Should I have taken 2 yr old straight to A&E?

[Namechange92ye8]

My 2 year old fell on Friday and hurt his gum and front teeth. I called 111 right away, they called me back within an hour and said swelling of the gum is expected after trauma, as long as the bleeding has stopped etc, monitor it and if it gets worse call back.

I called back today as I was worried, they hadn't asked for a picture or anything when I initally rang and it looked quite bad. It also bled again. 111 advised A&E, we got called into Triage and the Nurse asked me twice why I waited so long to bring him in. I explained that I spoke with the Clinician who advised monitoring it. She didn't say much. Then after a couple minutes asked again why I didn't bring him in straight away.

Am I likely to get reported to SS? I wasn't thinking anything about it until she asked twice and now can't stop stressing. Makes me think I shouldn't have taken the advice from 111 to just monitor, I should have come straight to A&E when it happened the same day. Did I do the wrong thing?

Did you do the right thing? Who knows? Will SS be involved? Who knows? But there will be a record of your calls to 111 whatever happens so try not to worry.

Nothing you can do about it now, but I don’t think I’d have wasted time with phone calls, personally, it needed looking at.
I’d have gone straight in the first time.

There will be a record of the 111 call and the advice given to you if it is reported to SS. Not one to worry about I wouldn't have thought.

When she asked for the secind time, I'd have been minded to have said, "as I've already told you, I called 111 and they advised monitoring". I'm never sure if they ask the same questions to triangulate or if they just don't listen.

Hope he's on the mend soon.

You followed the advice of 111, don’t worry. I hope he gets better soon.
FWIW I fell on my Nan’s front for step when I was 3. My top teeth completely penetrated my bottom lip. My Mum didn’t take me to hospital and butterfly stitched me up. I’m 47 and have two little bumps on the inside of my bottom lip and a faint scar line on my chin! I’m fine!

I had this when ds touched the iron, it didn’t come up immediately and 111 advised cold water etc. it was quite late when we went and they were very unhappy about the delay. I felt we were being observed in the waiting room as we were left for ages after triage. Nothing came of it. A dad was being grilled about a trampoline accident and why the kid was on it in the dark.

DP dropped DD on her head by accident when she was about 12months old. I got questioned by 5 seperate people throughout our visit to A&E. No call or anything from SS, although I did expect one. Hope your little one is ok

Oh DD did similar when she was 2. I did take her to the dentist the next day but it didn’t even occur to me to see a doctor as I thought it was primarily a dental thing…
But I can’t imagine social services will have a lot to say about you following the advice of 111. They’re surely overstretched dealing with much bigger and more serious problems.

You've done nothing wrong. If they do make a safeguarding referral, it will quickly go nowhere when you explain the 111 call. Might be worth asking your GP practice for a copy of the call report, once they've processed it onto your daughter's record in a few days, if you do hear from a social worker.

You get asked twice to see if it’s the same answer.

I work in A&E and I don’t think you need to worry. Being asked is a normal response when they realise when the original accident happened and any patient would be asked details of what has happened multiple times, in my A&E we would ask on arrival, in triage by the nurse and the dr may ask later on. Some of it will be checking for inconsistencies in stories, but mostly it’s just a curious question. We can usually tell if something is not adding up, there would also be other clues such as child not interacting with parent as expected etc so I genuinely do not think you need to worry.

for example, last week I returned home from a long shift and my 7yr old was telling me how he hurt his elbow at school and that it was really painful and a little swollen. Obviously I’m sympathetic to him but the other voice in my head was saying ‘please don’t say we need to go to A&E now’. My son then mentioned it would hurt writing in English at which point I thought he’s absolutely fine.
next day he asked me to tell his teacher it was sore, at which point I was like ‘oh I’m pretty sure it’s not broken….’ Teacher just looked at me wide eyed.

his friend broke his collar bone a while back, just boys being boys bouncing and jumping on furniture. He seemed fine until his mom looked at him later that day and saw his shoulder looked dropped. Yep he had a fracture.

this all happens more than you think, you also have the added bonus of your call would’ve been recorded so if they needed to fact check you’d be proven correct anyway.

please don’t worry! X

I don’t like 111 for this reason. I was told monitor him and I did. I was rung an hour later and told to get him straight to a n e. They also. Asked why I waited so long and didn’t bring him straight away. I assume nothing came of it as they will have record of the 111 call and advice given. He was fine being monitored at home in the end. Sometimes a trip to a n e is best bypassing 111 is best. The assumption you are avoiding medical treatment is awful.

I don’t think they are assuming anything just asking a natural question. For example I’ve triaged a walk in older patient with hip pain following a fall some days prior, it turned out they’d broken a hip and had been walking around for over 5 days including going up and down stairs, this is a question I’ve asked them.

In my trust, anything children related gets looked over by the trusts safeguarding team, not to question you but to feed back to 111 and also to ensure medical staff are curious and asking the correct questions. It’s not you being singled out I promise you. Any patient that attends gets asked to give the history multiple times, it’s just how things are done to ensure all the facts are there. Please don’t worry.

I don’t think it automatically means they’ll phone social services. It’s hard for us to say without being able to see how bad it looks, they may just think it’s obvious from looking at him they you should have brought him in, or they may just be being thorough if it doesn’t look that bad. Have they sent you back home now?

We got fobbed off by 111 when DS’s breathing wasn’t right. They told us to keep an eye. We told them we’d seen him struggling to breathe, sucking in under his ribs, etc.

We went to A&E in the end and he was admitted for 2 nights with RSV and a viral induced wheeze. Needed near constant oxygen for the first 24hrs and a nebuliser. They asked if we sought medical attention before bringing him in and I said we’d called 111. They were happy with that.

I’ve also called 111 and been sent in when DS fell down the stairs and had a bloodshot eye and again when DD2 hadn’t been for a wee in over 12 hours. I think it depends who you speak to as to how much they’re willing to ‘risk’ it. I’ve never been asked more than once by the same person about the build up to bringing each child on.

To be honest, just from your description, I wouldn’t have taken mine to A&E. Mouths bleed a lot but heal quickly. If I saw it, I might think differently. I hope he’s ok now.

Thank you so much for your replies and sharing your experiences with me. It has really calmed my nerves. I was so worried but reading the replies, I realise I have nothing to worry about. We are still waiting to be seen, hopefully we will be home soon

I don't mean this harshly but you still have to use your own common sense just the same as when 111 try to send and ambulance and its not needed it can be refused.

I dont trust 111

My DD leaned forward and gashed her gum so much blood and a large wound I called 111 and they got a dentist to call me I went though a our 5 phone calls with zero help.

What did they do for it ?

@BeingATwatItsABingThing I took DD in that viral wheeze state to the doctor she looked pale and ghastly !
He didn't seem concerned and gave her some steroids.
The next morning something in me just panicked and I took her to a and e.
They admitted her IMMEDIATLY and did same as yours and they were astonished when I said the doc saw her like this and did nothing they couldn't believe it.

I recently had social services call off the back of using 111 when DS knocked DD baby’s highchair over with her in it. 111 told me clearly they would be logging it as a safeguarding concern because of her age and the circumstances. So you’d probably already know if it was being referred. Anyways, SS liaised with 111 and hospital, then called us separately to check our story, case closed. Nothing to be scared off.

It really does depend who your child is seen by as to how they react. I think A&E generally take it a lot more seriously from my experience.

Hope your DD is ok now.

It’s just part of safeguarding- it’s standard with injuries in children. And she’s either forgotten what you said or is checking your answer is consistent!

DD had an accident when she was 18 months. Admittedly, it was obvious she needed immediate help, but I was questioned again and again by a few people, and I found myself feeling quite vulnerable, especially when the last one said it's an accident none of us have heard of before. Her accident resulted in an operation.

There was no follow up at all.

You did what you thought was the right thing, phoned for advice, but when you came concerned things still weren't quite right, you went for help.

I have had the social services call a couple of times post a&e visits over the years. If they do call then they just ask what happened and leave it at that. It's a box ticking exercise and nothing to worry about really.
I would take DD to the dentist to have a check up though if you haven't already. They will want to make sure shes not caused any damage that could lead to problems later on.