or is this really appalling care from 111/Somerset out of hours?

[WoolyMammoth55]

DS is 11 months old and, like half the country, has a bit of a cough. I find it physically impossible to swab him but the rest of the family have been consistently testing negative for Covid.

Last night at 3am he woke up crying wildly, with very loud wheezy breath sounds. I woke up DH, we decided against waking up the 4 year old and driving 40 mins to A&E, thought we'd try 111 instead.

It wasn't a long wait to speak to the operator, they said a medic would call back within an hour. The phone rang in an hour but it was an admin non-medic from the out of hours service, saying that he apologised for the slow call-back. I asked if I should go to A&E and he said he couldn't advise, isn't a medic, to hold on for the medical call.

I hovered over the baby for the next 4 hours, watching him sleep, listening to him wheeze. At 8am the same admin dude called back to say the minor injury walk-in service is open so we've been discharged from out of hours care and can walk-in to minor injury unit at our convenience.

I was meant to be called back within an hour. Instead 5 hours passed and I never did speak to a medic.

Baby has seen the GP today and diagnosed with croup. But still - isn't that appalling for out of hour care? We live far from an A&E here and 111, when it worked, provided a really useful service.

I realise it's the fault of government underfunding and appalling attacks on the NHS, but this is really not functioning at the moment. I'd like to complain but no idea to whom.

If you have a wheezy child and are concerned, why wouldn't you head to A&E or wait until the morning and phone a GP? They won't be able to listen to their chest or take oxygen levels over the phone anyway . 111 seems to make things worse as a lot seem to rely on it and logic and common sense goes out of the window instead people wait hours for a call back.

@BlackAndPinkNose

If you were really concerned and it was an emergency then you should have taken your child to A&E - not sure of the relevance of waking older child though as it only needed one parent to drive surely?

This first

Second, I'm not sure about your comment generally.

Out of hours has been like this for years. I can go back more than ten years - maybe twelve - and it was similar. It hasn't ever been a real service since GPs got out of night duty in the Blair years.

Source - mostly me and my own health, couple of occasions with parents. DC too recent to comment, obviously I didn't expect much post Covid.

The bit that's weird is if you were that worried, you could have gone to A&E, which I've done over the years.

@Purplewithred

We are constantly being told to call 111.

They said a medic would call within an hour and you based what you did next on the assumption that the promise made by 111 would be kept.

I think you are perfectly within your rights to be pissed off that nobody called back, whatever the outcome.

But if, after an hour, you still hadn't heard anything, why would you not go to A&E if you were concerned?

Nobody called back because the NHS is chronically understaffed - that's not the fault of the person on the other end of the line.

They did their best, it seems you didn't. If you were so concerned about your child you'd take them to A&E, even if that means having to wake the 4 year old. Buuut you didn't.

If you get concerned about your little one over the next few days, only one of you will be allowed in A&E anyway due to covid and social distancing, I work in Paediatrics at the hospital and they are being quite strict on this. Absolutely no siblings either. So the parent who can drive should take them, and the other stay at home with the 4 year old. I can imagine you're frustrated OP but things are just crap right now for all services. If ever worried, just pop him up.

I don't understand why you couldn't have taken the baby to A&E? My dh collapsed in agony last May, I rang 111 but he deteriorated whilst waiting for the call back, so I took him to A&E. The call back actually came about 4 hours later, when I explained to the medic that I'd already taken DH to A&E and he'd been admitted, the medic said that is what he would have advised.
111 is a great service, but it's not an immediate response.

And if both can drive, the calmest parent should go! Take care OP. I'm not having a go at you, in those situations it can be hard to make a rational choice. But you need to advocate for your child and if you were worried enough to want medical help, you should have considered just going up to A&E

I woke up DH, we decided against waking up the 4 year old and driving 40 mins to A&E, thought we'd try 111 instead. just so you know a lot of A&Es are one parent per child now

My eldest suffered from croup often, and never in my wildest dreams when he was having a bad night would I have hovered over him for hours rather than taking him to a and e. You have a husband at home, so what the hell is the issue? Only one parent is allowed in a and e anyway, but even if not you don’t both need to be there.

This post has really irritated me in its absurdity!

I agree the NHS is horrendously staffed at the moment. We are going through a staffing crisis with no end in sight.

Waiting to hear why two parents needed to take baby to A&E.

So sorry your little one is unwell, it's horrid when seemingly there's nothing you can do to help them.
Not trying to make you feel worse but YABU here - if you were really worried, you should have taken baby to A&E rather than waiting for a call back as 111 is non emergency. A&E is indeed one parent per child ATM so there was no reason for the whole family to go. Hope your DS is better soon.

Well yes it is appalling but activity overnight was obviously beyond the capacity of the service

When we talk about NHS services being overwhelmed this is the sort of thing that happens

And unless he's an 11 month old baby hulk, it's not physically impossible to do a Covid test on him. Difficult? Yes. Upsetting? Probably. But not physically impossible. You do what everyone else with a small child has to do and pin him down for a few seconds and get it done.

I called 999 about my 10 month old who had similar issues at 4am this morning. An ambulance arrived within 2minutes and he was blue lighted to hospital as his oxygen was very low.

Diagnosed with bronchiolitis.

I hope your LO gets well very very soon and sorry you had such a bad experience.

Last year my toddler had a relatively serious allergic reaction. Not serious enough to need an epi pen, but the reaction wasn't responding to antihistamines and the hives were spreading. We phoned 111 and was told we would get a call back in an hour. 3 hours later and no call so I took her to a+e while my husband stayed home with with our youngest. We were seen immediately, prescribed steroids and stayed a couple of hours for monitoring after steroids. A 111 medic phoned about 6 hours after we got back from hospital

I cannot believe you watched a dc for hours and are blaming 111 for it.

As everyone else has said if you have serious concerns one parent takes the sick child to A&E. Why didn't you?

The whole family didn't need to go to A&E. Just one parent. It is possible to covid test a little one too- it's not nice but unfortunately we have to do these things sometimes.

YABU for using 111.

Its a complete waste of money and time.

Dr Google is more accurate (and thats fucking saying something).

Baby having trouble breathing is a 'seek medical attention immediately' jobbie as we were told when DS had croup and we took him to the GP and they took a second to look at him before calling an ambulance!

@RedToothBrush

So glad to see someone on here who agrees with me about 111! MN is its biggest fan!

'So glad to see someone on here who agrees with me about 111! MN is its biggest fan!'

I've always found it quite good for getting out of hours gp appointments etc.

I certainly wouldn't have watched a sick dc wheezing for hours while awaiting a call back.

I just think that 111 is the service for people who don't have the ability to use Google themselves and use their own judgement wisely tbh.

They aren't medically trained. And there are far too many incidents where people have been waiting for a call back that have ended badly.

You just think, why after an hour of waiting for a call back that doesn't come, don't you just go to a and e if its something like that for a baby.

I don't encourage people to go to a and e at the drop of a hat but yeah, this one is pretty clear cut in my opinion.

111 aren't medical professionals linked to the other services. You don't need a medical qualification to be an operator. They are loved on here but massively overrated imo

I would have had one parent drive to A&E and the other stay at home. (A&E would obviously prefer just one parent rather than the whole family because of Covid )

Complain to your mp, the NHS only has a chance at getting better if the Tories decide to give it one.

@User2638483

I’m sorry to say I think that’s pretty standard for 111, although it is annoying to be told one thing and given a time scale and then it not happen.

I think this is the crux of it. 111 need to manage people's expectations better and give better indications of wait times. The times they give people are pretty aspirational and often bear no resemblance to the reality. What they mean is they are putting you down for a one hour call back, but in reality you can be waiting for several hours.

The out of hours service has targets, so it goes against them when they breech the times 111 has set but there's literally nothing they can do about it if they don't have enough staff on shift