To expect not to have to wait 3hrs for phone call and 45mins in Drs waiting rm with dd (2.8) with a temperature of 104 (40)

[LittleB]

Dd is now getting better thankfully, but was ill last week. High temperature, very high for her, very sleepy and listless, cough, runny nose, but drinking ok and chatting a bit, taking calpol and ibruprofen. I thought prob just a virus and didn't want to take her out in the rain to drs, but thought I should ring them for advice (my dr told me to ring them not NHS Direct). I told them about her fever and my concerns, she said there were appointments but would get duty dr to call me to advise. 2hrs later still no call, rang Drs she said she'd chase it, I said would there still be appointments if I needed to come in, yes she said. Dr rang me an hr later, said bring her in, no appointments so come at 5.30. turn up at 5.30, had to wait until 6.15 to be seen, turns out she has bronchitus so needed antibiotics, by then all the pharmacys in the town had shut (they shut at 6pm) so i took dd home, (just before 7 now - her usual bed time, an left her with dh while I drove to the nearest big town to get her prescription. I then had to wake a grumbly ill dd on my return and persuade her to take her medicine. Should I complain? were they unreasonable to make dd wait 45mins to see a dr when she has a high fever? Or should I have just made an appointment and taken her out in the rain straight away and its my own fault? (dd haa had 2 previous visits to Drs this autumn when its just been a virus and nothing they could do). What do you think?

yabu
this is the nhs. national health service. yes, it could be better. but at least it exists.

the doctor may have been running late becuase of another patient. it wasnt done on purpose. thank god your dd is better now.

It's easier with hindsight LittleB and you didn't know how crap they were going to be. If you complain docs may apologise but are just as likely to say everyone has to wait their turn and if it's that bad to go to A&E
I am not one to mess about and would have gone straight to surgery or nhs walk in but this is also based on fact my BIL had similar issues a few months ago so i am forewarned!
Glad your dd is feeling better

Kids getting ill is stressful, glad she's on the mend. I think one learns to know when there's something not right, and until that time one should just get a medical opinion without the phone fannying around.

I don't think you have any particular grounds to complain tbh though .. that's the NHS .. and a child with a raised temp, and no other worrying symptoms as you've described, saw a doc without an appointment .. sounds like they made their protocol exceptions for the child .. waiting is parr for the course

They offered you an appointment when they didn't have any to offer. That will be why you had to wait - you were fitted in. If they had seen you straight away one of their other patients with an appointment would have had to wait longer.

Also you have no idea what they were dealing with while you were waiting. Maybe someone who needed transferring urgently to hospital, someone who was suicidal, maybe someone with a little one who was poorly like yours.

And I guess that as you spoke to a doctor and described symptoms to them they felt it was reasonable to ask you to come in and wait to be seen, not be rushed straight through the minute you walked through the door.

If it were me I wouldn't be complaining.

I would just have taken her straight in tbh

I don't think you have any grounds for complaint - if they treated every child with a high temp as a drop-everything emergency then no-one else would ever get seen!

Glad she is on the mend

I've realised in my five years of paranoid worrying back and from Doctors and hospitals that Drs see a lot of REALLY sick children, and children that are chatting are not REALLY sick - really sick children are floppy and listless. Docs don't worry too much about chatty children. 45 minute wait is not too bad for an emergency appointment.

But yes it IS stressful having a poorly baby! I hope she is better soon.

Thanks so I won't complain. Just thought I'd point out though that she wasn't seen as a special emergency case, and she was floppy and listless when the drugs had worn out, just talking once the calpol kicked in, hence I was worried and din't want to take her out for 30mins in the pouring rain. They routinely tell lots of people to turn up at 5.30 to see a dr if they don't have an appointment, so everyone else waiting in the waiting room at that time was without appointments, they put you in the order of booking in, so she could have been seen at 5.30 without anyone losing an appointment (mainly adults popping in after work) and I could then have got the antibiotics to her sooner without having to wake her and hang around in the surgery. She wasn't booked in until the dr rang me back at 4.30 so she was well down the list. the dr did think it was serious enough that I should start her on her antibiotics straight away, he said I shouldn't wait until the next morning. It is a large surgery with about 8 Drs at any one time, i did ask if another dr could ring me, but they said it had to be th duty dr.
But yes, ok , thank you for the NHS, I won't complain and will make appointments even when I think she may not need them in future!

But that's not the right thing to do either LittleB - we all have a moral obligation to use the NHS when we need it, but certainly not to deliberatley overburden it.

LittleB - completely understand your frustration - I'm sure that even though you feel this way you are of course grateful for the NHS!
reading your message it just seems you're really frustrated at how the bureaucracy and 'systems' seemed to make it a longer process than it needed to be. I don't think I'd complain, but like you I would keep in mind that there is a certain way to play the system.
And that doesn't mean deliberately overburdening it just making sure that if you have the slightest doubt about your child's health, you make an appt as soon as possible, rather than waiting and seeing and possibly ending up in LittleB's situation...

but often children get better relatively quickly - by waiting and seeing. LittleB wasn't exactly ignored, she was seen the same afternoon. There will have been very many really ill people who also needed seeing. We don't need to "play" the system, just all of us to use it fairly, and reasonably.

but as long as a child perks up when under standard analgesics that's not really so worrying for a medic

some children have high temps and the calpol / nurofen don't bring them down

some children have febrile episodes / fits with high temps

your child exhibited neither

I know you're enraged and filled with righteous wrath and nobody is telling you you're out of order just that it's slightly out of perspective.

Everybody worries about their children when ill .. outside perspectives help one put them in perspective IF you want to listen

if you're just ranting you could always put 'just ranting' at the top

I completely understand your worry and frustration but if you were THAT worried you could have taken her to A&E.

We had the same last week. DS temp was 40.5 and not lowering below 40 with meds. He has had febrile convulsions previously. DH rang doc and spoke to receptionist. The initial wait for the call back is because the GP has to finish morning surgery. So this would be your first wait. We also started waiting. It started becoming apparent DS was getting worse so DH rang again before the end of morning surgery. DS had been seen by a doc the day before who diagnosed ear infection. Receptionist got that doc to call us immediately. She told us to go straight in. We were seen between appointments and she treated him there whilst referring him to the Paediatric team at the hospital. BUT, this wouldn't have happened unless she had already seen how bad he was, known he had a history of fitting and we had pushed it. At any point if I had been REALLY worried I would have taken him to A&E not relied on the GP. However, they should have done your daughter's presciption at the surgery dispensary as it was then out of hours for you. Also if it's any consolation the ONLY response I had out of DS all of that morning was when I took him out in the rain in just his nappy to get him to the surgery. He still didn't cry but he did whinge a bit - it actually helped bring his temp down because by the time we got to the surgery it was it's lowest yet at 39.5! I know it's worrying when they are like that, but next time accept the appointment or if you are really worried take her to A&E.

but Loshad, equally, waiting and seeing can have disastrous consequences. On balance, if I was really unsure, I think it is fair enough to just book in for an as soon as poss appointment rather than do the phoning and checking thing.
I was being a bit tongue in cheek about 'playing the system', sorry. But, like many other people on here probably, I work for the NHS, and know too that it is weighed down by (some quite crazy) procedures and the like that can make it a slower moving creature than it always needs to be.

I did say I'd make appointments when I think she may not need them, not deliberately overburden it, which is what I should have done last week, I should have made an appointment before I spoke to the dr even though I didn't think there was anything they could do. Then she wouldn't have had to wait and would have got her antobiotics earlier. So yes, she will be seen sometimes when she doesn't need to be and there is nothing they can do, and she is overburdoning the NHS, better that than having to wait for hours and have her condition worsen.
I was also cross that the receptionist said there would be appointments available both times that I rang and there weren't by the time the Dr got back to me which is why we had to wait. Otherwise I could have made a provisional appointment, to keep or cancel, once I'd spoken to the Dr.
So yes, very frustrated, but I won't write to my drs, just moan at mumsnetters instead.
Does no-one understand how horrible it is sitting in a busy waiting room with an ill, upset, feverish child for 45mins, who then finally gets home, then gets upset that mummy has to leave her for over an hour to get prescription, then goes to sleep, only to have to be woken up again and get very upset and have to be given medicine.
When if we'd received promised appointment we wouldn't have had to wait, could've got antib's across the road and no upset etc. Aren't I allowed to be a bit annoyed!?

kind of crossed posts there with Twiglett

Yes we DO understand. But if they are crying and whinging I promise you they really aren't "that" ill. That's a good sign. It's horrid for you, yes. Worrying, yes, but not an emergency. And the surgery has to prioritise people on that basis.

Hang on, you are making appointments just in case? Has it occurred to you that people doing this is the reason why you had to wait?

If you were that worried, why didn't you go to A&E

Yes we do understand how worried you were - we have all been there. My dd ended up in hospital for 2 days when she had a similar episode

I think you are overreactin, albeit understandably.

Oh and if the doctor thought it was serious he would have admitted her to hospital. It is a good idea to start antibiotics immediately but tbh I don't think this was as serious as you think.

I am pleased she is getting better now. Listless floppy babies are frightening. It is easy to overreact when they are ill and full protective mode kicks in.

Look back on it in a few days when it is all in the past and you will have a better perspective

Also tip for future to help: LO's quite often will happily take meds in their sleep. Use a syringe. If this doesn't work then put the meds in a small amount of milk and effectively give them a "dreamfeed". That solves the waking her problem.

Absolutely Weegle, if they are whinging and crying then actually not that ill. It's those kids who are silent who tend to be the really ill ones - i've been there, and that is scary.
Spink - i used to work for the NHS, and DH still does, I do know what it's like but i don't honestly think the OP had a really awful time, or actually that she needed to go to A+E or mass book out appointments just in case

Sorry but yes YABU - and a bit precious. Sure you'll feel better abut the whole things once DD is over it.

I agree when that worried take child to A & E.

Having had some very nasty experiences with out of hours docs (i realise that is not the case here) when anything very worrying take to A & E.

Though sometimes long waits there depending on severity. At least they are triaged there.

Thanks will try the dreamfeed or syringe in futur, thats a useful tip.
RANT
I do think the Dr was quite worried about her as when i said should I get anitb's the next day, he said I could, but she could get alot worse in the night and they could send out an emergency dr with antibs in that case but would be better to start tonight. I didn't know the drs would have a dispensary - do they all have this?, 1 dose from them would've helped.
As it was she was worse in the night and the next morning - I could hear her chest crackling by the next morning as the antibs take a while to act, and her temp wouldn't go below 39, even with calpol etc.
Tigerfeet, I've never made an appointment just in case, but maybe I should do that from now on. I tried not to overburden the NHS by ringing for advice, that advice was to come in,
Should I have made an appointment when I didn't think there was anything they could do even though I was worried?
Should I have taken her to A&E, when I didn't think it was an emergency?
Or I could've just left it - for fear of overburdening the NHS - and she could've developed pneumonia.

I think you had good treatment, and a 45 minute wait is fine. I don't think that you should have done anything different.

NB there is supposed to be a 24 hour pharmacy available in most places - this is normally advertised in local papers, but GP should have advised you where to go.