Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Not to phone 101 for failed glass test

58 replies

Mamabear4180 · 27/07/2018 10:08

I'm posting for traffic sorry but need advice. My 3 year old has failed the glass test, she has a blotchy red rash everywhere, even on her face which has come up this morning. The last few days she has had a high temp, highest was 39.4 but since yesterday afternoon no temp and no calpol. She has autism so can't tell me how she feels, she just keeps saying 'dr brownbear'. I can ring 101 but stuck at home without transport for another hour, I have a 2 year old as well. What shall I do?

OP posts:
ineedwine99 · 27/07/2018 10:38

How is she OP?

Lisabel · 27/07/2018 10:40

Phone 999, not 111.

The rash is a late stage symptom of Meningitis so minutes count.

aperolspritzplease · 27/07/2018 10:45

I'm glad you're phoning but why on earth wouldn't you? Baffles me.

I hope it's nothing.

Mommasoph30 · 27/07/2018 10:57

update??

genehuntswife · 27/07/2018 11:05

I’ve posted about this before but please don’t trust 111. 2 years ago I rang them when my 18 year old son was suffering from worsening flu like symptoms. The guy answering treat me like an idiot, would only put us down for an ambulance because I insisted and then put it as a non emergency. After 20 minutes waiting we realised our son was very very ill. We managed to get him in the car and drive like maniacs to the hospital. He was resuscitated in the hospital car park and spent a week in ITU in a coma. He had meningitis B but the rash didn’t come out until day 3 if his coma. He has brain damage now and we’ll never know if that is partly because of the delay in him getting treatment.
The worst bit of the call, the bastard laughed at me. I hope he never gets another peaceful nights sleep again.

Aeroflotgirl · 27/07/2018 11:09

No go straight to 999, best be on the safe side, don't take risks with your child. It might be nothing, it might be.

Haberpop · 27/07/2018 11:11

@genehuntswife That's shocking, truly shocking Flowers, I wish you and your family well.

Orangesox · 27/07/2018 11:12

@genehuntswife that is absolutely awful! As much as it won’t bring your son back, or do anything to help your grief I hope you put in a serious complaint and had this escalated?

The initial person you spoke to would have been a non-medical Callhandler who is trained to use clinical decision making software. At the point where you raised concerns you should’ve been handed over to an experienced clinician who should’ve taken your concerns seriously. I am appalled that you were treat like that, let alone the harm that came to your son Sad

Iamagreyhoundhearmeroar · 27/07/2018 11:20

Dear God, she’s asking for a doctor in the only way she can! What’s the matter with you? Take her to A & E Hmm

genehuntswife · 27/07/2018 11:24

We spoke to the head of our ambulance service a few months later. He had listened to the call and said he was appalled at things he’d heard( at one point the call handler said I had to ask my son if he needed an ambulance, by this point he didn’t even know who we were and just kept shouting out No No No, the guy said “ seee, he doesn’t need an ambulance) He apogised and promised us all staff would receive extra training.
To be honest we had no fight left to take it further. Trying to get help for our son who has an injury you can’t see is long and sole destroying. If you think the ambulance service is stretched it’s nothing compared to trying to get good mental health care. He’ll never live a “ normal” life and can’t live with us because he struggles to control his aggression now and can at times be violent. We do however work every day to help him, in life in general and obtaining the care he needs. It’s bloody hard work but he’s our son and we still love him, even if a lot of who he was before is gone and learning to handle the new personality traits can be difficult.

shallichangemyname · 27/07/2018 11:35

My DD has meningitis at 3.
Think of it this way. The "rash" isn't really a rash at all. It is the blood vessels under the skin breaking down and haemorrhaging because of the infection. So they are little bleeds under the skin. Not spots but little patches. The worse ones will be larger and will break through the skin. That's why they don't fade under a glass.
It's rarer than you think. All 9 GPs in my surgery visited MT my DD in hospital because none of them had seen meningitis in the flesh. The Meningitis Trust has done a fabulous job publicising it, but it is certainly rarer than you think.

shallichangemyname · 27/07/2018 11:36

*had

crispysausagerolls · 27/07/2018 13:25

OP I hope your DC is ok xx

RayRayBidet · 27/07/2018 13:32

If you phone 111 for this they will tell you to go straight to A&E. This happened with my daughter a few years ago.
Thankfully it wasn't serious but she was admitted and kept in overnight to be safe.

MrsSnootyPants2018 · 27/07/2018 13:33

You should have just called them!!! I can't stand people who in an emergency think "it's okay Mumsnet will rescue us"

Call an emergency service or seek the right medical attention.

Crownandheelshigh · 27/07/2018 13:39

Please call 999 or 111 xx

Maybugger · 27/07/2018 13:46

Why on earth would anyone consult MN when the child clearly has one of the warning signs for meningitis?

MapleLeafRag · 27/07/2018 13:49

A toddler in my extended family was very poorly and out of sorts and was turned away from A&E as a time waster. Following day came out in purple blotches and couldn’t bend limbs and the gp rang hospital for the child to be sent straight to the paediatric ward - avoiding A&E. Survived septecaemial meningitis.

If A&E can get it wrong I wouldn’t trust someone on a phone line following a flow chart.

TorviBrightspear · 27/07/2018 13:56

OP, I hope your DD is now being seen. xx

And for those who wonder why people come on here for advice, I strongly suspect it's a reaction to all the constant "A&E is for emergencies only" that keeps being repeated, and not all of us have enough knowledge to work out the point at which you dial 111 or 999.

Yes, there are pisstakers who'll dial 999 when they run out of paracetamol, but equally we have those at the other end of the whole range of behaviour.

Confusedbeetle · 27/07/2018 14:09

You do need to see a doctor for a check but don't assume the worst. There are some rashes that don't blanche

Butterflycookie · 27/07/2018 14:21

The guy answering treat me like an idiot, would only put us down for an ambulance because I insisted and then put it as a non emergency

That is shocking. I am actually myself a 111 health advisor. We can only send an ambulance if the information you have given us has triggered a response. We cannot even change priority of the ambulance. And we certainly cannot decide whether to send and emergency ambulance or not. I don’t know whether it is different in other call centres. I have been doing this job for 1 and a half years so I don’t know if the procedure was diffferent 2 years ago. I do know they use to get people to call 999 themselves but that was a long time ago. Now we send ambulances ourselves. Was the person you spoke to a health advisor or a clinician?

Just wanted to know, and please don’t take this the wrong way as I get this all the time, but if you were so concerned and you asked 111 yourself to send an ambulance, why didn’t you originally call for them?

Flump9 · 27/07/2018 14:26

Hopefully OP has been seen by now but I agree there are some rashes that don't blanche. My son had one on his cheeks and neck I think it was but he was playing normally and not acting ill, I think he had had a cold or something.

genehuntswife · 27/07/2018 18:42

I’ve no idea Butterfly. I know from our complaint and seeing the head of the ambulance service that they were really shocked at the guys behaviour. The man we spoke to said after listening to the call he thought it was maybe a new call handler but in checking the guy had been doing it for four years. He was apparently taken off the phones and sent for retraining.
It was the most bizzare thing at the time. My heart was saying this doesn’t feel right but this guy was telling me I was overreacting. And it was so so quick. My son went from unwell to dying in minutes. At the time you just can’t believe it’s happening and so you hand yourself to someone who knows better and for me at the time it was the 111 call handler. There was no rash and he could move his neck. I now know I should have been looking for a raised temp with cold hands and feet. To be honest it still feels a little surreal even now. Within two hours of that call he was in ITU on life support. I’m sure you’re lovely Butterfly and great at your job, but even thinking about ringing 111 for anything sends my anxiety through the roof now. I can’t ever contemplate ringing it ever again.
Can I also use this platform to remind must on here to get their teenage children vaccinated against meningitis, if they’ve missed it get on the phone Monday mo4ning and sort it. Drag them there if you have to.

Coconutcreampie · 28/07/2018 09:43

@mamabear4180 how is dd today?

GirlsBlouse17 · 28/07/2018 09:46

Hope everything is okay OP x

Swipe left for the next trending thread