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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Why is a trip to the walk-in centre a family outing?

340 replies

freeAnneBoleyn · 30/12/2018 13:30

For some?

I went yesterday. Looked full to bursting when I came in, not a single free chair. Looked to be a lot of families with one sick/injured member, with both parents and other children in attendance. Why? If you have two parents why in God’s name would you drag your other child to sit amongst lurgy ridden patients for four hours and have to worry about keeping them amused as well?!

I eventually got a chair when someone else got called up- I had a fractured shoulder it turned out so not desperately ill obviously but still in pain and was anticipating, correctly as it turned out, a very very long wait.

Worst was family of five opposite- one feverish looking child asleep on mum’s lap, two older children and a dad. He’d brought sweets and sandwiches for everyone but the kids were bored shitless which led to the inevitable handing over of a phone to mess around on with the horrible pingy sounds of the game they played audible to everyone. Another toddler was left to just roam about, and started running up and down.

It made for an even more unpleasant waiting experience for people who are in pain and sick, exposing healthy children to germs, and bloody boring for them too.

I am NOT judging any parent that had no choice to bring other children along, but if there are two of you...why do it??

OP posts:
Beatitudes · 30/12/2018 15:14

There is not enough room in tiny cramped consulting rooms for the family of 5/6/7/8 etc. Ridiculous.

Eliza9917 · 30/12/2018 15:15

*our walk in centre was in the town centre.
I had flu and a secondary sinus infection I wasn't in any fit state to drive myself and navigate a busy multi storey car park looking for spaces.

We have no family nearby therefore no one to care for my younger two who were 5 and 4 years old.

My husband had no choice but to bring them with us whilst we waited for me to be seen.

I was in no state to go on public transport and we don't have money to waste on cabs so what should we have done*

He could have dropped you off, gone home or elsewhere then picked you up when ready to leave?

madmum5811 · 30/12/2018 15:17

My vet, said tongue in cheek that it was strange that pets did not need treatment at xmas or other holidays. Somehow they could hang on until a more convenient time. I think perhaps that is why hospitals are quiet over xmas holidays.

CookPassBabtridge · 30/12/2018 15:21

I see it all the time, several adults plus kids. When I went to pregnancy appointments a certain culture of people would always bring the whole family along and there'd be no room for actual pregnant women to sit. Then they'd all try and go into the actual appointment and the nurse/midwife would laugh and say "she'll be fine on her own, she's only getting blood taken/blood pressure" etc.

arethereanyleftatall · 30/12/2018 15:24

If I had to take a child to a waiting room for sick people, I'd take as few people as possible with me.
I agree absolutely that if you need a lift to get there, then the driver takes the children anywhere other than the waiting room, a simple walk is fine. Rather than expose them to illnesses and taking up seats.

alfagirl73 · 30/12/2018 15:27

I had this discussion the other day. I was at the minor injuries unit and the number of people in the waiting area... yet only a small handful were actually there for treatment. The rest were family/friends accompanying the injured person and very very few were children - it was multiple adults with another adult!

Now I have no problem with one person accompanying an injured person for support, maybe to transport them there etc... however for some it was really obvious that they were treating it as a bit of a day out and saw the "drama" element as a bit of "entertainment"! Could hear them on their phones telling whoever that they were "at the hospital" and so-and-so's arm was hanging off (it wasn't!)... or posting on social media about the "drama" - it was ridiculous.

There were a couple of other people like me who, despite their injuries, had dragged themselves there in a taxi or whatever and were just dealing with their situation themselves - keen to get in, treated, and out again. I also got the "glares" and much muttering when I got seen before other people - they clearly had no idea what "triage" means.

I have no problem with someone turning up with children if they genuinely have no other option, fair enough, you do what you need to do but I get what the OP is saying and in my experience of minor injuries units, walk ins and A&E, they do get a lot of people tagging along when they don't need to be there. Medical treatment isn't a spectator sport... and the medical professionals will surely appreciate the least number of people in the consultation room as possible. As I say, one other person there for support/help etc... is reasonable, but the whole family is NOT necessary. (And as I've said above I'm not talking about people who have no option but to take their kids etc.. with them as they have no alternative care).

Schuyler · 30/12/2018 15:28

I couldn’t care less if you bring your 5 kids, granny, grandad, auntie, uncle and great uncle Jim.....as long as you don’t expect them all to be seated in a packed waiting area while actual patients are forced to stand. I spent far too much time in hospital waiting areas and this annoys me.

camelfinger · 30/12/2018 15:35

I think some people do genuinely find it entertaining. Whilst my relatives don’t tend to actually go to hospital with others, they delight in telling me about hospital experiences and health conditions of people they know. So it doesn’t seem too much of a stretch to assume that some people do enjoy the drama.

GaryBaldbiscuit · 30/12/2018 15:45

My dm is infuriated whenever she goes to GP and other women bring their husbands She is an independent sort of person and gets cross about this.

StatisticallyChallenged · 30/12/2018 15:46

Pattistinger my second example was out of hours GP - we don't actually have a walk in service here, you have to be triaged through NHS24. So it was the equivalent. Couldn't have got myself there, but nobody looking at me would have known that.

But the point was that people like the OP do complain about families in every medical setting and often there's no blooming choice available to them. The presence of two adults doesn't mean one of them is spare and could be at home.

GaryBaldbiscuit · 30/12/2018 15:48

at my paediatric department they have resorted to putting a notice on the door saying please dont bring whole families to appointments

fullforce · 30/12/2018 15:52

I hate this. I had a horrific miscarriage meaning I went to a&e. Kids running about tripping over people’s legs, shouting, basically like a playground. It’s not what people need when they’re seriously ill and there should be regulations on the waiting rooms being quiet like libraries. I remember when I used to get told to shush in the doctors as a child now it’s a free for all. Yeah some people might have no choice to take their children but have some respect for the other patients and keep them under control.

notapizzaeater · 30/12/2018 15:56

The time I couldn't drive to a and e (burnt hand doing bloody roasties) I git dh to drive me down with ds and fully charged iPads they dropped me outside and parked up and watched Disney movies and grabbed a takeaway till I was ready. I didn't want either of them inside to catch germs/get bored

MereDintofPandiculation · 30/12/2018 16:00

Most people don't live miles and miles from the health care place. Really? We're over 30 mins drive each way from minor injuries, an hour each way from A&E. And yet I'm in a conurbation of over 50,000 close to two large cities. So I think you'll find that lots of people do live miles away from the health care place.

findurfavouritesorhaveabrowse · 30/12/2018 16:01

Fuck knows. Last time we were at a and e there was a family with a mum a dad and a grandma and three kids. It was children's a and e and I think only one child was being seen but they can't of been that ill as the dad wrought out to get a massive KFC takeaway for them to have a a picnic in the waiting room.

QuestionableMouse · 30/12/2018 16:02

The thing with walk in care is you don't know how long you'll be or if you're going to be sent elsewhere.

WendyCope · 30/12/2018 16:08

Come to Spain! They bring the grandparents and cousins too!

Becca19962014 · 30/12/2018 16:10

most people don't live miles and miles from the health care place

Round here they do.

DanielleEvans · 30/12/2018 16:11

I also don't understand why families have outings to Asda to do the food shopping :)

GrandmaSharksDentures · 30/12/2018 16:11

They often all book on together - not unusual at all to see 3,4 or 5 members of the same family one after another. Usually all with viral-type illnesses

Becca19962014 · 30/12/2018 16:12

There's no walk in centre here. It's a&e or GP on call which since going to 111 has horrendously long waits so people just go to a&e instead of phoning 111.

BikeRunSki · 30/12/2018 16:14

One parent to drive
One parent is ill/injured and can’t drive
No one else to look after DC.

Or, if it’s an injured child, then maybe both parents are worried? Or again, only one parent can drive and the injured child is particularly clingy to the other parent?

FunshineCareBear · 30/12/2018 16:16

Because some of us, some of us, only go if it’s a real emergency and we’re concerned enough about one of our children to actually go to a walk in centre - in which case we’re both there

This. There is such a thing as a non life threatening emergency, which is why we're not inconsiderately clogging up a&e instead of ooh.

Plus it's an hour round trip, there is no where to go nearby as it's not in town but in a residential area and not every one has family to watch other kids.

ShadowHuntress · 30/12/2018 16:31

Where I live it seems to be the norm to bring your whole family to hospital for moral support. I’m not exaggerating. I’ve been in hospital quite a bit with dc. Last time I saw a couple with their daughter, 2 other dc, what I assume is an aunt and also grandparents all in the waiting room. Think she fell over as she had scrape on her forehead. They took up a whole row of seating while another poor child who was injured was left to stand in the corner.

hazeyjane · 30/12/2018 16:35

We have done this with d's, who has additional needs, when there is no one to stay at home with the dds. With the last ambulance trip to A+E, we had to transfer to another hospital over an hour away.

I dont drive, but ds is very clingy to me and it is often a 2 person job to deal with him in hospital. The dds are always very good and will sit quietly, we have sat on the floor in the corner in the past as I realise we take up room.

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