to complain to doctor's surgery?

[poohbear90]

I'm not sure if I'm just overthinking it!

My daughter has a history of kidney problems, high risk for UTI and then very high risk for a UTI to infect/damage her kidneys.
She had sepsis at 6 weeks old and I was told if I'd taken her in any later the outcome would have been bad.

Last week she had temperature, so we got her checked out at the doctor and they dipped her wee and confirmed UTI. All good, antibiotics sorted. Had to go in via the back entrance and into the special covid-19 room, all understandable.

Later that day her temperature spiked to 40.3, she was lethargic, shaking, her arms and legs were going blue and mottled and she was not herself at all. Obviously at this point I'm thinking it could be sepsis. I called the doctor back (they told me to call if she worsens, should have gone to A&E I think)

10 minutes later they called me back and immediately said go in, again via the back entrance. We got there 10 minutes later. I called to let them know I was there then got my daughter out of the car (it was hotter in the car than out). 10 minutes after that she throws up a lot. They lean out the back window and tell me the covid room is busy with overflow from the normal surgery so I'll need to wait. 10 minutes later my daughter has stopped holding her head up and cannot sit. I'm near panic. I think if they don't see us now I'm taking my daughter to A&E, so go to tell them that but they tell me the doctor is coming.

Doctor takes us to a small side room, and says yep she needs hospital within a couple of minutes, go back to the car, she'll call pediatrics and get our paperwork ready. It takes her a good 10 minutes if not longer to get the paperwork. My daughter is in the car crying very high pitch at volume.

Thankfully pediatrics were very quick with treatment and after a short stay and strong antibiotics she is now well.

AIBU to think that given my daughter was showing signs of sepsis the doctor's surgery either should have told us to get to A&E or made sure they could see us straight away?

I understand the current situation makes things more difficult. But sepsis is serious and should have been suspected/escalated? Especially given her high risk for a UTI to cause kidney infection?

What are you hoping to achieve by complaining?

You followed your usual routine but the circumstances at the gp practice didn't allow that to work as smoothly as usual. From an objective standpoint, I'd say this was just unfortunate, as opposed to negligent and therefore not worthy of complaint. I would suggest having a second strategy in place just in case it goes pear shaped in the future. Discuss a contingency plan with your gp to ensure it's on record.

What do you think they did wrong?
What do you think they should have done?
What outcome would you expect?

No you shouldn’t make a complaint, you should’ve taken her to A&E (as you know now).
Hope she’s ok now.

If they are NOT medically trained, they are no more qualified to make a decision about your child's health than the local butcher, Baker or candlestick maker.
If you keep this in mind everytime you speak to someone about your child's health, you will be able to keep them safe.
You know your child the most, you know what they need and when.

I agree with those saying you should've gone straight to A & E.

For information for everyone about complaints, I want to describe what happened when I complained twice about issues relating to my elderly parents.

1. About 5 years ago my Dad fell outside the house and broke his hip. He lay on the wet ground in the rain (my mother attempted to shield him with an umbrella, etc) for 3 hours until an ambulance finally came to take him to hospital. My mother called several times during that time to find out what was happening. My complaint got nowhere and was fobbed off. Not so much as an apology for the distress caused.

1. My mother, at the time terminally ill with cancer and in the middle of a course of chemotherapy, fell whilst out with me watching her granddaughter dance. The ambulance took her to a busy city A & E and I accompanied. She arrived at c. quarter past midnight. She was not seen by a doctor until 8.30am, despite my pleas to them to do something for her. At one point, when she needed a wee desperately, a nurse pointed to the toilet up the corridor - she had a suspected broken leg! She was not offered even a glass of water and I had to fetch a bottle from a machine for her. This entailed going through the A & E waiting room - as did going out to put more money in the parking machine - and I observed it slowly emptying of the walking wounded until it was completely empty at 5am. The doctor who came on shift and finally saw my mother was full of apologies - I could see her embarrassment. This day was my mother's 81st birthday and a day she was expected to go for another bout of chemotherapy.

My complaint to the hospital got nowhere, so I escalated to the local MP, who saw me and my mother (months later). She wrote to them and got much the same reply I had - "very busy, etc".

I tell you all this because often, complaining just winds you up even more.

Her arms and legs were going blue - why on earth didnt you take her straight to a&e?

I think it's guilt/panic that it could have been worse that's making me want to complain

You feel guilty about the mistake you made, so want to pin it on someone else to absolve your own guilt?

What a charming person you are.

It’s very possible that the GP couldn’t see you instantly because they were dealing with other very sick patients.

Why do you need them to tell you to go to a&e, you're her parent and you know her the best. I have a daughter with a very similar condition and can understand how important it is that you get her seen. These are strange times and unfortunately you have to queue outside of drs so it's not as if anyone can see into your car to see how bad she is like they would be able to in the waiting room. I think the surgery did their best and there isn't anything to complain about

They tell you to contact the GP for fever

Yes, but if it's fever and other symptoms (such as a small child turning blue), you have to take those into account too!

Dont feel bad, OP - the main thing is that your DD is ok, and you know to trust your instincts in the future.