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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To have wanted a better answer?

80 replies

Justmadeperfectflapjacks · 25/04/2017 10:44

Ds 15 is studying hard for exams and doing really well.

He had a sore throat yesterday but put it down to a concert at the week end tbh (singing /shouting!)
Rang Dr at app line opening time(830)as sat at school gates so could have rushed him over and not been too late for school. . Got through and no appointments left - for the rest of the week!!
Explained about exams etc can't have a week off school at this time.
She suggested she could give me an app at the new extended hours clinic - on Friday night at 7.30!!
Our OOH closed last month and sitting all day in the A&E with him and a toddler isn't appealing. (her suggestion)
So I asked her nicely - "I am not being funny but how do I get an appointment with my own /his own Dr"?
" I don't know "was her answer!!!
Speechless.
Just been to pick ds up as he had a coughing fit and school weren't happy to keep him!!
Will ring 111 when he has had a sleep. .
Pre booked appointments are sometimes available so maybe will book 3 a week for the foreseeable just in case!!

OP posts:
WorraLiberty · 25/04/2017 11:17

Fucking hell, I can't believe I just read that.

'Say it's an emergency'?

Really? Hmm

user1493022461 · 25/04/2017 11:18

Call you GP again and say it's an emergency, what can they do?

When they realise it wasn't an emergency at all, they can take you off their list for wilful abuse of the system.

EdmundCleverClogs · 25/04/2017 11:19

'Say it's an emergency'

This is why the NHS is failing Angry

lougle · 25/04/2017 11:22

Ok, so you need to get him through in the mean time. I don't understand the need to see his own Doctor? Anyone with a general practice qualification can diagnose throats, but in the mean time, you need management.

Difflam Spray is amazing. 4 squirts in the back of his throat every 1.5 -3 hours. He can take it to school and self-administer it. It will make all the difference to him.

He can use that as well as normal pain killers. Then you can assess whether a GP appointment is really necessary.

ImNotDancing · 25/04/2017 11:23

i'd love a 7:30pm drs apt!

lougle · 25/04/2017 11:27

This is the spray. Honestly, I had the sorest throat and it was miraculous. It was my GP who told me to get it. She said that she uses it when she just has to go to work but she can't swallow.

To have wanted a better answer?
BubbleBall · 25/04/2017 11:28

A sore throat is not an emergency, why would you even consider A&E? Hmm

Take him to a pharmacist, get something for it and if he has to stay off school then so be it. Don't send him in with something that might spread to everyone else and affect their exams as well.

SissySpacekAteMyHamster · 25/04/2017 11:28

This is what the pharmacist is for. Big advertising campaign over the last couple of years to stop people wasting the doctor's time.

If, after visiting the pharmacist and getting whatever they offer, he is still ill (several days later) that is when you make a doctor's appointment.

I have family members with very real life threatening illnesses who struggle to get appointments and this is the reason.

harderandharder2breathe · 25/04/2017 11:29

He's had a sore throat and cough for one day. You're totally overreacting to even think about A&E.

Accept the appointment on Friday. Phone them to cancel if he's better by then.

Get a grip.

Shopkinsdoll · 25/04/2017 11:29

I would never go to the docs or cause so much fuss over a sore throat. That's why it's so hard getting an appointment due to people seeing the doctor for silly things like colds, sore throats. When it could be easily treated at the pharmacy. You can buy losangers that numb your sore throats.

tissuesosoft · 25/04/2017 11:31

The saying it's an emergency is bad advice. My DD has asthma and has been on and off sucking in breath under her ribs since last night, wheezing and inhaler not helping. No GP appointments (5 minute walk from our home), told that A&E isn't appropriate by 111 so I am now waiting in a walk in clinic a 20 minute cab ride away (don't drive). Been waiting over an hour now and she has finally fallen asleep. Pretending it's an emergency would be ridiculous

alwaystimeforcoffee · 25/04/2017 11:43

You sound quite worried, but I don't know really whether there's much need to be! If I were you, I'd let him sleep it off/ dose him up on Strepsils and hot water with honey and lemon, and see how he feels tomorrow.

His exams aren't for another month, so even if he has a week off exam revision to recover it's not the end of the world!

MoonfaceAndSilky · 25/04/2017 11:44

It's only a sore throat and it's only been a day. Surely you would wait a few days before even thinking of booking a GP appointment. Get him a packet of strepsils like everyone else.
I think it's time we started fining people for wasting Doctors/Hospitals time with trivial things.

ChequeredPasta · 25/04/2017 11:44

NA appointment on friday is very reasonable, for something that doesn't need to be seen by a doctor anyway.
OP - People with pneumonia, with chest pain, with kidney failure, with a worrying lump or a child with a worrying rash are all trying to get appointments with their GP. Some will have to wait a couple of days for one, and won't complain about it, they'll be thankful they get free healthcare that is provided with dignity.
Why on earth should your 15 year old with a sore throat that may or may not be caused by a GIG he went to jump to the front of the queue, just because he's in his GCSE year??
Think about the lesson you're teaching your son. He's not more entitled than anyone else, and he certainly shouldn't expect unwell people to move to the back of the queue for him so he can get a more convenient service.

HTH

alwaystimeforcoffee · 25/04/2017 11:44

"Pre booked appointments are sometimes available so maybe will book 3 a week for the foreseeable just in case!!"

Also please don't do this. How selfish.

GabsAlot · 25/04/2017 11:45

even if it feels ba docs wont usually prescribe something the first day of a sore throat

tissue hope youre dd is ok-to me that is an ermergency

scaryteacher · 25/04/2017 11:50

Always The first written exams are on 15th May iirc. The one I examine is on the 17th May, so less than a month.

Frillyhorseyknickers · 25/04/2017 11:51

This has to be a joke?

arethereanyleftatall · 25/04/2017 11:53

The op and the poster who said tell them it's an emergency are the precise reason the NHS is falling down. Over use and over expectation and entitlement.

I have to say this is one positive for privatisation, it would stop this kind of nonsense.

SapphireStrange · 25/04/2017 11:56

school weren't happy to keep him!!

Do schools get this involved for 15-year-old pupils?

kingfisherblue33 · 25/04/2017 11:56

Call you GP again and say it's an emergency, what can they do?
If they can't do anything then take him to Primary care tonight.

Really? Wtf.

I have to say this is one positive for privatisation, it would stop this kind of nonsense.

YY to ^

Fine people every time they don't turn up to a GP appt.

Sirzy · 25/04/2017 11:56

Even if it is bacterial I doubt any gp would give antibitoics after a day unless it was very severe - which from the op it doesn't sound - as even bacterial throat infections are generally self limiting anyway and improve after a few days

DontPullThatTubeOut · 25/04/2017 12:04

Sometimes a sore throats isn't just a sore throat. I didn't see my gp for three weeks with a sore throat that was agonising from day one. If I seen them sooner I could have had antibiotics to get rid of the tonsillitis and been fine. Isnt it best to get things checked than to guess it's fine and leave it?

Sirzy · 25/04/2017 12:06

If everyone got a sore throat checked after 24 hours then the NHS would collapse in a day!

There is a big difference between ignoring something for 3 weeks and running to the doctor on day 1, especially when he was otherwise well enough to be in school so it can't be that bad (the op posts about phoning from outside school so he didn't miss too much)

Zaphodsotherhead · 25/04/2017 12:13

The school might not be happy to keep him if his coughing is really disrupting the class, not because he's so ill he has to go home.

If he's not running a high temperature, let nature take its course. He might be uncomfortable, but give him some Strepsils and wait it out. If his temperature shoots up, that's the time to see the doctor, but at fifteen, unless he has a compromised immune system, he'll be fine.