GP won’t see sick toddler in case Covid

[SupaTeddy]

My 3yo has some sort of flu bug and is vomiting clear liquid, runny nose and cough, he hasn’t eaten since Wed and is drinking very little. The bug started on Sat but eating and drinking didn’t stop till Wed. Multiple LFT tests are negative. I have the same bug.

GP said they will telephone today but won’t see him unless he has a negative PCR. That could take another day or two to get a result and I’m worried.

AIBU to think they should see a sick child regardless when he’s vomiting and not eating? What should I do if they won’t see him?

I managed to get covid from a surgery setting despite full PPE. One patient has take out 5 clinical team members which has had a huge impact on our already stretched abilities.

I’d book a PCR right now and you’ll have a result back in 12 hours or so. You should do that anyway since you have symptoms. You/he have both one of the “official” symptoms (cough) and frequent and well known Delta symptoms (digestive issues).
At the same time call 111 who can arrange to have him seen somewhere set up for patients with COVID symptoms.

By the way, it’s easy to assume the GP is just being selfish - but it’s not just about them, it’s also about the other patients. If it turns out to be COVID it could infect an entire waiting room. 111 can direct you to somewhere that has proper precautions in place.

We are seeing many cases of covid presenting with vomiting or sore throats in children rather than the classic symptoms. Get a PCR test booked. And you can call your GP for advice. An experienced clinician will be able to assess if a child needs to be seen face to face through the history given.

@Balonzette They're not trying to protect themselves; they're trying to protect patients!

• they will have vulnerable patients visiting the surgery (e.g. people on chemo) who could end up being infected
• if they have contact with a patient who later turns out to have Covid then they will not be able to see anyone f2f until they have taken a PCR etc

Obviously, all this has to be balanced out against any risk of the OPs toddler possibly being very unwell. I imagine the GP will ask some 'red flag questions' over the phone and will hopefully be able to either reassure the OP or escalate it to face to face care of some kind. This kind of phone triage happened in our surgery pre-pandemic anyway as a way of making sure young children had same-day access when ill. If they then needed to be seen, they were.

Hope your LO is better soon, OP when mine were a similar age, they didn't seem bothered about them not eating for a few days but I was given advice in terms of what to look out for with dehydration and that was really helpful.

Call 111 for help. Our GPs wont see either with covid symptoms. We have just had covid with those symptoms, you only need one symptom for pcr but if he is very weak call 111 for help now.

And others are right. The practice will be needing to minimise footfall from possible infectious patients to protect others in the building, including vulnerable patients and staff. Out practice currently has 3 GPs (out of 8) and 3 receptionists off with covid.

@SupaTeddy

The NHS website says fever, cough and loss of taste or smell. We’re coughing but no fever and we can smell and taste just fine.

It says any one, not all three!

My LO doesn't eat or drink when not well and the advise I was giving by GP was, they can do afew days without eating (basically they don't worry about that if it's afew days) but it's the liquid you need to get in.
Ice pops, squash, watermelon, slush if a near by shop does it.
I would be ringing 111

Don't worry about the not eating at the moment just make sure you get fluids in. Does he like jelly? That also worked well with mine.

Agree with pp there should be somewhere possible COVID cases can be seen. Equally op if he's been unwell since Saturday why ravens you got a PCR? Then you wouldn't be having this issue

i think you should get a PCR test pronto. Take him to one of the drive through places. I would concentrate on keeping fluids in him. Sugary drinks or lucozade original or red-coke (left to go flat)

You really shouldn’t reply on a LFT and if you’d done a PCR in the first place, your GP would probably have seen your son by now. The results of a PCR are sent to your GP, so they will know. If you go to a drive through now, you’ll have the results by this time tomorrow.

I hope he is much better very soon.

DS had a recurrent chest infection, he got really wheezy and his temperature was between 39/40 and calpol was having little impact, GP saw him straight away. He was PPE'd to the eyeballs as DS hadn't had a Covid test, he's had nearly 20 because of the constant cough in the last year and I'm just not doing it to a two year old anymore, our GP agrees and even said it's clearly part of the ongoing issue and not Covid. Your GP is being very unreasonable.

@SupaTeddy

The NHS website says fever, cough and loss of taste or smell. We’re coughing but no fever and we can smell and taste just fine.

It's not all three. It is any one of the above.

And fwiw most children don't even have those three symptoms anyway - most seem to just have cold like symptoms when testing positive.

PCR results are coming back quickly in many places.

Recently Dd had one done at about 10:30am and the result was back by early evening. A colleague had one done at 7pm two days ago. She had her results in by 9am the next morning. Two different locations.

@HarrietsChariot

The GP is just being cautious. If it turns out the child does have Covid, bringing him in could cause multiple staff to fall sick and may affect vulnerable patients.

I agree with this.

OP I wouldn’t be too concerned about the lack food just yet, but definitely try to keep him dehydrated. Try ice pops and ice lollies, they’re good in situations like this. Hopefully give them some energy too.

@Balonzette

I feel like British GPs are behaving as ridiculously right now as soldiers who refuse to go to war because they might get shot. It's disgraceful. They're literally risking lives (and also costing lives) with stuff like this.

So the OP takes in her sick kid who then passes covid to the GP. Who then passes it to half the town because they see loads of people in one day. And the other doctors in the practice. And then when they all realise they have covid and get sick they're out of action for days, weeks, longer. Who's going to write your prescriptions for you then?

With sickness bugs you need to hydrate - boiled lemonade and ice pops are your friend here.

I don’t see it as protecting patients, their patients end up being seen in overcrowded A&Es where they are more likely to be exposed to Covid.

It is okay for the doctor to say after consultation your child does not need to be seen face to face, this is how you should manage symptoms and I advise a PCR test.

It is not okay to say I will not see your child without a PCR result. Full stop. If the child does not currently need to be seen they should explain that to the parent. If they think the child should be seen they should be organising it either through themselves or whatever system they have in place. Not having a system in place is not acceptable this far into a pandemic.

@Balonzette

I feel like British GPs are behaving as ridiculously right now as soldiers who refuse to go to war because they might get shot. It's disgraceful. They're literally risking lives (and also costing lives) with stuff like this.

There should be an alternative but the GPs aren't wrong to avoid having potential covid in their waiting rooms. There will be vulnerable patients waiting who shouldn't be exposed to covid.

Fwiw I did go in to see a GP - Infact two, plus a and e, a day clinic and an admission ward over a period of 3 days. We didn't know it but I had covid - I unintentionally potentially passed it in to several people including some very elderly and vulnerable patients. On top of being ill with covid, that realisation was stressful and upsetting for myself, let alone for anyone who may have caught it from me.

I'd rather the clinics/hospital/GP surgery had insisted on a PCR or a 'red' hub to avoid the guilt of that tbh!

But thes are symptoms of covid and as stated upthread LFTs are not for when you have symptoms.

Go for a pcr test today and you'll have a result back in the morning. Thn the gp will know if he's dealing with a sick bug, or covid.

@Lucked

I don’t see it as protecting patients, their patients end up being seen in overcrowded A&Es where they are more likely to be exposed to Covid.

It is okay for the doctor to say after consultation your child does not need to be seen face to face, this is how you should manage symptoms and I advise a PCR test.

It is not okay to say I will not see your child without a PCR result. Full stop. If the child does not currently need to be seen they should explain that to the parent. If they think the child should be seen they should be organising it either through themselves or whatever system they have in place. Not having a system in place is not acceptable this far into a pandemic.

I imagine very few patients end up in a&e. Most get advice over the phone and maybe a script for something that will help and leave it there.

He's not refusing an appointment but refusing to see him face to face. They probably can give all the required advice talking to you and listening to the symptoms, hearing the cough etc...

I would also add that if he started coughing on Saturday you should have done the PCR over the weekend and you'd have had it back ages ago. Why did you faff around with lateral flows which are clearly marked as not being for symptomatic people?

Unbelievable that after a year and a half of constant public health warnings so many posters don't understand the first thing about Covid.
GPs have a responsibility to ALL their patients.
I hope your LO is better soon.

@urbanbuddha exactly.

OP - YABVU - I cannot believe you have not already ordered and done a covid test given your little one has symptoms for covid.

I really hope you have kept them isolated.