To think that dd should have been a priority case?

[Edenviolet]

Dd2 has type 1 diabetes.

Last night she had a series of hypos which we treated and then another which would not respond to treatment. Her eyes were rolling and she was not fully conscious. We phoned 999 and thought they would come quickly.

We had to wait an hour and in that time phoned them back twice as she was so unwell. It was terrifying. We thought they would prioritise her or send a rapid response paramedic (the ones in a car not ambulance) but nothing. We were told they didn't know when somebody would be available.

When they finally came they took dd to hospital and she is now fine but when dh was there another child had just been taken in from an ambulance with earache, apparently the drs were not too happy and made this child go with his parents to wait in the waiting area but it mad me wonder how efficiently 999 calls are being prioritised.

I want to complain but I don't know who to contact. I am just so shaken up as took it for granted they'd arrive within minutes.

Good post Viva. I find shows like the BBC's '999' fascinating. The amount of time wasters is shocking.

hope your dd is better now. that must have been so scary.

and sometimes you get the other end of the scale: when a family member broke a leg the ambulance was there in 10 minutes. quite a shock, I was expecting a much longer wait as it 'only' was a broken bone and nothing potentially life threatening.

Crikey, that's truly awful and terrifying for you. Please do complain. I just can't fathom why you weren't prioritised
....it sounds like a very obvious emergency
Hope Dd is feeling ok tonight

You'd be surprised. People know how to "work the system" and there is very little anyone can do to stop it. E.g. A chap a few years ago insisted on having blood tests. Went to GP who ordered routine bloods as a precaution. This patient didn't believe that enough tests were ordered, so ticked every box on the form. The bloods were done, at a cost of over £1000, none of which he actually needed.

The system is on its knees and there is nothing we can do to stop it.

I feel that the parents who called the ambulance for a child with ear should face criminal charges. It is terrible to think that a real emergency might have to wait over an hour for an ambulance.

Google your local ambulance trust and look for their 'concerns' contact information and ask for the call to be reviewed. Either it wasn't prioritised correctly (which is done pretty much by a computer on the basis of the questions you were asked) or it was but they didn't have an ambulance available. I'd be surprised if a semi conscious child was anything other than a 'red2' ie high priority but I'm not in the ambulance world myself.

On the bloke with the fractured hip - awful how this is often a low priority call because of itself it's not life threatening when it quite obviously is extremely serious.

Reallytired I think I love you!

I had to wait 7 hours and 8 calls to 999 for an ambulance, when they got here they said why didn't you call us sooner don't you know how bad your husband is. This was 6 months ago but I wrote it all down at the time and this thread has prompted me to write a complaint.

What was the outcome sunshine?

OP, I hope your DD is ok.

Sadly, I believe that this isn't uncommon.

When DS was 3mth he was listless and unresponsive; his temperature was 40c despite having nurofen and calpol. I called the OOH GP surgery and they immediately called an ambulance. The paramedic was very dismissive and said that they'd have to take DS in because he was under 16. On the radio he told the A&E dept. that his temperature was slightly raised, but there was nothing wrong... Upon being admitted, DS's temperature was recorded at 41.4c. He spent 4 nights in hospital being treated for suspected bacterial meningitis and underwent a lumbar puncture amongst many other tests. Thankfully he only had rotavirus, but he was very ill indeed. The paramedic was disciplined and retrained as I put in a complaint via PALS.

Our second incident was when DS had a convulsion that lasted over 6 mins - he was 15mth at the time. It took the paramedics nearly an hour to arrive! We live about 20 minutes away from the city at rush hour and this call was made at 4:10am!

In my area, they are just about to launch a new campaign about the use of A&E for ailments that could be seen by out of hours GP's and the unsuitable use of
Ambulances. A few years ago I had to call 999 as hubby had an epileptic seizure and wouldn't come round. They heads epileptic and sent a paramedic/first responder, but we had to wait a further 30 minutes for an ambulance when my husband had gone into a life threatening condition known as "status epilepticus" the call handler heard "known epileptic, having a seizure" and didn't listen to the other facts such as his body temperature was over 40'C, he was still fitting and we couldn't stop him fitting even with diazepam. The paramedic did all he could, but couldn't transfer him in.

misspixie not quite sure you point about the baby with a cold being admitted?

DS was admitted to hospital with a cold as a baby. That cold nearly killed him.

Yobe fair iI always find the Paramedics fabulous with DD. She knows what's coming when she sees them and clams up and panics. Hates being prodded and poked :( the hospital not so good. I always say I'm going to raises a complaint when I'm not happy and I don't always follow through with it as I'm scared they will treat her differently if I do. . I will be doing this time though as the discharge summary I received recently stated they gave her meds which were never administered!! Sorry for hijacking OP.I'm glad your DD is starting to pick up a little. I agree that earache child parents need to have a word with themselves given their were no underlying conditions of course. I'm no medic but can't think of any underlying cause which would make earache a cause for concern???

Fox ache sorry missed that bit, he is ok now had a bad fall slipped disc and then had a heart attack. I believe the wait caused this, but don't know if that can be proved. Just don't want anyone else to go through that wait. It was agonising.

When my friend had an accident on his bike that was his own fault, he was charged for the cost of the ambulance. This was 20 odd years ago, and I dont know if he ever paid it but...... if the doctor seeing you deems that you called an ambulance needlessly and you get charged for it, I bet the calls would go through the floor.

Same with Police and Fire calls. I remember reading about a woman in Staffs (my area) that called the ambulance service because she had run out of tampons, I rather suspect she would have made do with balled up loo roll if she thought she would be charged £xxxx for calling an ambulance.

As a relative of a paramedic, I can assure you that people ringing 999 for minor complaints is the reason ambulances can take a while. Popular public perception is that an ambulance = quicker treatment which is not true, you are still triaged on arrival at A&E. Please don't blame the very hardworking ambulance staff. The amount of times I see on facebook people going to hospital or even the GPs for such minor things is truly staggering. There is no wonder the NHS is on its knees.

To be. Not yobe. [blushes]. Stupid phone!

I totally agree they should have got to your DD sooner, and I am glad she is on the mend.

You don't know how long the child with earache had been waiting, hopefully it was for a lot longer.

I agree with the poster who said time wasters should be charged. Our local hospital tweeted the other day that 18000 people attended A&E with ailments that could have been treated at the walk in centre or GP.

*should be 18000 people last year.

Please complain.

Sirzy I'm aware that things like that happe given that such colds can make Dd really ill but we are still sent home. My point was that I wouldn't have believed it but I would now as minor things to us might not turn out be so minor after all. To make my point clear I heard the doctor try to send baby mum home. She was quite insistant otherwise.

Iaminvisible I think they shouldn't be wasting their time tweeting.

Its so scary reading how long some of you have been made to wait in real emergencies.

Please can I urge anyone who has had a significant delay to please write to their MP. If people start to do this they will have to take notice and deal with it.

Sadly the NHS is under so much financial pressure this type of thing is probably going to get worse before it gets better.

So please take a few minutes to email or write to your MP.

When my dd3 was still alive, she once stopped breathing 3 times whilst being examined by the GP. The nurse rang for an ambulance and despite chasing it up 3 times, it never came.

The GP threw us and an oxygen cylinder into the back of her car and drove us to A&E herself.

It's terrifying when you are waiting for an ambulance for your severely ill child. I'm glad your dd is ok now OP. I wish I had had the energy to complain at the time.