& if IANBU - asking if anyone know WHAT & HOW I can try & change things ????
Back ground??
Locally we have a new state of the art Childrens Hospital, but no separate Kids A&E - We DID have a separate DCs A&E which was fantastic BEFORE we got our brand new shiny & fantastic Childrens Hospital 
Now all DCs have go to the same A&E as adults & very often there are NO experienced Paediatric staff working there at all, something I've seen cause problems on a few occasions over the years & I've been left arguing with staff to get DD seen by a Paediatric Nurse - who saw even from looking at her at a distance that she was seriously ill & ordered chest Xrays - turned out she had double pneumonia & wouldn't be here now had I not been a bolshy cow & argued with the A&E nurse was going to send her home 
The Saturday before last DD had a nasty fall & I had to take her to A&E again - by the time we got there it was 9.45pm - & from there onwards started to fill up with drunks from falls & fights, including a large group of very drunk, loud & very dramatic TVs - not bothered by them being Transvestites, but the conversation & shockingly the racial abuse aimed at an Arab looking guy where bang out of order - generally typical Saturday night A&E in a City known for its party crowd & NOT in anyway suitable for Kids
But it took until being seen by the Nurse before we were passed through to a Childrens waiting area - that took an hour & a half, as the Nurse owned up to them alternating seeing one DC & one adult - so you can imagine by that time it was NOT a suitable environment for kids & was getting worse by the minute
Nurses words at that point "we'll put you in the Childrens waiting room now, as its hell out there & the drunken transexuals are making it worse, so not a suitable environment for Kids" -
I was very grateful to be moved into a safer area, but I pointed out there were 3 other DCs in the main waiting area, 2 much younger than DD - yet it was another hour before the first one came through to the DCs waiting area 
Surely it can't be too difficult to organise sending DCs straight to the Kids area when they sign in??, nor is it too much to ask that they are given priority over none emergency adults ???
thats let alone the worry no properly trained Paediatric staff on duty.
DD turned out to have a fractured foot & ligament damage, but took over 5 hours to get through the system - yet she would have gladly given up her slot for the poor mite of about 3 who was in obvious severe pain & wailed & shivered in another room - I'm sure most adults would have done too :(
DD was left without a cast, but given crutches & a fracture clinic appointment - that they A&E admin got wrong - so we missed our correct appointment - meaning that she went 5 days without seeing ANYONE who could properly read her Xray - A&E staff were honest about the fact they couldn't & that they didn't know what to do for her - this meant despite being incredibly brave [very proud emoticon] she whimpered, screamed & cried in her sleep in pain, through pain killers every night :(
The fractured clinic put her in a cast straight away, she is coping MUCH better now & we've all had some sleep :)
Okay I understand in this climate of cut backs that its not the staffs fault there are no paediatric staff on duty & don't doubt A&E is one hell of a place to work - especially weekend nights
but AIBU to think that this is just unacceptable
- there were 6 DCs in pain there that night - our 5 hour wait wasn't the longest
& if IANBU - any suggestions on what to do about getting changes made - its actually scary to think thats what we have for our DCs
thanks :)
on the plus side they have saved my life in the past. We are getting a separate children's a&e though aren't we? Think it's all part of the big expansion plans.