To think DS should have been seen before these people in OOH?

[SchroSawMargeryDaw]

This has been annoying me a bit and wanted to see if I was BU.

DS (18mo) took ill on Friday. He was screaming, had a temp, wouldn't eat or drink, didn't want to lie down and just seemed generally pretty ill. He would fall asleep but wake up screaming 30 mins later, I thought it was a virus and we would just wait it out.

He had about 4 hours in sleep in 30 hours and had been sick and then we noticed loads of discharge from his ear and half covering his face, he was really distressed. At this point I decided to phone NHS24, they phoned me back after a while and told me to go to OOH.

Got to OOH and it was quite busy, that's fine and we waited. We did notice some people come in after us and go in before us. Waited anyway. 2 girls came in around 30 minutes after us and told the receptionist that they hadn't been told to go by NHS24, they filled in a form and were told to wait, they then went on to moan at a person beside them for having his phone on and starting arguments, we asked how long it would be and were told up to an hour, DS was screaming but at the same time struggling to stay awake.

Receptionist then came and told us it would be up to an hour and a half, by this point everyone apart from 2 people who had been in before us had been seen. We were eventually called in a group of people and we went through, they gave us a room to sit in as by this point DS was very distressed, screaming and sleepy and crying in pain.

Then we notice the 2 girls go into the room with the nurse to be triaged, when they came out we asked the nurse what was going on as they hadn't even had an appointment, we were told it's done on a case by case basis. These girls walked in laughing and joking and we had DS sitting there screaming while unable to open his eyes. The girls were seen by the Dr next and then we were triaged, the nurse immediately handed us complaints details and said it wasn't right after seeing DS, there was a bit of a panic as the Dr then found a rash on DS but it turned out that the rash was from the heat.

Sorry about the long post but AIBU to think that DS should have been seen first in this instance? I know she gave me the complaints details but I wasn't sure if I was BU.

YANBU but you will be told that you are.

I remember taking DS to A+E when he had norovirus at 11 months old and I suspected he was quite dehydrated. It was a sunday night and the waiting area was full of fucking dipsos getting seen to before us. I was angry. I don't care if that is unjust or not.

Making conversation with the nurse that was helping us get some rehydration salts into DS, she said that most of them were 'regulars' who came in most weekend nights for pathetic reasons but they couldn't be turned away.

Made my piss boil.

Hope your DS is on the mend?

Yanbu - I thought they wouldn't let you in without an appointment.

Definitely complain - the nurse obviously felt the same.

Thanks, I thought I would be told I was too a bit.

That's horrible for your DS, I thought babies and toddlers would have been priority (obviously depending on illness etc). :(

He's getting better, hasn't eaten since Friday and is on anti-biotics, they said it was a viral infection turned to an ear infection and a probable perforated ear drum (she couldn't see as there was so much gunk in his ear).

It has made me quite angry tbh.

maddening I know that here they wont turn you away, I've turned up before when I couldn't get through to NHS24 but have always been told that those with an appointment take priority.

You have no idea what the other patients were there for, the OOH staff did.

YABU unless you have medical qualifications and psychic powers so that you know what was wrong with everyone else.

I have been admitted as a serious medical emergency on many an occasion and fast tracked through the triage. Have I always managed to laugh and smile with the staff - usually. No point being miserable about these things is there. You would not have been able to see what was wrong with me either, but luckily the medical staff have qualifications so that they could save my life ahead of those with a bruised toe (or any other minor injury).

Please don't complain. DH is a doctor and every time there is a complaint it involves mountains of paperwork and he takes it all personally. Despite the fact that 99% of the time he can't do anything about the situation that was complained about.

Sorry your child was sick.

Kinky In all fairness they wouldn't have had much idea as they hadn't been sent by NHS24, the form you fill in to get seen is just name and address and about 2 lines to state symptoms.

They were obviously happy, cheery and jumping about and starting arguments, DS was obviously quite ill.

Yanbu write in and complain officially. I once went to casualy with a 2 year old who had banged her head and we were taken to a side ward immediately and looked at. Small children come first.

Going by what you have said YANBU IMO but then it could have been that the girls had been prioritised over your DS...it depends entirely on what was wrong with the girls...i took my DD to A&E on recommendation of NHS24 and whilst we were waiting to be seen (DD had croupe and breathing difficulties that turned out to be a chest infection aswell) another parent brought their DS in and he was running about loads of energy and laughing etc and he was seen before DD...turned out he had a massive rash all over his chest and he was really quite ill (they were talking meningitis AFAICR) my DD was treated and sent home and he was admitted whilst we were waiting!

You never do know. i would speak to PALs if there is one or the complaints number you have been given as at the very least it will pinpoint any areas of weakness your local OOH have to prevent it happening in the future.

Hope your DS is better now :)

Your ooh seems to work differently to ours, we are given an appointment and told to stick to it. They even shout the time you were given along with your name so you can see everyone is being taken in order.

Yanbu, and should complain. The system sounds ridiculous.

But next time make a fuss.

You would not be on good grounds to make a complaint as you do not know what the others were there for.

If they did not take adequate details from you on arrival to let them make a proper judgement on when you saw the triage nurse, then that might be grounds for complaint. But you can only really complain about the care you/DS received, not a comparison to others.

Tall These girls weren't laughing and smiling with staff, that would be understandable and I have done that too. They were starting arguments with people in the waiting room for petty things and carrying on together.

Glakit We don't get a time to go, we just get told to go within 4 hours, a time would be better tbh.

If it was that serious that they had to be seen before an obviously ill small child who had been waiting hours, should they not have been in A+E?

Scaevola They don't take any details when you arrive unless you haven't been sent by NHS24, just your name.

Although these girls didn't appear to be ill, you don't know what they were there about. There would have been some reasoning behind it. And appts do not get priority, because in Glasgow ( I'm assuming that's where you were) you can self present ( although they much prefer you to go through NHS24) and may have more serious symptoms than those with appts.

I'm glad your DS is ok. Ear pain is horrid.

find out what their criteria is for deciding in which order they see patients,

Then see if you can imagine if there could be any reason that the other people were seen first.

it is a red herring to think about other people demeanour, everyone has different coping strategies.

I am imagining criteria for priority would be symptoms like stiff neck, chest pain, very sleepy, rash, drooping one side of face etc.

I realise that everyone has different coping strategies but I just can't see anyone who is genuinely ill starting arguments with randoms and jumping about carrying on.

Normally I wouldn't bat an eyelid at others being seen first, it was just the way it happened with these 2 that was obviously a bit of a kick in the teeth.

Thanks ubik, it is horrid. It has been a stressful weekend to say the least!

YANBU to feel angry and want to complain, because when your DC is ill they are the most important person in the world to you, and it's irritating to say the least when you see people that seem reasonably well sailing in to be seen before you.

But you don't know why the girls were there. As a PP said you may well have grounds for complaint based on how you were triaged and treated, but not in comparison to others.

If you complain about your treatment in comparison to these girls you will receive a bog standard 'we can't divulge information about other patients' letter.

I do hope your DS is feeling much better now. It really is worrying when they're that unwell.

"it is a red herring to think about other people demeanour, everyone has different coping strategies."

Exactly. One or both of those girls might have been seriously ill. You have no way of knowing, nor any means of finding out.

It is v upsetting & distressing for both you & your child to be left there like that, but even so, there isn't a fool-proof system. If it was done on a first-come, first-served basis, everyone that felt they were seriously ill would be left waiting unfairly, if its done case by case, it can appear that people are being treated first, unfairly.

In this case, it appears a mistake was made and the case-by-case basis didn't work, hence the nurse saying what she did.

I say all this having taken my 12do DS to our Dr (which is also the area's walk-in clinic, so we're "competing" with all sorts to get seen) when he had a fever & a cough. We had to wait over 2hrs to be seen, although thankfully the receptionist allowed us to sit in a side-room so he couldn't get any other nasties, and were prescribed antibiotics & calpol for a slight chest infection. For some babies that would have been quite serious, & given that the time of year meant it was bronchiolitis season, for some, it could have been very grave, but the clinic operates first-come, first-served for walk-ins.

YANBU to complain and feel that your DS should have been seen first in this instance but YWBBU if you expected your dc to be seen first every time regardless.

LOL at coping strategies.

What if my coping strategy at waiting for my dehydrated baby to get some medical attention had been to punch the pissheads in their stupid faces?

Please.

DrGoogle I think I will send a letter, I wont complain as such and I was never really going to actually complain but it is quite worrying and I have never been so panicked as when the Dr found that rash. :( Utter terror for a few minutes.

I took my step-father to OOH recently. He was his usual sunny self.

He has an on-going condition which needs to be treated ASAP when it flares up. It doesn't hurt or cause pain or symptoms obvious to others unless it is not caught early. It does not need A&E, just a particular prescription from a GP.

He was seen ahead of many others in the queue as time is of the essence - he'd be next door in A&E if he had to wait.

Do you really suggest he moped in and looked dejected just so people felt the queuing system was fair?

At university I had a friend who had a serious heart condition, which you couldn't tell by looking at him. He would be hospitalised for what seemed like really minor things to everyone else, and he'd be on life support for days.

What I think about when I remember him is his smile. He would tell you about the time he was rushed to hospital, blue lighted with the top consultants waiting at the door to rush him off to theatre, with the biggest smile and infectious laugh he ever had. Even when he was ill he was like that.

You notice I say "remember". That's because he died when he was 24yo.