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?

Thank goodness the GPs were prioritised for the vaccine and are getting their boosters, enables them to see their patients.

There has been plenty of time to get a PCR test since last Saturday. My child is regularly unwell with a health condition that presents with covid symptoms. This week DC took unwell on Tuesday. Had a covid test done that evening. Result the following morning and we were able to see the GP the same day as the negative result.
Your child has a cough which is a covid symptom. If you had just tested as soon as that cough came on, then you would have had a negative result (if they don't have covid) and when you contacted the GP today there would have been no issues.
I would prefer my GP was not having untested children with covid symptoms in the waiting room while my CEV child is sat in that same waiting room!

I’m surprised any of you are allowed to sit in GP waiting rooms!
Our waiting room is shut. You are asked to sit in your car until you are called in for your appointment. If you don’t have a car, you are allowed in but are taken to sit in an empty consulting room. In person appointments are staggered so that there is never more than 2 patients in the surgery at any time, so that they don’t have to have any contact with each other.

@TheGrumpyGoat We wait in waiting room, but they ask you not to come for appointment until the last minute as they are trying to minimise people in waiting room.

@maddening

Thank goodness the GPs were prioritised for the vaccine and are getting their boosters, enables them to see their patients.

GP’s and other staff were prioritised for their vaccines are less likely to be seriously unwell when they get covid.

So they won’t end up in ITU and will likely be back at work much sooner than had they become more seriously unwell with it.

Our GP surgery have been fabulous. They have too many patients and not enough staff but they are doing their best. I would be very happy to have a PCR if I had any hint of covid symptoms before asking to see them. When I had some worrying symptoms (none covid) a few weeks ago I had to run the 8am gauntlet to get through to the surgery in the opine, but then had a call back from the GP within 3 hours and was offered a face to face appt the same day. A very thorough face to face examination took place with us both wearing appropriate PPE and tests were arranged. One came through the post within 2 days and blood tests were taken 3 days after the appointment.

I know the system is far from perfect, but we all need to play our part and not expect GP’s to take unreasonable risks, or expect them to do the job that others can and should do (pharmacists, physios, optometrists etc).

Our surgery have also been excellent - I was always able to get a call back within a few hours and seen the same day if necessary. I was told to bring my daughter in then and there this summer when she had a temperature but cold hands and feet (sometimes it can be a sign of sepsis).
But we do get a PCR (not lateral flow) for her as soon as she has a temperature OR a cough, and if we catch it from her we do the same for ourselves even if her test was negative.
It’s not that people who have COVID symptoms shouldn’t be seen without a test - they should just be seen in a location that has appropriate precautions in place. Hence I was suggesting calling 111 who can arrange that.
If I thought people with COVID symptoms were in my GP’s waiting room, I would think twice about going in. As would many others, and we/they would leave potentially serious conditions untreated.

@maddening

Thank goodness the GPs were prioritised for the vaccine and are getting their boosters, enables them to see their patients.

Absolutely. Given that I have never stopped seeing patients F2F I am very grateful that I was prioritised for the vaccine.

pianolessons1

"maddening

Thank goodness the GPs were prioritised for the vaccine and are getting their boosters, enables them to see their patients.

Absolutely. Given that I have never stopped seeing patients F2F I am very grateful that I was prioritised for the vaccine."

Thank goodness for professionals like you and muchtomuchtodo, however this is not the case for all surgeries, therefore some experiences are not the same as your patients across the country, please don't take criticism of other surgeries/GPS etc personally, people that are being let down are allowed to voice this.

I don't know of any surgeries where, as a surgery, they stopped seeing F2F. Many reorganised so that those GPs at higher risk didn't do F2F, but as a surgery there was still F2F capacity if needed. Some had particular circumstances e.g. I know someone who works in rooms within a shopping centre so their F2F patients with covid symptoms had to go elsewhere as they weren't allowed in the shopping centre lifts, but by and large F2F has been available, but based on clinical need not want

Even in the first lockdown my GP still saw patients who needed to be seen face to face.
What most criticising GPs on this thread don't seem to realise is that most things GPs see patients about are minor things that can be dealt just as easily over the phone or video calls. It has long surprised me just how minor many things are that people go and see a GP with.

@TheGrumpyGoat

If LFT isn’t accurate then they shouldn’t be dishing them out

Well… quite. They’re a waste of time.
A few of my friends children have tested positive for Covid recently and none had the ‘big 3’ symptoms… some had gastric symptoms (vomiting etc) and some had typical cold symptoms like runny noses/sneezing etc.
There are also loads of other viruses going round so equally as likely it isn’t Covid, but best to check with a PCR.

they are not 'dishing them out' - there is a cost to each and every test which will be paid for by the tax-payer. People are requesting them 'because they are FREE' - it needs to stop. Use the most accurate test (PCR) if you are sure it is probably Covid rather than a bad cold. How many times does this need saying?

The wording isn't "a cough"...it's very clear that it should be a new, continuous cough. Trouble is, that's fairly subjective. Even though it describes what counts as continuous, (3 times in 24 hrs, I think?) people see "continuous" and think that if it's an occasional cough (as op said) then that's not continuous so they don't qualify for a PCR.

As for the long list of symptoms listed earlier...as a pp said, those are symptoms of pretty much every virus out there. Headache? Get a PCR. Runny nose? Get a PCR.

OP has been given a pasting for following the official advice on PCR testing. Until that list is updated, everything else is word of mouth. Other symptoms are really common with all bugs, so they correlate with Covid, but don't necessarily indicate it. That additional list has really confused the hell out of people.

Reads like The op has been told by her doctor that they need a pcr test

You have been advised by a doctor to have one is a valid reason

I have to say I still wouldn’t class us as having Covid symptoms. No fever, no loss of smell or taste, cough is intermittent not continuous

When I did have covid I had no fever, not even a slight raised temperature. I didn't lose my smell or taste.
My cough was not continuous. It wasn't even really a cough. It was more like needing to clear my throat occasionally.

I had other symptoms but not 'covid' ones.

It may or may not be covid. The PCR will tell you. No one else will know. But the fact you have a new cough is enough to trigger a doctor telling you to check, they'll be very aware that most people don't have a continuous exaggerated cough with covid,

How's your son Op?