was two hours when we accidentally gave a double dose of calpol and 111 sent paramedics. The paramedics insisted we go in and we respected their opinion. We thought they might be keeping us waiting just to check our baby was ok but it turned out it was because the doctor was struggling with the maths!

(Since then we’ve had a joint whatsapp group where we put any meds doses).

Sorry to hear you've had the stress of this, but glad DS has been seen.

It can't be a joke having to wait in A&E when you're not feeling great or worried about someone, however I do suspect receptionists are trained to make a mini assessment themselves in terms of how urgent something is.

I went into hospital with a complication during pregnancy, receptionist told waiting room a sit was to be made available in A&E, I was lying down on a bed within an hour. When DD needed an appendectomy (we had no idea what it was at that stage), receptionist said 'she doesn't look well so we'll take her straight in'. When DH went to A&E late December (he'd been in SDEC five days before) he was in pain, walked in and could speak coherently, one person went in ahead of him and he jumped the queue - had A&E Consultant at his disposal immediately. So I'm thinking they act if there's an immediate safety to life concern or extreme pain.

Although, we didn't have long waits above, I'd still say to go in - if you're really unwell and take a turn for the worse, at least you're in the right place.

Agree, especially as he's been nauseous and he had swelling. It can take time for concussion/brain contusion to show itself. It's ACCIDENT and emergency so yes it's appropriate for him to be there, unlike half the others who are there with sore throats, colds etc!

The NHS says that because the average intelligence level of the UK population is the same as a 12 year old child. They need to err on the side of safety and send people there so that doctors can make the judgement. They are fully aware that 99% of those people will get left waiting for hours because medical professionals can see it's not serious. (And obviously, if someone has a giant bleeding cut on their head then they need to get stitched up anyway despite it not being life-threatening)

Most people assume that if the NHS page or 111 tell them to go to A&E, it means they definitely have an emergency and will be treated immediately upon arrival when this isn't the case. The NHS is only concerned with not missing out on cases that could potentially turn serious. This is important on a collective level for society. The NHS doesn't give a shit about individual experiences and are fully aware that most people will be left waiting if they're deemed not serious.

Ordinarily I'd agree with you but our A&E seems to operate a bit inconsistently. When I took one of our DC last year I went to the reception desk and was told to go straight to paeds A&E. However, more recently we were told to join a physical queue for triage in the main A&E, and they then sent us on to paeds A&E. At paeds they definitely do see you in order of severity.

When attended a different A&E for myself a few years ago you also had to join a physical queue for triage as soon as you arrived.

OP - I'm glad your DS was seen and hope he's on the mend soon. Such a worry to see them with a goose egg but I'm sure he'll be bouncing back before you know it.

@AprilinPortugal It's not Accident and Emergency and it has not been for a very long time.

It's an Emergency Department - ED.

The confusion occurs because often Minor Injury units are co-located with the Emergency department and have the same 'front door'

Other places have a separate Minor Injury unit.

I was at Out of Hours at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, near Glasgow, with my wife on Sunday from 10.30 pm to 7 am the next morning. She was in extreme pain in her kidney, back, side, and groin. She lay on a bed freezing for about 7 of those hours, had to give her details 5 times, and produce a second urine sample because they had no record of the one she gave them at the start. We were next to this young 19 year old who had two cops with him, and he was swearing at nurses and doctors and demanding food, water, and cigarettes the whole night. The only good treatment she really got was from a GP at the beginning, and a Doctor at the end who prescribed antibiotics and strong painkillers.
It was a long, exhausting, wild night.

All really good advice that I have also been given by doctors. We ski and horse ride so have had numerous head related hospital visits.I completely understand that we worry about injuries but I would not have gone to A and E in the OPs situation, monitor at home would have been better for everyone.

100%. I had a horse riding fall once and got to A and E with slurred speech, confusion, poor balance due to hitting my head. I saw a doctor very quickly. My friend who had driven me there waited in the waiting room , and witnessed lots of angry people complaining that I had queue jumped!

I took my son to A&E last week, broken arm, in a LOT of pain. Child department was busy but not overly so, but noticed certain ones were getting triaged ahead of others who had arrived earlier.

We waited an hour & half, triage took one look at his arm and we were sent straight through to be seen and get strong painkillers. Ended up admitted and getting surgery to fix the next morning.

I overheard one of the other injured child's parents saying they were prioritising illness ahead of injury, possibly due to measles outbreaks? Limit potential exposure to other people?

Hope your little boy is ok OP, I'm sure he'll soon be proudly showing off his "goose egg" to everyone!

He will have been eyeballed by a nurse on booking in. They decide the priority for triage.

@Womblingmerrilyits still very much A&E at my local hospital

I was reluctantly in minor injuries with my DIL and grandson last weekend (my son was away). DIL called 111 for advice before checking she wasn’t over reacting. They told her which department to go to, not A&E, because it was outside the 111 clinic hours.
It was busy, all the seats were occupied, but man sat with his wife gave up his for me to cradle my 3 year old grandson.
Reception alerted triage and we were seen after about 30 minutes, and the nurse bless her apologised for the delay.
We were in Paediatric observation immediately afterwards and monitored until a bed could be found on the ward…which fortunately didn’t come to that.

We have Always gone down the 111 route, it appears we get through quicker because the paperwork is done already and we’re expected.

Hope little one is okay x

Yes, chest pain, trouble breathing, active bleeding ect all seen before other symptom types.

For example my husband had a low temp following a bad burn to his stomach

Low temp higher priority than a high temp as hypothermia can be a symptom of sepsis.

They absolutely do not triage in arrival order.

I think people misunderstood what I said about being triaged in order of arrival.
The first triage is when you book in at the desk.
Obviously you will prioritised by need and chest pains, can't breathe, blood pouring from you etc will be seen quicker - sometimes straight away.
I meant for more "minor" things. The experience I have had (several different hospitals) is you book in at the desk and then take a seat and wait to see the triage nurse. This has always been in order of arrival.