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.

Exactly.

I bet you are all exhausted. Hope he feels better soon x

Thanks. :) x

Wasn't he triaged by a nurse on the phone? They will have sent the details down to ooh. Also, he is in a safe place - the hospital. And in the end he was seen, he was given medication.

Your experience wasn't great. But the system is trying to deal with the huge demand for ooh services over the weekends.

YANBU IMO.

DS2(16) was taken to the Urgent Care Centre by ambulance car, after a rugby accident nearly 4 weeks ago. The paramedic checked with the doctor if he would see him and he said yes, and he also noticed the state DS2 was in. (He had dislocated and broken his shoulder).

The doctor must have told the nurses in the treatment area to go get DS2 because we bypassed triage and went straight through. The centre also doubles up as OOH's and it was busy, so we were really grateful and DS2 was the worst case there. People still bleated and moaned loudly though.

Next day we went to fracture clinic, it was running hopelessly late. One of the patients whose appointment was after ours was causing such a scene and making such a fuss, they were seen first because they wanted them out of the way!

I think that it is worth reporting the lack of details on arrival, so there is no attempt to prioritise who needs to be seen first. For there could be people with NHS24 endorsement which was more a "just in case" as well as people who go straight to OOH because eg they know a rash cannot be diagnosed without it being (literally) seen.

Even if it's very rough and ready, it really shouldn't all depend on what sorts of phone calls you may or may not have made.

He was but it was just a quick jot down of symptoms (that I knew about).

I know you are right. :(

I probably would have been taken ahead of you the last time I went to OOH as they thought I'd had a stroke.

I hadn't, it was a severe migraine with unusual symptoms which had abated by the time I turned up for my pre-arranged appointment, and I was chatty at that point, but at the time I called in, that's what they suspected. So I got taken pretty fast.

I am surprised you were not seen quicker but you don't know what the other people were in for. Just because the girls were laughing and joking doesn't mean they were not proper emergencies.
Years ago I badly broke my leg but was not in bad pain but apparently needed to be seen very quickly (I am not sure why but I was rushed through really quickly)

Land :( Your poor DS. That sounds horrible.

Scaevola I'm going to use all the advice from this thread for my letter. As I said, I wont make it a harsh complaints letter but I do think maybe their system needs a look at.

Wilson I completely understand cases like that will be taken sooner, I am happy with that. Something about this just didn't seem right though. I get that people can be ill and in pain and still cheery.

I have never seen an ill person randomly start arguments with people over phone use though.

I'll never forget sitting in the hospital having an bleed early in my pregnancy and waiting hours to be seen with other women. All smiles and politeness in the waiting room, laughing at children running around etc.

After being seen, hours later they apologised for my long wait as it was a difficult night with severe bleeds etc. It was quite incredible to think back to all these pregnant women, putting on a brave face whilst being so unsure of their futures.

Yes I think you are being unreasonable to complain. I am sure the same as you are that what those girls had was nothing deathly - but if they say the right "trigger words" at triage, chest pains or whatever then they get bumped up the queue automatically. That's not the OOH's fault that people can abuse the system. I believe it happens quite regularly with 999 calls etc

However, having spent that night, I'll never presume what anyone is going through again.

I know that if they say the right words at triage they will be seen sooner, the whole reason I was mad is because they were triaged even before us. So really no opportunity to get bumped up before then.

I don't normally presume anything about anyone when it comes to a health situation but I do believe if they were in a good enough state to be starting arguments with randoms in the waiting room then they were fit enough to wait until the people who had been waiting and had actually waited the 2 hours call back time with NHS24 before going had been seen.

Schro - what if one if the girls had told the nurse she had taken an overdose a few days ago...paracetamol. She may well have no symptoms.

That's fair enough but it's the fact she hadn't seen the nurse, she seen the nurse before us. She couldn't have told them over the phone either as she had said at the desk she hadn't been told to go in by them.

It's the fact she even seen the nurse first that is bothering me.

The people at the desk filter for certain key words too.

YANBU. DD almost died from peritonitis from a burst appendix while we waited n A&E for 3 hours (she had previously been misdiagnosed with constipation by 3 different GPs). A&E was not that busy and all the other patients were sitting up and talking while DD was laying unconcious in my lap occasionally moaning in pain when I moved position but apparently we could not be seen any quicker . Until I found some balls and raised merry hell with the receptionist. I think I may have shouted very loudly indeed.

They were not impressed and the doctor was extremely rude as she thought we were just being impatient until she examined DD and it was immediate panic stations and we were shortly blue lighted to a larger hospital. It still makes my blood boil 12 years later!

Complain, complain and complain again

I was thinking you were being U but 3 hours is way too long to wait. When our ds was little and ill, the OOH doc advised us to take him straight to A&E at the children's hospital if he was ill again and not to go through NHS 24 or OOH. If you are near a children's hospital then it might be worth considering that advice if ds is ever worryingly ill again.
You will be seen by a nurse almost as soon as you arrive but the last time we took ds to A&E (high temp, suspicious rash, falling asleep, very lethargic, light sensitive, etc) even though they were concerned about meningitis, we still waited for 2 hours to see a doctor and get additional tests.

Feisty We went to OOH because we thought it would be quicker, our childrens hospital is Yorkhill and it can get quite busy but they triage you practically as soon as you get there and immediately give them calpol.

The last time I took him was when he was about 6 months, maybe a bit more and had a temp of 40 that wouldn't come down, wouldn't really open his eyes and was very very sleepy. We were handed a leaflet on when and where to make the appropriate appointment and wasting A+E time. I have tried to avoid taking him to Doctors since that tbh.

FeelAwful That is a horrible situation!

Was it the Western?

No, Stobhill. How come?

Hmm OP have you considered it might've been mental health issues or drugs related? Perhaps the girls had taken some type of amphetamines or similar and that was why they were how they were. Maybe the staff wanted to get them out of the way in case they turned aggressive to other patients?

Being a bit 'wrong' and manic might well be a sign of being on sth?

I did think about that but they weren't manic and didn't seem intoxicated. Just very cheeky and banging on to people to "have some fucking respect and turn your phone off, seriously turn your fucking phone off" .

Grrr.

I've calmed down loads after this thread though. :)