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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that dd should have been a priority case?

178 replies

Edenviolet · 30/12/2013 22:41

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.

OP posts:
thankfeckitschrismas · 31/12/2013 15:33

Yabu to expect your dd to come first when you have no medical training.
Yabu to judge others based on the medical training you do not have.
Yabu to blame the parents of the other child for the shortage of ambulances, when you do not know the full facts of the case, other than what your dp overheard from an unprofessional doctor.
Yanbu to suggest there aren't enough resources but Yabu not to blame the real culprits.

Islenka · 31/12/2013 15:50

My mother has hypochondria.

She called five ambulances in her lifetime- four unnecessarily- before she was diagnosed with her mental illness.

Introducing fines could penalise people like her who are ill, mentally ill, and, through no fault of their own- simply a mental health issue- are condemned.

thankfeckitschrismas · 31/12/2013 15:59

My sister in law called and ambulance four times in a week and was told to stop calling the ambulances and wasting time. However within the week she was admitted and had an op for something they'd missed the first four times.

She was treated in the private ward, by the nhs, hoping that she wouldn't sue.

Bumply · 31/12/2013 16:28

The op didn't make assumptions about the child with earache. She reported what other doctors said (presumably with the benefit of medical training) said about the child with earache not being priority.

CommanderShepard · 31/12/2013 16:40

111 is a fucking farce. I had what turned out to be gallstones in my common bile duct and despite me repeatedly telling them I was not having a heart attack despite the chest pain - because the pain was around my back - and that I did not need or want an ambulance but just needed to speak to an out of hours doctor, they insisted on sending a paramedic. I live 8 minutes from A&E.

If I phone my GP out of hours it automatically goes through to 111. It was so much better before.

CommanderShepard · 31/12/2013 16:42

(I was taken into hospital in the end, but by that point I was a very scary shade of yellow and DH marched me over to A&E)

Misspixietrix · 31/12/2013 17:17

OP how is your DD today?

Oblomov · 31/12/2013 17:58

So sorry to hear this OP. I am a type 1 too.
I use lucozade, hypostop gel and then a glucagon injection (which my dh obviously has to administer).
Are you sure juice and glucose tablets is enough?

Not that this distracts from the disgrace of the ambulance not coming!

ChestyNutRoastingOnAnOpenFire · 31/12/2013 18:13

As above do you have glucagon to give if glucose and carbs aren't keeping her alert?

LaGuardia · 31/12/2013 18:18

I'm not sure why you didn't take DD to the hospital yourself. As you say yourself, you had previous experience of an ambulance taking a long time to arrive,

grumpyoldbat · 31/12/2013 18:50

Yanbu to be upset. However in partial defence of the ambulance service re the earache people often seriously exaggerate symptoms on the phone. The parents could easily have said he couldn't breathe which wouldn't be apparent until the ambulance get there and since they're there already would have to bring them in if they insisted.

LunaticFringe · 31/12/2013 19:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Thurlow · 31/12/2013 20:14

111 is a bit rubbish. I was sent to A&E with a baby with D&V when with hindsight (and the view of the A&E doctor Grin) there was no reason to go at all, I just needed a quick word with a HCP over the phone to answer some questions about the amount of liquid needed. Embarrassing, really.

OP, I think you should complain so that someone looks through what was happening. However there is still the possibility that there genuinely weren't any ambulances available as there were other local patients having heart attacks, in car crashes and the like which would take priority. But it would be good to have someone look into what was happening.

Lambzig · 31/12/2013 20:17

OP that is a horrendous experience for you and I hope things are ok now.

I would say that it's sometimes difficult to know when to call an ambulance. When DD was 6 months old I took her to the doctors with what I thought was a bad cold and chest infection and the GP immediately called an ambulance and bawled me out for not acting sooner as her breathing was so poor. Recently, (three years later) my DS was ill with what I thought was a cold and the GP called an ambulance and he was admitted to hospital with suspected meningitis (luckily not).

I cringe about calling an ambulance for the reasons discussed on this thread, but as a non medically trained person, I think I will err on the side of caution call one much quicker next time I am concerned and maybe I will get it wrong. I have a chronic illness myself and know when things might be a problem for myself, but don't have a clue for my DC.

FrankAndFurt · 31/12/2013 20:17

I think that 111 is bloody fantastic. Each time I have used it I have been given sensible (non-condescending)advice.

Misspixietrix · 31/12/2013 21:10

Lunatic similar thing happened to us the first time 111 sent an ambulance for DD. Apparently he was glad to have a proper in his words 'non drunk' case all week. This was on a Sunday evening. :(

GlitzAndGiggles · 31/12/2013 21:56

I think 111 is good too. Barring a mix up with my post code they helped me really well

Original poster
Edenviolet · 31/12/2013 22:01

We didn't have the car as mil had borrowed it, dd got so ill so quickly that 999 was our only option.

We have a glucagon injection, have never used it before but were just about to when ambulance finally arrived, it was really frightening.

I wasn't judging the child with earache just mentioning what the dr had said as an example of someone taken in an ambulance who was sent to the waiting room as they were not a priority.

Dd is much better today, still on reduced ratios but lots better.

OP posts:
FreeWee · 31/12/2013 22:03

A fellow MN poster recommended this blog which is about the London Ambulance Service control room. I've found it very enlightening to understand why I should call an ambulance, when I shouldn't, who takes up the resources, how they prioritise, who's responsible for the call prioritisation (a computer programme) and how people play the system.

I'm very sorry for the experience you had with your daughter and I hope you're able to take steps to avoid having to call an ambulance again because you're provided with the equipment you need to manage her condition yourself.

goodasitgets · 31/12/2013 23:45

London ambulance tweeting live tonight @ldn_ambulance
Should be interesting

QueenStromba · 01/01/2014 22:35

Interestingly, I had a paramedic friend of a friend tell me I should always call an ambulance when I'm having an asthma attack bad enough for A&E even if it would be easier and/or quicker to get a bus or taxi. This was after i told him about spending an hour in A&E waiting to even be triaged getting worse and worse despite not being able to answer the receptionist's questions on arrival. Reading the ambulance blog FreeWee linked to that would have gotten me an ambulance within a target of 8 minutes due to being really high priority but turning up in a black cab because it was easier and quicker got me an hour wait to even be triaged (the triage nurse had an obvious panic when he did see me - he tried to hide it but he'd obviously not seen an asthma attack so bad come in from the waiting room). Silly me thinking that getting to the hospital 10 minutes earlier in a taxi would have me seen quicker.

It may have changed since then but at the time the A&E I was at obviously had no sort of prioritisation for who should probably be looked at first otherwise I'd have been straight to the front of the queue. The next time I went to A&E was a couple of weeks later in a different country and I ended up in intensive care for a night and on the ward for a few days. If I'd waited the same amount of time to be seen I probably would have died.

Fortunately my asthma has been really good for the last 8 years and has required no medical intervention other than the standard annual medication reviews and a couple of rounds of antibiotics when I've got a chest infection. Unfortunately, after my last experience I would call an ambulance even if it would be far easier and quicker to get to A&E another way because I don't want to risk dying in the waiting room.

DoYouLikeMyBaubles · 01/01/2014 23:59

Going to the hospital in an ambulance doesn't get you seen any quicker, you still get triaged like everyone else.

salsmum · 02/01/2014 01:24

Misspixietrix my daughter was asthmatic as a child due to her Cerebral Palsy we were admitted @ once a month. I recently heard from an online friend who has chronic asthma and lung disease that she had to loan a nebuliser from her health centre....I directed her to Boots the chemist who sell home nebulisers for @ £180 but then found the same one secondhand on E-bay for £25 (new masks for hygiene reasons are £5 can be bought separately) the home nebuliser does not replace medical care but can help with 'first instance care' to alleviate symptoms. The Ventalin still has to be issued via prescription from your G.P. I hope this helps xx

salsmum · 02/01/2014 01:25

Sorry meant to say admitted to Hospital once a month.

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