To think I shouldn't have to come to A&E

[QueenNefertitty]

im ranting because I'm exhausted and worried about DS. Again. And because I love the NHS and it pains me to see such poor standards for the second time in a matter of weeks

To get proper care that could be administered in a community setting for my baby?

For the second time in two months, my GP practice have told me DS has a "cold", despite my insistence it isn't (temps of 40 with rigors, not eating, listless, working hard with breathing, high heart rate). For the second time in two months, the very same day I've seen my GP, DS has deteriorated to such a point, I've sat in A&E for 4 hours, before being admitted to Paeds CDU because DS has bacterial tonsillitis, plus a chest infection and needs antibiotics.

Bacterial Tonsillitis is a really really common illness. The exudate was very obvious to the paeds reg- it hadn't just appeared in the last couple of hours. It must have been there when I saw my GP.

So why on earth can't practice GPs at my surgery see - using the same equipment, same techniques, same diagnostic criteria- when DS is unwell- and why not listen to a mother who has a strong sense of illness being more than "just a cold"?

A&E in my city is absolutely on its knees. I shouldnt be here with Ds- this should have been picked up and dealt with in the community care setting. If community care were of a higher standard, there wouldn't be such an influx of people to a&e departments, with problems that wouldn't be an emergency, if they were just bloody picked up when they were presented at a GP surgery!

rant over. And this isn't a criticism of the NHS. It's a criticism of my gp writ large because I've had no sleep for two days.

Glad you are changing GP anyway, maybe shop around and find out which in your new area has a good reputation.

My GP surgery is exceptional when it comes to the care of little ones - they will always see them/speak to you if you call within opening hours even if they don't have appointment, they don't take chances with kids and they don't dismiss you. Most of them are also parents which I find makes a huge difference, but most importantly they are good people as well as good doctors.

The other nearest surgery on the other hand - not so good. Many a story has come out of there such as my friend whose son has several diagnosed severe type 1 allergies and was dismissed out of hand when asked for an epi pen because he hadn't had an anaphylactic shock "yet". At my GPs, they issued me one (for me) straight away and said they hope I don't have to use it. Another friend of mine was dismissed out of hand from the other surgery when she went with post birth complications - ended up in hospital for ten days with a serious infection. When I went to my surgery saying I thought the post partum bleeding I had wasn't right, the GP phoned ahead to the postnatal care people at the hospital and sent me up there (turned out to be retained placenta).

Our GP sent DD away with "a virus" after barely examining her. Less than 12 hours later she was fighting for her life in intensive care, on a ventilator for 8 days, dialysis and a foot amputation, all due to a severe bacterial septicaemia. I get the need to reduce antibiotic use but unfortunately cases like her are being missed because the doctors assume it's like 99.9% of all the other cases they see where no antibiotics are appropriate and nothing extreme happens. A more detailed examination and actually listening to our concerns at the time would have shown the key red flags that should have had her sent to hospital then and there.

I had the opposite - my 3 year old I thought just had a nasty cold (listless, temperature, noisy breathing) but it went on a bit so I took him to the doctor who had a look, put a blood ox monitor on him, then things moved very quickly - straight on an atomiser thing (vapour with some kind of medication), doctor called the hospital to consult, blue-lit to hospital, where DS was x-rayed, and straight onto the bit of the childrens ward where you're in direct view of the desk, plugged into all sorts of monitors and cables.

We were there 5 days - steroids, ABs, Vaporiser thing, oxygen night and day (sleeping upright as his blood oxygen fell too low otherwise). I felt unbelievably guilty I waited so long for the doctor.

This is within the M25.

Perhaps the trouble is that the NHS is great in an emergency (in my experience) - not so great pre-emergency.

I sympathise

My mother in law was taken to A&E a number of times, occasionally on the advice of her GP , as it took ages to get diagnosed and the wheels of the NHS were grinding exceedingly slow

The nhs dont seem to have the money to test for things and it can take so long here to get a doctors appointment

Wtf notbad? The OP’s son has been told that her son has bacterial tonsillitis, a chest infection and needs antibiotics by an actual doctor who has seen him.

Whilst antibiotic resistance is undoubtably an issue, overuse of antibiotics is clearly not the case here.

mnxnt42

You can't diagnose bacterial tonsillitis by the look of it. You diagnose it by swab, that takes 48 hours to come back, and probability: an 18 month old is most likely to have a viral tonsillitis compared to a child over the age of 6. If a child has more than one part of their respiratory system affected - upper (tonsils) and lower (lungs) - it's much more likely to be one virus affecting both than bacteria. It's unlikely the OP's son has had a throat swab result returned. I've asked if he's had a chest X-ray. So on balance he most likely has a virus, so the OP is BU to be critical of the GP for making the "wrong" diagnosis. The OP is NBU to feel the GP didn't examine or explain their rationale properly, so she needs a better GP for that reason.

Hi all

I left this thread because I felt it had been derailed into an antibiotic overuse argument... I assure you, he had bacterial tonsillitis. It wasn't swabbed the first visit we made, no, but there is criteria for bacterial vs viral tonsillitis, one of which is fever 40 plus, and rigors. He hit all the criteria.

Anyway - he ended up in the children's ward because he developed
bronchiolitis along with the -YES BACTERIAL - tonsillitis (which was swabbed on the ward and confirmed), after his breathing rate more than doubled, his fever went way over 40, and he had crackles, a wheeze and his heart rate was in the 190s.

But it took me three visits to doctors in 24 hours before anybody took his SATs and realised he really was as sick as I was trying to tell them, and we got him into a hospital bed.

the worst part of ds being this ill, has been having to fight to get him treatment. I don't blame anyone, really, but it has made me realise that the NHS is taking its last gasp, and it's just hideous to realise that that safety net we all rely on, isn't really safe anymore.