Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be cross with the hospital?

46 replies

BenandNiamhsMum · 22/08/2010 23:17

OK - I know that A&E is very busy and stressful as many of my family work in the NHS.
I also know that if it was really serious he would have been treated by now and I should be greatfull he's not too bad. BUT...
My DS fell off a swing at the park this evening when we were walking the dog. He banged his head and it started bleeding. This stopped as soon as we got him home but the cut was quite deep so my DH took him to the hospital. This was about 6.45pm. DH has just called to say they are still waiting. DS has been seen by the nurse but thats it.
He is only 7 and should have been in bed hours ago. DH says that nobody has been called though from the waiting area for the last 2 hours. He also said that there is a woman there with her son who has been there the same amount of time and his hand is bleeding.
OK whinge over, time to be positive again- at least he's not badly hurt.

OP posts:
lisad123isgoingcrazy · 22/08/2010 23:20

yes yabu, there is properly a very good reason like saving lifes going on.

Fluffypoms · 22/08/2010 23:21

agree with lisa d!

DreamTeamGirl · 22/08/2010 23:23

No YANBU. A&E wait times are insane, especially at weekends. And it is so frustrating when nothing APPEARS to be happening.

But maybe it is time to give up and come home, then take him to see the nurse at the surgery tomorrow?

That said if they are working to the 4 hour guidelines he should be seen pretty soon now

We are lucky that our A&E has a Paeds unit, and they process a little quicker in there

Loshad · 22/08/2010 23:29

tbh it doesn't sound like he needs to have gone to A + E and that is why your wait has beeen so long. They are almost certainly really busy with a major emergency (which has come via ambulance bays hence you didn't see them and no-one ebing called through) but if it's just a cut to the head, which stopped bleeding before you took him there then he'd probably be better off in his bed with a plaster over it.

julybutterfly · 22/08/2010 23:50

Yanbu. I remember taking a 2 year old DS to a&e when he'd been vomiting so much he had nothing left to throw up and was writhing in agony. We were told, after a 3 hour wait, they deal with drunk/drugged up people first so they aren't hanging around the waiting room! Ds ended up on a drip and I know it wasn't life threatening but it also wasn't self inflicted.

TeamEdward · 22/08/2010 23:59

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Ishouldprobablywax · 23/08/2010 00:08

Yabu- if there was a multicar pile up they can't just say 'well this little boy has a cut, it is clearly more important than an arterial bleed' get over it. I hope you ds feels better soon x

ilovechoclate · 23/08/2010 00:16

I know exactly how you feel but my last A&E visit i had a real reality shock, my son had been 12 hours without keeping down fluids with an awful tummy bug, i was so worried until...

We waited hours then i heard a woman howling, i mean a real howl "No No Please help him, please please " her son had been knocked over, he died.
I felt sick, poor child, poor mother

SummerRain · 23/08/2010 00:17

we're really lucky with our local (1 hour drive!) hospital.

I've been twice to a&e and both times the dcs were jumped to the head of the queue as they give preferential treatment to a young child.

I had lots of visits to fracture clinic with dd too and it's the ssame there and in radiolagy, children first, then elderly, then adults. I feel bad for the adults waiting ages while kids and elderly folk are jumped ahead but at least they can read a book/listen to music whereas trying to keep between one and three bored kids calm and quiet while you wait to be seen is damn near impossible, especially when one of them's in a cast and taking up the buggy and you're trying to manhandle the baby around.

On the flip side of that if you ring an ambulance round here the average wait is about 3 hours, no matter how serious the injury.

YABalittleU but equally the hospital are BU for not having enough staff to keep a&e ticking over if there's a major trauma.

WetAugust · 23/08/2010 00:18

YANBU

JustAnotherManicMummy · 23/08/2010 00:27

It is a cut to the head. Upsetting for you and your ds but massively insignificant to the serious injuries and real life and death situation going on behind the scenes.

When reception starts filling up you know it must be hell on earth back there. Be thankful your ds is in reception not resuscitation and make a fuss of him and your dh when they get in.

Hope it's not too long and your ds has a quick recovery.

A1980 · 23/08/2010 00:31

I hope he's ok and that it didn't need stitches.

I had to go to A&E a few years ago on a Saturday night. I had a kidney infection. My back was so sore I couldn't stand up straight, I was peeing blood,I had a high temperature and I was beginning to shiver because of the temperature. I was beginning to get worse symptoms too but I won't gross you out with them

It was about half an hour before I saw the triage nurse. She was very concerned and put me on the priority list which technically meant I was ill enough to jump the queue as kidney infections can be very serious. It was still another 2 hours or so before I was seen. The chairs were hard metal too so with my back I was in agony.

I'm afraid it's just the way A&E is. Unless you're dying or unconscious, you sit and wait for hours.

JustAnotherManicMummy · 23/08/2010 00:31

Ilovechoclate that's awful. Your post gave me a wrench in my stomach.

There but for the grace...

WetAugust · 23/08/2010 00:46

OP - you need to be aware that criticism of the NHS is frowned upon here.

On this thread doctors and nurses are always working flat out providing life-saving treatment.

It never crosses anyones mind that the the A&E Dept might just be totally inefficient and poorly managed (as large parts of the NHS are).

Doctors are not Gods - some of them are actually very crap.

huddspur · 23/08/2010 01:01

YABVU A&E should treat people by need and your son sounds to only have a minor injury so if there are people with more serious injuries then they should be trwated first. Your sons bedtime is irrlelevant

SurreyDad · 23/08/2010 05:47

The trouble is, there is nothing in between A&E and a two-week wait for a doctor's appointment. The NHS needs to be privatised - might become managed and efficient then.

Jamieandhismagictorch · 23/08/2010 05:50

He was triaged by the nurse and judged not to be that urgent.

Glad he's OK

Jamieandhismagictorch · 23/08/2010 05:52

Surrey - that's not my experience, nor the experience of many people. At my GP surgery there are invariably GP or nurse practitioner appts on the same day.

macdoodle · 23/08/2010 07:33

Wetaugust Hmm chip?? big much??

Original poster
BenandNiamhsMum · 23/08/2010 07:41

If you ring our surgery out of hours they just give you a phone number who inevitablby tell you that if you are worried to go to A&E. While I agree with SurreyDad in that the wait for an appoitment with a doctor can take a couple of weeks I also am aware that privatisation is not always the answer.
We always ring my BIL before ringing the doctor (As he is a doctor) and it was on his advice that they went. He said that you should get any head injury checked and that they would need to clean it out (as it had happened on that safety bark and some might still be in the cut) and glue it together (as it might start bleeding again- which it did, in the waiting room, and I'm glad it was there at about 3 hours into the wait that this happened rather than being woken up by a frightened boy in the middle of the night)
When he was finally called through the nurse and doctor were very nice.

OP posts:
claig · 23/08/2010 07:49

very pleased that everything was sorted out well in the end. Long waits like that are worrying and more money should be provided for A&E.

PhoenixReborn · 23/08/2010 07:49

Ilovechocolate, that sounds utterly awful and made me quite upset to read, that poor poor woman to have her son taken from her like that.

OP YABU as it was a simple albeit deep head cut which wasn't bleeding particulary on a 7 year old a head cut on a 2yr old might be deemed a&e worthy

I would suggest that you look at getting some steri strips and treat at home next time as its simply not worth exposing your ds to the myriad of hospital bugs and sights

claig · 23/08/2010 07:52

but her BIL is a doctor and he advised that they should go to A&E.

LauraNorder · 23/08/2010 07:53

I must be very lucky then as on the 2 occasions I have needed a same day appointment for my children I have got one.

As for waiting in A&E, my experience as a staff nurse working there is that they do try and treat children sooner where possible but weekends are notoriously busy times. I have worked shifts where we've run out of resus beds due to the amount of life threatening injuries/conditions that have come through the doors and then other shifts where the resus door hasn't even been opened.

Hope your DS is better this morning.

addictedisgettingexcited · 23/08/2010 07:55

julybutterfly, they did that with me too. dh took me to a&e quite dehydrated after having severe d&v we waited 4.5 hours in the waiting room during this time i was hallosanating and ended up trying to sleep on the floor out side the mens toilets so noone could get in or out! I was eventually seen by a nurse, but told i was so severly dehhydrated i needed a doc to treat me and we had to wait another 2 hours. (i have no recollection of most of this) When i was eventually put on a drip i was convinced they were trying to kill me and there was nothing wrong with me. Dh had to physically hold me down so they could treat me. when i was discharged the doc said had we have come in by ambulance i would have been seen stright away and they wouldnt have needed to do half the treatment they did! He went on to say they assume people who walk in arent really that ill as they would have called an ambulance if they were! Hmm
At the time we lived a 5 minute drive from the hospital and didnt want to take an ambulance from someone who couldnt get there. And i wasnt that bad untill i was made to wait 6 hours.

Swipe left for the next trending thread