AIBU with my thoughts on 111?

[frustratedandtired321]

I have a daughter, she is almost 2. She suffers very badly from tonsillitis. We've been on the waiting list for an ENT for almost 4 months as she has had tonsillitis 5 times since she was a little baby. 6 including tonight. We can't afford anything private so we have to make do with the waiting list.

She also snores like you wouldn't believe and always sounds very nasal and croaky when she talks. Anyway that's the background

As kids do she on,y seems to get sick on weekends. She was really tired on Friday but first day at nursery so put it down to that. Yesterday morning she was being sick with diarrhoea. By 4 pm her throat was covered in white spots and she had tonsillitis. Rang 111 to arrange an appointment to get some antibiotics. They explained as she was under. 2 she fell into the category of a call back within 2 hours. I know there busy and she said the same so I wasn't expecting the. 2 hour deadline to be hit. I made her comfortable with a drink of ice.cold milk and alternated calpol and nurofen as I usually do.
By 10 pm I rang them back as she hadn't drunm anything and her nappies were a lot dryer and she was non stop crying since 9 pm

They explained they were incredibly busy and I probably wouldn't get a call back for at least another 2 to 3 hours and the appointment could be another 12 hours away. She asked if it would be easier for me to cancel the 111 call back and arrange to see my gp Monday morning, I declined and said I didn't feel comfortable leaving her until Monday so to leave us on the list
At midnight she stopped producing tears and her mouth was dry so I put her in the car and drove straight down to a and e.
She was seen as quick as they could and they prescribed antibiotics. She's been given fluids via a syringe in small doses and we are waiting to see if she passes urine,If not they mentioned she may need iv fluids
I suppose my question is AIBU to be a little annoyed at the 111 service? I know they're busy, I know the whole nhs is busy but I've had to go to a and e for tonsillitis which has made me feel very stupid.

Forgot to add its now 14 hours since I rang 111 and still haven't heard anything from them

Don’t feel bad about going to A&E. 111 have sent us to A&E with DC1 when they had tonsillitis. Extremes high temp and vomiting.

There is only so much capacity. They couldn’t magic something out of their arse OP.

Hope your child feels better soon. DC1 suffered a lot as a little one too but suddenly grew out of it at about 2.5.

111 completely unfit for purpose right now. Been in similar positions to you 3/4 times over the past year - one where baby was admitted to hospital. Last time I rang at 3am on a Wednesday morning it was 20 minutes to get through to an advisor on the basis they were experiencing high call volume...the message we get every time we ring! Given it's a contracted service they must have made commitments of provision when they won the contract I can not possibly see how this is good enough.

To be honest, I’d have gone to A&E earlier so that you were back and done by her bed time.
Unfortunately the service doesn’t always work.

YANBU to be annoyed with the length of time you have had to wait for 111. I too have had some disastrous experiences with tonsillitis on a weekend, both with the children, and my own tonsils.

However, if you have a child who regularly gets tonsillitis you need to ensure they don’t become dehydrated, so the syringing of fluid is something that can be done at home. We also keep ice lollies on hand for this situation.

I am pleased that she has antibiotics, and if 111 haven’t been in touch then I would probably raise a complaint. They left my 3 week old with a temperature overnight. When they eventually called we were already admitted to hospital on an IV drip.

I always have ice lollies and milky drinks in. She wouldn't touch or take them. I didn't think to syringe her water in, never occurred to me but lesson learnt for next time.

I think next time I'll just take her to a and e anyway. Can't get a gp appointment no matter how much I beg.

Hmmm that points to the painkillers not doing their job (not uncommon in tonsillitis and I find ibuprofen is the one that works better of the two anyway). How were the a&e staff with you? I have taken kids to a&e with tonsillitis before (usually when the abx are not working). They have sometimes been a bit shitty about it, though have usually changed their tune after examining the child.

Why so you feel stupid for taking her to A&E? 111 can be great for non emergencies, but if you need more urgent help than they can provide, then you just have to take matters into your own hands.

I hope your little girl is feeling a bit better today.

111 not fit for purpose. All they do is send you to AE. That's if they do phone you back.

Honestly, this post has made me so angry. I’m so sorry that you and your DD have been through this. You are absolutely not being unreasonable whatsoever. NHS 111 are not fit for purpose. I can’t even blame the pandemic because they’ve been this way since my DD was born so we’re talking 2018/2019. A 2 year old with tonsillitis, 14 hours and still no call back? I would be beyond enraged. Hats off to you for holding it together because I would have completely lost my cool at this point. I really hope that DD is settled and starts to feel better soon. Hugs to both of you 💐

It's not really fit for purpose, ime though I've normally found with young children even if they only have a sniffle they normally say they have to be seen within 2 hours so I'm surprised they didn't just tell you to take her to A+E when you first called.
My experience with 111 was that it used to work. 2 years ago DD had symptoms of a UTI on a Friday afternoon when our surgery was closed until the Monday. We saw an OOH GP within 5 hours so happy days. Whereas last year I had symptoms of a UTI on a Sunday evening, I was pregnant and had already had one which had spread to my kidneys as I didn't get antibiotics quick enough so I knew I couldn't wait until the following day. It should have been a fairly simple request, I could tell them what my previous antibiotics were and I only needed a script sending to a late night pharmacy. I was on hold for 50 minutes without speaking to anyone. I gave up and instead presented at A+E. You can understand why people are calling ambulances for non emergencies and why A+E is bursting at the seams.

The doctor was lovely but the nurse was awful. Told me tonsillitis isn't a hospital thing and I should have waited for a gp. The doctor told me she was dehydrated and I did the right thing. I just feel so annoyed that I've had to come to hospital for something that didn't need it

111 is absolute rubbish right now. I know of people who rang for stroke symptoms and a head injury and were told to "wait until Monday" to see their GP. Both would have died if they had done that.

With the news reporting of how bad a and e departments are and how long wait times are it's like your almost encouraged to just grin and bear it at home. The attitude in a lot of people is unless your leg is hanging off don't waste the hospitals time. And even then can you wait to speak to your gp. I replied to a previous poster but we saw a nurse almost straight away and I said 'she suffers from tonsillitis and I'm fairly certain it's what she has'. I wasn't rude and I wasn't telling her what was wrong but I've done the tonsillitis thing now 5 times. She was short and snappy With me and it really made me doubt myself.

Yeah that’s fairly standard in my experience. I’ve had the ‘well tonsillitis can be horrid dear, and you just have to wait for him to get better’ from the nurse, followed by ‘well I can understand why you’re worried, let’s see what’s going on by taking some blood tests’

I don’t understand why they don’t have a GP in A&E for these situations, triage could signpost them to the GP.

Exactly my experience. We're still sat in a and e with her curled up fast asleep. I do feel a little more justified as they've said they are admitting her as she's still not passed urine and it's coming up 12 hours and her mouth is still dry. They placed a drip about 5 minutes ago. Poor kids so exhausted she didn't even stir

We had a similar experiance last week with our thirteen month old. High fever that wouldn’t come down with meds, shaking and constant vomiting. They took 11 hours to call back.

You might find this useful, it’s a traffic light system for kids under 5 to assess what kind of assessment is appropriate www.westsuffolkccg.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/NICE-CG-160-Feverish-Illness-in-Children-Toolkit-080813-Final.pdf

hopefully with the drip in she will perk up - I wonder if they will stick a dose of IV abx in just to kickstart things? The orals can take a little while sometimes.

They mentioned iv antibiotics. I think there going to get us to a ward and go from there. And thank you for the link.

Good luck! I’ve done this a few times with both children now (including one sepsis caused by undiagnosed tonsillitis at ooh). If they do decide to get IVs in her she will bounce straight back. Usually the barrier is needing to get a cannula in, so since that’s already there then hopefully they will. I imagine they will want to sort the dehydration first if they can though as that will be better for her system to do it that way.

Hope she feels better soon.

I have had to ring 111 twice in the last month.

First time arranged for me to see gp next day second said they would ring back before my next dose of medication- severe side effects. That was 8pm i had to chase at 7 am next day. But once i got to speak to a gp he was fabulous

111 are awful. I called with acute appendicitis they told me to try and go to the gp. I would be dead if I didn’t go to a and e. Called for my child and I’m still waiting on a call back after 4 weeks

DD finally had her tonsils out 5 years ago but she was getting monthly tonsillitis until she did. In the end the GP received us a double dose of antibiotics once, and we took one bottle home unmade up so we could start get on then whenever needed (like you it was obvious, she’d just look ill and her breath would stink then the temp/vomiting /spots would start) . Ask your GP for the same, for it is always at weekends etc that they get ill

agree re syringing, and dd also preferred sharp drinks as the taste in her mouth was horrid, maybe try different ones

hope she’s feeling a bit better today