to expect to be able to find a doctor to see a child, in the uk, closer than 15 miles and less than a 4 hour wait?

[SheelaNeGig]

Shes actually not ill as such but does have spreading infected skin rash. (but imagine if she was ill?)

And 15 miles and 4 hours wait away isn't a Doctor but a triage nurse. I think it needs more than a nurse prescriber considering the fucidin isn't working and she can't take anything orally. But not ill enough to endure a 4 hour wait.

The NHS is in trouble isn't it.

And don't get me started about the douth west pay cartel.

Did you know they are threatening to cut nurse and midwife pay by 10%, stop unsocial hours payments and cut holiday allowances?

And what happened to the extra 5000 midwifes the government promised?

More people signed the Save The Badger petition than the Please Give Us More Midwives petition.

15 miles I appreciate is a problem. And it is quite far if you don't drive. Do you drive, OP?

Four hours I don't think is a problem though. This isn't an emergency so I don't see what the issue is with that.

Local minor injuries, regardless of the day etc you are always told 4 hour wait. You arrive, book in and then seen based on need. So if you aren't that ill chances are you are there for the 4 hours. If ill seen quicker.. No different that going to a&e. There's a board up letting you know there's a 4 hour or whatever time wait, but realistically if your bleeding to death, puking etc you will be seen a lot quicker.

15 miles and 4 hours is a long time if you are ill.

I know there isn't a bottomless pot of gold but what on earth is going to happen?

I doubt it will be 4 hours to see the triage nurse.
So what are you doing on here then? Why aren't you driving here the 15 miles to get treated?

15 miles isn't that far for OOH/hospital services. We live in a large town, and our A&E was closed earlier this year. It's now 12 miles in one direction and 17 in the other to the nearest A&E or OOH. I had to go to A&E (for me, not a child) two weekends ago. The advertised waiting time was 3 hours, but I was taken within 20 minutes, as I was in a lot of pain. Every child who came in was triaged almost immediately, so I'm surprised a child would have to wait so long to be seen where you are. It's not great, but it's way better healthcare than many other places I've lived, and I have to say my care was excellent, and the biggest complaint I had was that the woman in the bed next to me was a terrible snorer!

Because she isn't bad enough for that. She can wait.

If she were actually ill. Or if I was. Or anyone else was it is an outrageous system.

Have you actually used the system though? Because most people seem to be telling you that it works.
I took dd to the local walk in centre on a saturday- she had tonsillitis. We were there and back (15 min journey), with medicines in about an hour and a half.

I have for me. And yes. A 3 or 4 hour wait in agony is not nice.

If the child is sick they will be seen sooner. All triage nurses stick their heads out of the door and eyeball the patients waiting - anyone sick gets triaged earlier. The receptionists are clued up too - they will haul ass if they see a sick child. The reason why they tell people that there is a four hour wait is 1) to let patients know so that they don't expect to be seen the minute they walk in (and if they get seen at say three hours they're happy campers because it's before 4 hrs); and 2) to discourage the inappropriate use of ooh services. So people who could wait to see their regular GPs are put off by the wait and wont go.

The NHS is struggling to meet the increased demands of the patient population - both realistic (better treatments and investigations now available for a whole host of conditions) and unrealistic (I've stubbed my toe and demand to see a doctor, I've had a bad back for months but want it cured at 3am on a Saturday night etc.).

They aren't morons in the ooh centre they do realise who needs seeing and the very very ill are a short free (at the point of delivery) ambulance trip away from the hospital.

Emergency systems are shambolic in the South West. My 83 year old m-i-l was found on the floor following a fall with head injuries and a painful shoulder on Thursday at 6.15pm, she also had mental health problems. The ambulance did not turn up until 3.15am the following day, as out of hours and ambulance service both denied responsibility for her treatment initially and she keep getting put back down the lists.

Higgle that's awful. :( I hope your MIL is okay now.

Thankfully, my experience in the SW is radically different to that, so please be assured that's not happening all over.

That's terrible! What happens to people who don't drive and cant afford taxi or bus fare?

SIL covers a lot of OOH (GP) the majority of her cases could and should have waited, such as the lovely lady who was brought in by transport ambulance with an insect bite she was worried may get infected so wanted antibiotics NOW. When refused she waited until shift change and called out the transport ambulance again.

Perhaps if people didn't abuse the service waits for genuine cases would be shorter.

Also "what do people that work do" they take time off to go to their regular gps, they shouldn't be using OOHs for their own convenience.

Hi OP

Did you phone your GP? I thought they had to provide an out of hours cover and where we live (also South West) there is a GP OOH cover, albeit 10 miles away. However they make you an appointment so no waiting.

Or is the info you have got from an A&E dept?

Also, couldn't you go the local pharmacy or is it something that needs prescription drugs.

Not my experience either. We have a minor injury walk-in clinic which is fantastic and I've never waited more than half an hour to be seen (this is me, not DS. Thankfully he's not inherited my clumsy gene). For any OOH treatment such as you describe - DS with a temp, me with a rare migraine side effect that I didn't recognise as such - we were given a specific appointment time, usually around 2 hours later and were seen right away.

Think you said you're in Wiltshire. Have you tried the link below.

www.wiltshiremedicalservices.co.uk/asp/mContent.asp?pID=55

15 miles is a long way if you dont drive. Its just as bad in town though. We werent sure if my daughter was ill - coughing, not herself etc so walked 3 miles in pouring rain to the OOH. He diagnosed pneumonia after a 3 hour wait. Ambulance ride to the A&E at the children's hospital in town then a 4 hour wait on oxygen with a monitor in a crowded waiting room full of people puking. She had double pneumonia and ended up in ICU then on the ward for weeks. And yes, she caught Noro from the pukers.
Maybe with decent and fast access she wouldnt have become so ill and cost so much in the extended stay?

A&E 9pm Friday night DD saw the triage nurse within 10 minutes, x ray straight after.

So it can be done, but I've been told our Local NHS is bankrupt :(

The thing is though, people use emergency care when they could wait for their GP. You see on here all the time.

Some one will post, my child has D&V and people will shout A&E now.
Then, it'll be my child has a cough, should I got to A&E or the GP in the morning and everyone goes A&E.

When did it start that people took ill children to A&E? When mine were ill they either waited until morning or I called OOH. Also, people don't seem to realise that because people pitch up to A&E with non emergency issues that is why they are waiting for 4 or 5 hours and then start whinging about the waiting time!

our OOHs is crap (SW also) and nearest A and E 30 miles away

not bemoaning cuntry life cos it is great on the whole, but access to stuff like hosp is pretty difficult

Those saying 15 miles is too far... Do you expect a hospital/A&E/surgery on every street corner?

No. But I do expect to see a GP locally. At weekends.

The rest of life carries on at weekends. Shops, pubs, work. Why not healthcare!

? Not !

no but we are saying GPs could do late openings/weekends or something similar