Social services help

[Worriedmum555]

My DD was in hospital for a few days and was discharged today. She has a history of asthma induced wheezing from a young age and we know which signs to look out for and when to take her in. Today she was seen by a new doctor before discharge who asked if we perhaps brought her in late. I explained the protocol and guidance that was given us previously which we followed this time too.

The doctor then reassured me I had taken all the correct steps. Once I reached home, a few hours later I received a phone call from social services to say they had recieved a referral from the hospital. The referral was made due to concerns we had taken our DD in later than we should have. I explained everything to the worker who then advised me to ring the ward and ask them to give me the protocol and guidance on when she should be taken in to hospital in writing.

I rang the ward, and the head nurse called me back to say no referral was made by them. She also said if they were going to make a referral, they would have informed me first. I'm so worried and anxious on who has made the referral and what will happen next. Has anyone been in a similar situation? I am going to ring SS tomorrow to see what further information they can provide.

I have never dealt with social services before and I have been so stressed since the call!

have a copy of the protocol you followed. Do you have an asthma / viral wheeze plan on GP records?
Detail everything that happened include time stamps and what you did.
just keep explaining to anyone who asks and reiterate that you followed the advice given previously.

Is this real...UK hospitals are known to send asthmatic people go home with ibuprofen and chastise you why you went there, even though you have clearly pneumonia. The 1000s of Eastern Eus who had to catch a flight to buy antibiotics from their home countries

Yes I have the viral wheeze plan. The nurse i spoke to first when I called back was present when I spoke to the doctor. She was very take aback when I called.

I'm just wondering if the ward didn't make the referral then who did? And why did nobody discuss it with me?

My DD is very young and has had multiple admissions with the same symptoms. They take it very seriously whenever we bring her in as she has a history of deteriorating very quickly. That's one of the reasons we don't take chances and take her in as soon as we see signs of distress.

If there’s no safeguarding history and your daughter needs are being met then I will be very surprised if anything further happens with SS. It is bad practice though to make a referral without informing the parents first unless there is a genuine concern for safety if parents are made aware of a incoming referral.

That's what is concerning to me.

Without wanting to drip feed, my DH took her in to A&E. The doctors and nurses there were new and had not treated my DD previously. He messaged me to tell me he thought they weren't taking it seriously and he questioned a few times on why she wasn't getting more frequent nebulisers. It's only when she started to deteriorate that they called her consultant. He was brilliant and sprung into action straight away. However, she did need more intervention than we had hoped and had a longer stay than usual. When I reached the A&E, I requested to see her chart. I asked them if they could tell me which medicines were administered and at what time after she was first seen. They said they will show me but they didn't. Later on a nurse came to say they are doing their best and I shouldn't worry. I am wondering if it was A&E who made the referral after I raised concerns that they were slow in her treatment. As the head nurse said there were no concerns from anyone on the ward.

So I assume you now have the protocol in writing. I would do as you said - that is to ring SS and hopefully speak to the person you spoke to before. Explain that you have done as required but say that the senior nurse denies making the referral. Ask her if she can explain how they got the referral. I would want to know. I am sure they are too busy with children who are living in chaos to be worried about your scenario.

I hope that your child stays healthy

Thank you all for your replies. Any advice please on next steps? Should I contact SS to find out which department made the referral?

Thank you for that.

Make a subject access request to get a copy of the referral or speak to the safeguarding team in A&E and ask if they made a referral.

That is helpful, thank you i will do that.

I have just been worried sick since the call. I know I am over thinking it but the hospital stay was so distressing for my poor DD. And then to come home and get a call from social services was a shock to the system.

Could it be a family member?

The social worker said the referral was from the hospital. But he didn't mention which department or person.

Try to understand and find out who sent the referral, as is clearly malicious. Ask them why they don't allocate a health care visitor to assist you with protocols but put your whole family life at risk by accusing you of what really.....??

That sounds very unsettling

Honestly theres no need to do this, call the social worker back and ask, professionals cannot remain anonymous so they’ll tell you who made the referral and will read it word for word if you ask. A SAR will take ages just ask!

I’m a social worker this is a routine enquiry and without further concern will not go any further try not to worry!

Sounds horrible but you have nothing to worry about. Whilst it's not great that the hospital didn't tell you who made the referral, I'm not sure it really matters. Giving how distressing this has been, I'd simply answer their questions and move on from it. Social services are not going to take any further action, your daughter seems well looked after and there's a protocol in place x

I would ring SS. Have you got the name of the person you spoke to yesterday, if so ask to speak to the same person so that you don't have to go through it all again
However I doubt that they will tell you more than 'the hospital'.
I would make sure that you take a copy of the protocol with you, if you need to take your daughter again so that you can push A&E to act quickly.

I did call them back after I spoke to the hospital and also sent a message to ask who made the referral and the exact wording. The social worker didn't answer the call or reply to my message. Hopefully they do by tomorrow.

Yes, i remembered to note down the name of the social worker.

Thank you all for your calming words of reassurance and advice.

Don’t be afraid to pester a bit, unfortunately social workers are busy and it is sometimes a case of who shouts loudest! Especially what will be such a low level concern as this probably will be bottom of their priority pile (both reassuring for you and frustrating i know!)

If you can’t get through directly contact the number online for your local MASH or front door service those messages get passed on too. Make sure you ask to be kept updated too even if just by text to be informed when the case is closed, on our system if you call back into the service when the case is closed even for an update it creates a referral and I’m sure you want as little on your daughters file as possible.

Don’t forget if they want to assess further they need your consent unless they do so under a S47 enquiry and I highly doubt this will meet threshold for that level of intervention.

Good luck I’m sure it will all be fine 😊

Thank you. I did call MASH then. The lady on the phone was lovely but she said the only details she could see on the system was the referral was made by the hospital. It didn't say who made it or which department.

She has kindly emailed the social worker who contacted me, to ask him to give me a call back so hopefully he does.

She was able to provide me with the date and time the referral was made which makes me believe it was actually from A&E and not from the ward. I don't know if one of the doctors there jumped the gun after realising we were going to make a complaint about her care in A&E.

She also commented that it was unusual that nobody from the hospital discussed the referral with me or notified me about it.