To think they shouldn't have called an ambulance

[Andyetanothernamechange]

DD, aged 2, was having breathing difficulties. This is the third time in 2 months. I took her to the local urgent care centre where she was seen quickly and put on a nebuliser. Half way through the nebuliser she perked up massively and started singing! After the neb her sats were fine, but by that point the doctor had called 999 for her to be blue lighted to A&E. When the paramedics arrived, DD was singing baa baa black sheep. At this point the doctor said she had previously suspected sepsis but not anymore and the blue light wasn't needed. DD sang for the entire journey in the ambulance. At A&E we waited a while, gave her her inhaler (which I had already) and were given a course of steroids. I know that breathing problems are not to be dismissed, but after one nebuliser she was markedly better and UCC could have prescribed the steroids without needing to use an ambulance or A&E time. Of course it's better to be cautious with small children, but it just seemed as though they made an initial decision and then couldn't go back on it. Ultimately, I felt like it was a waste of resources for her to be sent my ambulance to another hospital when she could have been treated where she was.

I’m a children’s nurse and also an asthmatic who has had attacks requiring nebulisers before. I’ve seen babies and children intubated and ventilated, children who have had respiratory or cardiac arrests from viral induced wheeze, asthma or sepsis. Your daughter could have decompensated and dropped her SATS, gone back into bronchospasm - the salbutamol neb is a short term fix and she would need to be observed in A&E to make sure she didn’t go off again.

I don’t want to scare you, but do not become complacent. Medical staff and parents who have become complacent have led children to die. Your daughter received gold standard, cautious but correct care.

Be grateful we have the NHS

Of all the things to complain about

You've taken a two year old with breathing difficulties to an urgent care centre and they horror of horrors called an ambulance ?

FGS OP- I would have hand-delivered flowers and chocolates and my profound gratitude!

From your post their response was absolutely as it should have been it's never a waste checking over a two year old seriously

AIBU?

I got the very best care for my child possible, for free.

Of course you BU!

Flabbergasted.

As a PP said, nebs are short term fixes.

She could easily have decompensated and required another neb, which the ambulance would have been able to quickly provide.
Alongside monitoring and other such.

Not a waste at all.

Clearly the paramedics thought that it was necessary for your DD to go to A&E otherwise they wouldn't have taken her in the ambulance.

YABU. Be grateful that we still have an NHS and you don't have to worry about paying for the ambulance or the treatment.

More like a waste of a thread.
You can never be to careful with children. My son couldn't breathe properly, and keep saying he was ok, but the ambulance said we are taking him in, luckily because it wasn't his Asthma it was croup. Even though he wasn't the usual age for croup.

I'm shocked that a parent would complain that the gp was overly concerned

Jesus. You would be straight on about it if your child had died and no one had bothered to call an ambulance
WTAF are these people supposed to do, oh aside from follow their instinct and years of fucking training over your limited views!!!

Nebuliser and inhaler do tend to work quite well and can have dramatic results such as going from can hardly breathe to singing full volume and being over energetic. It is a relief when that happens. ~Don't worry about what it took to achieve a good result

Bloody hell.

If you begrudge your own child getting good medical care, I’d hate to hear how you talk about others

I’ve seen babies and children intubated and ventilated, children who have had respiratory or cardiac arrests from viral induced wheeze, asthma or sepsis.

That has just scared the living shit out of me.
Twice in the last 2 months my toddler has been admitted with viral wheeze 3 days first time, 4 days the second time.
I had no idea how serious it actually was. It was only from experience of the first time I went to A&E the second time.
I'd tried to get GP, who's receptionist was rather unhelpful, no appointments call back tomorrow, hence going to A&E.

Op i think doc got it right, where i am they won't discharge within 4hours of a nebulizer.

If you're not a doctor, you don't know the reasoning behind the decision to call an ambulance.

They were obviously trying to do the best for your DD and make absolutely sure she was safe.

Perhaps your DD was okay, but another child with similar symptoms might not have been.

Can't believe NHS bashing has come to this. Eye roll.

Better this than you making a thread in the future saying
"Took my daughter to gp and he sent us home"
Cant believe my daughter is gone

Sorry OP but a 2 year old who cant breath and your actually complaining about a doctor "not waiting"
SOMETIMES... Every second counts

Your issue doesn't seem to be that the doctor called for an ambulance to blue light her to hospital when she thought your DD had sepsis, but that, even though she managed to rule that out before the ambulance turned up, it seemed like they were unable to step back from the pathway of sending your DD to A&E. And since that was fortunately no longer necessary it was a waste of A&E and ambulance resources?

And you might be right. Or you might be missing an important piece of the puzzle that they did not tell you about because you were dealing with a 2 yr old DD with breathing difficulties and really don't need all the details on their protocols. It's impossible to know what the situation was from their point of view. In any case, MN is not a particularly good forum for discussing it - there may be a few posters who know the protocols fairly well, but they won't have access to your particular case, they probably won't have access to all the management considerations that went into making the protocols and if it is seen as a poor decision the discussion won't inform anyone with any capacity for change..

They are the proffesionals, not you.

Gosh just be thankful!

The doctor called the ambulance before she picked up and was singing.

Her condition, at that time, rang alarm bells to those with knowledge of such medical symptoms/problems.

The right thing to do. Better that than risking a dead child.

Trust your Dr OP. Sounds like they did the right thing. I’m glad they didn’t mess about with breathing difficulties!

One goady post and then disappears. Hmmm 🧐🧐🧐🧐🧐

Don't feel guilty about it OP, be greatful.

You don't piss about with asthma, I always call 999 for mine and have never once been told off for it.

I think YABU for not calling an ambulance to your home when the breathing difficulties started in the first place. What would you have done if she stopped breathing completely on the drive to urgent care?

She was sick enough for a neb at minimum she needed 4 hours medical observation before home. That means ambulance and not parental transfer so that there is oxygen and nebulizer on hand at all times in case of deterioration.

Your DD is fine thankfully but no one has a crystal ball, I can't believe this has even crossed your mind!