111 a little over cautious

[TitsalinaBumSquash]

I've called 111 for DD to try and get an OOH dr appointment, she had a very high fever and chest cough which in turn is making her breathe faster and harder.... they're sending an ambulance. 🙄 I did tell the person that it really isn't necessary, I wasn't worried about her breathing that much and if they felt hospital was necessary I could drive her down. They said nope, it's on the way. I feel like such a fraud.

That’s crazy! You could have been at A&E or OOH’s in that time. I guess the Ambulance service have not prioritised her (probably correctly)

It’s hard isn’t it not knowing exactly what you should do.

But you’ve obviously ticked all the boxes on their list that say, “yes ambulance needed”. It could just be a quick check up and off they go again but it’s better to be safe than sorry

Well if they arrive now they'll find a much perkier DD sitting in the kitchen watching DH make scrambled egg, Calpol effect is strong with this one.

We had the same on Sunday

Poor DD was burning hot, looked really peaky, lethargic and rapid heart beat.

Ambulance got sent out but by the time they got there, the calpol had kicked in and although she looked unwell and still had a quick heartbeat, her temperature had come down and she was giving cheek to the crew

111 is not staffed by clinicians, they are administrators following a computerised decision support programme.

You have mentioned a child with asthma having breathing difficulties which will be a giant red flag to the system in terms of clinical risk and therefore will result in an ambulance call out.

My dd age 3 had a viral illness, high temp and breathing quick, i phoned 111 and they sent an ambulance, i was insisting that it wasnt necessary. On arrival at A and E it turned out to be bacterial pneumonia, 8 hours later she went into cardiac arrest, her post mortem concluded that an over whelming strep A bacterial pneumonia super imposed on top of a basic viral infection from which sepsis took hold. 20 mins before she died she was arguing with the nurses over a pink cup and generally being her usual bossy self. 111 may have its faults but when it comes to small children and rapid breathing you can never be to careful.

I'm so sorry for your loss @Phillipa12

I once got on a bus and when to the GP when I had difficulty breathing, I would had called an ambulance if I had stopped breathing/dramatically deteriorated.

I got a big telling off, the doctor's words were that if you've stopped breathing 'the horse has passed'.

So never can be too careful, especially with children. The paramedics cerainatly won't be annoyed. Best of luck OP.

When I was pregnant with DD1 I had hyperemesis and was very sick throughout. But one day/night even by my standards of sick I was VERY sick, we are talking maybe 10 times an hour for 12 hours. Husband rang 111 and they sent an ambulance. Even in my sick state I was hideously embarrassed but I needed 12 bags of fluid and numerous anti sickness injections that admission, so it was necessary. I know you feel bad because you think “it’s not that bad” but it may well be needed in this instance.

I don't understand if a child - asthma - breathing problems triggered an ambulance why it's now been over two hours??

Still no sign but someone has just called to see how she is and again despite me saying I think she's fine and I could save them a journey by popping to OOH she said no, she's still like to send one but they're very busy.
I've made her a bed on the sofa and wait I guess. I expect the second my bum hits the dinner table bench to eat they'll arrive.

You probably would have been seen and home by now rather than drag a 3 year old out into the night in a scary ambulance. How stupid. Unless you're very far op Id tell them I was making my own way and just go

@Phillipa12 so so sorry for your loss. Cannot imagine how that must have been...

So sorry Phillipa12

They've just left, lovely paramedics, DD's 02 sats are low but they feel comfortable with her staying at home and waiting for a lab Ooh GP referral which sounds silly but we're a uni town and Sat night in A&E is a nightmare. They did Sao if there is any change at all to call 999 and they'll send a paediatric ambulance as an emergency.

Apologies for a huge drip feed but I have a teenage son with severe respiratory disease so I know and they were confident that I can spot respiratory decline or distress quickly and efficiently and we have 02 monitors here at home.

So scary Phillipa. What a loss. I'm so sorry.

What's a lab Ooh GP referral? Are you happy with the outcome?

As a 111 health advisor if people don’t want the ambulance I don’t despatch it. I can refer the case to a clinician who will take over the call.

Sorry was meant to say late out of hours referral.
I'm satisfied with the outcome, she was on their sats monitor for over 20 minutes and they talked through everything, they listened to her chest and said there was reduced air entry but no crackles, she does need to see a doctor for sure but I don't think it warrants an late night a&e visit. I would have still preferred to have taken her to out of hours at 4pm when I called but I understand it doesn't work like that.

Glad she’s doing oK. I think this is an instance where 111 is failed unfortunately.

We had a really good experience a few weeks ago where a visit to pharmacy expecting a cream resulted in a phone call to 111. An hour after visit to chemist we were collecting antibiotics having seen a DR.

Last time we had a bit more of a wait bit it wasn’t urgent - just needed antibiotics.

It is a good service at weekends and evenings but really you could have done with seeing a Dr today and poor wee soul needs to be poorly for longer than necessary.

Hope you get to OoH tomorrow and get her sorted.

Low sats and reduced air entry?!

I'm a paramedic and if these were my clinical findings then I'd strongly suggest a trip to the ED.

As far as I'm aware NHS England do not send out paediatric ambulances - they are for critical transfers which are booked journeys.

They have to be causio it's always better to be safe than sorry

They were boardeline low, going between 2-3 places over the time they were here (93-94) and he said was happy to take her to the hospital he was also comfortable leaving her at home to sleep unless anything changed, the tip of her lungs were good but the bottoms had reduced air entry, she didn't have any intercostal recession at that point either. He said children can be prioritised with ambulances especially if they've already been seen and given advice to call 999 of anything changed so maybe he meant that, I think he was highlighting that there wouldn't be a 4 hour wait if we called again.

Anyway DD slept all night, the OOH GP called at 2am and said if I was still worried about her to call 111 back and tell them we wanted an appointment but since she was sleeping soundly and her fever was down from ibuprofen he didn't want to see her there and then.
Her SATS are 98 this morning so I'm happy to leave her at home for now until our actual GP surgery opens tomorrow and of course will call again if she gets worse during the day.

I'd rather see our own GP because I have concerns about sleep apnea anyway that I wanted to discuss.