To take 3 week old to walk in/ GP

[LittleLionMansMummy]

Dd is 3 weeks old today and has a stinking cold. She has regained her birth weight (a very healthy almost 9lbs) and was full term. Temp is only slightly elevated, but she's struggling to feed and has been quite vomity overnight. She's very drowsy and not latching on brilliantly because she's bunged up. She isn't really asking to be fed but I keep offering. She'll sometimes feed for 5 to 10 mins but just wants to sleep mostly and for the last 2 feeds has vomited. She's still having dirty nappies though so doesn't seem dehydrated. I'm pretty certain it's nothing more sinister than a cold, would I be overreacting to take her to the GP/ walk in?

GPs do usually have access to paediatric sats monitors these days (local to me each surgery has been given one out of equipment funding although I realise this might not be the case everywhere), but not usually tiny BP cuffs.

At the end of the day the GP needs to be able to recognise a seriously ill baby, regardless of the access to equipment & tests.

And the fact remains that, if you have 100 children in A&E, it is a lot harder to spot the sick one than if there are 10 there.

Children can deteriorate quickly - so it's great that the OP was given lots of safety-netting advice. Most children with sepsis have gone from mild symptoms to seriously unwell within a few hours, so the fact that a child was seen and discharged then deteriorated does not mean that a diagnosis was missed - in most cases, it happens because the child was seen before s/he became seriously unwell. That's why safety-netting advice to parents to come back if the child gets worse is so important.

I have been a GP and an A&E doctor - I had much more Paeds training for my GP role. Even in a specialist children's A&E (which isn't an option for most people), many of the junior doctors will have had no previous paeds training.

You are right about the importance of routine obs, Stars, but studies show that A&E departments are bad about doing them too -see the recent NICE guidance on sepsis for example. And there have been many incidents of A&E departments failing to recognise sick children. Sadly, no part of the NHS gets this right every time and we all need to improve but it is simply untrue and unhelpful to suggest that children get safer care in A&E than from a GP.

Shiny I can take your point - fact is there is no completely fail safe way to be seen. Definitely tho 2xgps have missed serious illnesses in my little babies.
We are lucky having access to several specialised children's a and e - one advantage to being in London I guess.

Very lucky yes - I'm in the North East & can only think of one specialised Paediatric A&E within 50 miles...

Lots of good GPs though

And you are absolutely right to highlight the importance of routine observations (heart rate etc) and of recognition of serious symptoms like grunting, Stars. The whole NHS needs to do this more consistently.

Routine obs and careful safety netting advice by GPs, A&E and everyone else dealing with sick children saves lives.