Bring my daughter to A&E

[Confuddledtown]

She has had vomiting and diarrhoea, started yesterday, and has been lethargic since Tuesday. Has gone rapidly downhill today. Has a temperature that is causing hallucinations, has had all the medicine she can have plus all the usual treatment for temperatures. Is incredibly irritable and wont let us touch her. There have been bugs about the house but from history with my other DD it seems like a kidney infection. Phoned out of hours at 6 and still haven't heard back from doctor. She is getting rapidly worse. Aibu bringing her to A&E? In northern Ireland so we have no drop ins here and no 111 service

Definitely take her. The reason you’re probably worried about taking her is what will people think??

Well A&E full of drunk thugs fighting etc is not what it’s for and the should be charged. Your situation is very different. Absolutely take her

DD*

2 years old? That ill for a few days? I really hope you are at A&E already.

Hope she's on the mend very soon OP

Out of hours phoned while we were in the car on way to A&E and were able to see her straight away rather than waiting hours in A&E in crowded waiting rooms surrounded by dear knows what on one of the worst nights of the year for A&E visits.

Thank you to those of you wishing my daughter well, she is ok. As suspected it was a kidney infection.

Thank you to those highlighting the dangers of sepsis. I am aware of those. Had I remotely suspects sepsis ofcourse I would have been straight to A&E. I had obviously checked her for a rash. To whoever suggested that I dont know the basics of healthcare, that was unnecessarily harsh and rude. Also to those suggesting an ambulance, again had I remotely thought there was need, I would have phoned one without hesitation.

My two girls are prone to temperatures, even for something as minor as a cold. Any time they have had hallucinations, it had been due to a kidney infection. Last time we went to A&E with a kidney infection we were told off for wasting their time and that out of hours was the place to go.

She had been poorly and out of sorts for a few days, but as I said only got worse from 6 this evening. So again for those suggesting I left my 2 year old for 2 days with an uncontrollable temperature, that is completely not the case. As many people have said, toddlers decline very quickly, which is exactly what has happened here. We are talking about the space of just over 2 hours, not days.

I also live rurally and i am much closer to out of hours than A&E, and our out of hours doctor normally calls back within 2 hours for young children. In the meantime we are able to wait in the comfort of our home, with out daughter being surrounded by a calm environment and her home comforts and familiar surroundings. Out of hours phones back and if they deem it necessary to see you, they ask you to come in and are ready waiting for you and you are seen straight away. If you need to be admitted to hospital they are able to organise that straight away, whereas if you are admitted to the childrens ward via our A&E you have to be re-triaged etc through the childrens ward which in itself takes hours again. Which are the reasons why I was waiting on out of hours. Obviously, when it got to the point where I couldn't get her temperature down again, that trumped all of the above reasons.

She was well checked over, pee sample taken, and as suspected it was a kidney infection. As is normally the way with children she arrived laughing and giggling as if nothing in the past few hours had ever happened. She had no signs of dehydration and they were happy to send her home with anti biotics.

Thank you everyone for your concern, she has had 2 doses of anti biotics and is now well settled and resting

Thanks for update! Hope she continues to be bright & recovers quickly.

I'm so pleased she has been seen and treated. Hopefully she will make a swift recovery

I bet you had a real scare there OP, glad to hear your daughter is recovering and hope you all manage to have some rest.

very glad to hear that she is on the mend!! I'm shocked your A+E told you off in the past for bringing a little one in (with a kidney infection). Staff where I work would rather see a child and check them over than not.I hope your DD has a speedy recovery x

Glad she is ok.

It’s really difficult to know what to do for the best sometimes isn’t it.

Hope your DD starts perking up quickly now you have antibiotics

So glad she’s on the mend. I bet you’re exhausted op. 🌺

Glad she is OK. It us always so hard to work out what to do for the best. My 5 year old DD had what seemed to be a bit like cystitis once so I waited a day, giving her plenty of water and a tiny bit of bicarb of soda in water ( weaker version of what I would take), to see if that would ease it. By late evening I took her to an out of hours GP (via 111) only to be severely scolded for not bringing her in immediately. Apparently UTI's can cause permanent internal scarring in small children in a matter of hours. If yours are prone to kidney infections, would it be worth asking about this just so you can be sure about any delay next time? Maybe the GP I saw was scaremongering but if this is likely to crop up again, it would be good to know. Wishing your DD a speedy recovery.

for you and for little one

Thank goodness she’s not too poorly. I hope she’s soon fully recovered. 🐶🦊🦁🧸

You did absolutely the right thing and used the NHS services appropriately. I'm glad she's on the mend.

Glad she’s on the mend OP. I am also shocked you were told off for taking a child with a kidney infection to A and E previously. As you’ve said, they can decline extremely quickly so that is an emergency. That sort of treatment is what leaves people frightened to make the decision to go. My friend was not going to call an ambulance for her husband (who it turned out had sepsis) because she was worried about wasting their time. The problem is all the people who do abuse these services make those of us who wouldn’t dream of it, nervous about calling! Anyway, rant over, the main thing is your dd is on the mend. Take care

The 111 system in the uk is very different to your out of hours in Ireland. Really glad all is well. Just one thing - do check out sepsis symptoms, the rash is a very late symptom and if you have little ones who are prone to kidney infections it’s good to be clued up on the early symptoms.

Fantastic update, glad she’s perking up

Glad she's on the mend

@Purplewithred, the OP is in NI, not Ireland.

The OOH service here normally works well, we’ve always had callbacks relatively quickly then when you get into the OOH surgery the doctor is either waiting for you or just finishing up with the previous patient. The rest of the NI health service is a disaster but somehow the OOH system is much better than the GB 111 system.

Glad to hear your DD is on the mend, OP.

Glad she’s OK

@Confuddledtown thank you for taking the time out to update complete strangers- this was the first thread I looked for this morning. Glad to hear she is improving

Thanks for the update op. Don't worry about the nasty comments, for some reason they always crop up on threads questioning whether you should take a child in.

Thank goodness she's ok. It's so difficult to know what to do for the best when your child's condition starts deteriorating quickly. Out of hours can be brilliant, but sometimes when they're busy and don't call back and you're pacing the floor, A&E is the only option.

I think it was rather harsh of someone at A&E to tell you off in the past for bringing your child in with a kidney infection. But then that can just be different personalities involved or perhaps someone having a long, hard day. The staff at the RVH are usually amazing and very mindful of how a small child's condition can change dramatically from one minute to the next. When my eldest was 20 months, he was assessed by first responders and quickly brought down to the RVH in an ambulance. By the time he got there, he was running around the waiting area getting into everything. With my other son, I took him to the doctor because his breathing was shallow following a cold (he had a history of this). He was climbing all over the seats, rolling around on the floor and generally messing about. Thirty minutes later he was in an ambulance.