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?

If you were worried then why didn't you just take her to the doc's anyway?

I do honestly think that the shock of it all has made you overreact (sorry)

Yes she needed to start the ab's that night but that doesn't constitute an emergency

When you have a baby that has a rash, that doesn't come round from the floppiness and listlessness at all, that can't keep down calpol so gets no relief - that is when it is an emergency

It will have done your dd no harm to be woken for the first dose. In fact my doctor has told me in the past that many children that have high temperatures improve by a trip to the docs as the fresh air (for a short while) can help bring the temp down.

In your position I think I would have gone to the doctor without ringing first. Your dd was clearly ill enough to be seen and you were worried - why wait to speak to a doctor first?

i didn't say anyone should "mass book out appointments just in case". I think it is fair enough, if your child is ill, and you are not sure how serious it is, to take them to see the doctor, at the earliest time available, rather than to wait and see.

It is not like I'm advocating going to the GP because your dc is having a bit of a grumpy afternoon.

And I don't think LittleB was treated awfully or that her experience is complaint worthy. But the NHS, wonderful as it is in many ways, CAN BE a ponderous and less-than-brilliantly effective thing. This may not be true in LittleB's situation, but it might be. In any case, surely it is understandable that she was somewhat stressed out?

So what would everyone else do in same situation? Child at times not too bad, drinking ok, but v.clingy, at other times, listless, falling asleep alot and quiet, higher temperature than ever before, runny nose, slight cough, no other symptoms, lots of viruses about;
would you ;
ring for advice
Book appointment
Take child to non-appointment/walk in surgery
Take child to A&E?

Yes I have had a few times walking a sick baby around outside A&E that it is v. effective in reducing temperature! Pretty much all the paeds do is flannel them down and walk them around outside!

It's the floppy/non-responsive ones they worry about.

I would have gone to A & E if I was worried.

LittleB I would do just what you did - go to the sit-and-wait clinic. What you did was fine.

Seriously, she WILL get this sick again. She WILL get sicker. There WILL be REALLY WORRYING DAYS AND HOURS. You won't EVER get used to it. It will ALWAYS be stressful. You will ALWAYS feel like your head is going to explode with worry. But it is only when they are non-responsive and can't be 'brought round' with Calpol and walks in cool air that it is an EMERGENCY. And in my experience GP is always very happy to refer to children's unit immediately if s/he is seriously concerned.

I never said it was an emergency.
Next time I will take her to Drs straight away, as I queried earlier, and was shot down for booking appointments just in case! the Dr did tell me about the nearest 24hr pharmacy which is where I went, but I'm in a rural area and its in the next town, took me over an hour to get there and back, during which I had to leave clingy dd (I stayed off work to care for her).

I think you did the right things and got good service. I'm glad she is on the mend.

I would have booked appointment and stuck to it, in the meantime alternating calpol and calprofen. If there were no appointments I would have accepted the 5.30pm drop in surgery, again meanwhile alternating calpol/calprofen. In the meantime if my child's condition deteriorated and failed to respond to meds to the point of being listless and unresponsive, or in my child's case, looking like a fit was imminent, I would have put in the car and taken to A&E. Of course the last bit is a judgement call only you can take.

I am stressed and probably over reacting a bit, but I was very worried and cross that promised appointments didn't materialise, and I couldn't get antibs for her more quickly. But useful tip about giving her meds at night, I will try that.
I hope she won't ever get sicker than this - she was much worse later that night, and I would've taken her to A&E then if she hadn't already been seen and was on anitbs as they took a while to help her.

If your dd has a temp that high then you are not booking an appointment "just in case" - sorry I think I misunderstood you. (I thought you meant in future you would be booking an appointment at the slightest sniffle in case it got worse). You had a legitemate concern and you were rightfully using an appointment, "jsut in case" doesn't come into it.

Please, don't overanalyse what happened. Next time she has a temp that high just book an appointment, no need to ask for an opinion first.

If she isn't responding to calpol, develops a rash or can't keep the medication down, go to A&E.

So does anybody ever ring their GP for advice or do you always book an appointment when your dcs are ill?

I think you did the right thing by hanging on and not making an appointment if you weren't that worried about her. Even if you had taken her at that point they might not have diagnosed the bronchitus then anyway.

But I do think that if you end up needing to be seen the same day, you have to be prepared to wait if you can't be given a definite slot.

Mind you, even with a definite appointment I've had to wait 45 mins to be seen as the doctor has been really busy and run over.

It doesn't bother me, but I work in the NHS so understand how things can go a bit tits up.

Sorry cross posted, TigerFeet, thanks.

Actually it's bronchitis . A shocking error from a medical secretary .

I tend to ring to see if they think they need to see her or not, they have a Triage Doctor for that purpose. It works really well.

I book an appointment (sometimes after looking for advice on here first if I am unsure - quicker than waiting for the docs to call back )

My doctor is very sympathetic and says she would rather see 10 children that are fine and catch the one that is really poorly than not see any children at all.

When my dd was about 18 months old she got a rotovirus - floppy and non responsive, couldn't keep calpol down, suppositories couldn't stay put either, she got a rash (that did disappear with the glass test admittedly) and cooling measures were not working. That was an A&E job although as it was a virus antibiotics were no good but she spent two days on a drip which sorted her out nicely. Very very scary at the time but three days later you would never have thought that there was anything wrong with her!

Never thought to cal the doc, never go near our doctors on call scheme. I either treat at home, take to doc (can always get appointments that day) or if at night will wait until morning to book appointment if not serious, will go to A&E if temp not being controled with calpol and wet flannels or if I am worried. MIL is an retired childrens nurse and I am a nursery nurse so between us we know if it looks serious. We are so close to A&E that if it was serious enough to call a doc out inthe night we would go to A&E instead. They never send docs out now anyway you have to go in to docs on call which is next to A&E, but they faff you about and keep you waiting longer.

My DD was up all night a couple of weeks ago screaming with ear ache. I rang the GP's first thing in the morn, eventually got through mid morn and there was no appointment availaibe and all they could suggest was that I come and wait at 5.30, but they warned me it would be a long wait. She was still screaming with ear ache so i took her to A&E. I knew that if I had an appointment at 6 I would have trouble picking up a prescription and would have a bit of a drive. I had an 1/2 wait at A&E, they gave me a prescription that I could pick up at the hospital pharmacy and she started to improve as soon as she got the antibiotics in her system. So in future I would do that again.

If mine are ill when the surgery opens then I make an appointment for them if I think they need to see a doctor. The only times I've phoned the duty doctor for advice is when something has come on suddenly during the day, an asthma attack that doesn't seem to be getting any better. I only use A&E if it's something that really can't wait, eg when dd was having trouble breathing and needed to be seen asap.

My sister tried to get an appointment for her daughter two weeks ago, when suddenly developed a temperature of 40 and was virtually passing out, and having trouble breathing.

She was essentially fobbed off by the GP receptionist who told her it was just a virus and she'd have to wait for a few hours to see if a cancellation came in. My sister took my her daughter to casualty where took one look at her, took her stats and put her straight into the Rescus room. To cut a long story short, she had pneumonia, and could have died. Her oxygen levels were so low she could have keeled over any moment (about 85% by the time she went to A&E). As it is she spent three days in HDU on IV antibiotics, and is back to her usual 4 yr old self now. But that GP's surgery, well...

If you're really, really worried, bypass them if they're being unreasonable.

I always ring for advice, especially if I don't think I need to physically see a doctor - sometimes it's a simple question, other times I ask if I need to come in.

Our surgery promotes the service. There is a poster describing the different kinds of appointments: pre-booked, same day, home visits and phone consultations for when you can't, or don't need to come in. They ring at the end of morning/afternoon surgery.

I think it is normal to wait until the end of surgery if you then needed to see them them, however, getting the ABs the same day is the most important thing. I can see that it was distressing to wait around and then have to drive and get them from somewhere else and so on, but really, I think that had to be your call as to whether you took the appointment then or waited to speak to the doctor in which case, if it was necessary to see them, it would be later.

Next time ask yourself if you are prepared to wait considering your chemist will be closed and you think your child may need ABs, and if not, accept the earlier time.

YABU. A child with a temp is worrying for the parent but not neccarily an emergency. And there are a lot of sick people around at the moment. They were just very busy I would guess.

However I do sympathise. I've found it most helpful to ring the out of hours service - usually you can get an appointment within an hour or so - a bit of a wait when you get there but never as long as you had to wait.

And they usually give you the anti-bs there and then.

I think as parents we can all get over anxious at times, However there are a few things worth pointing out. A trip out to see GP, go to out of hours DR, will do the child no harm, it will in most cases help reduce the childs temperature, hence they turn up at the surgery and the temp is down. ( so many parents get very irrate that a dr will not visit a child because of this.
Also temp can usually be controlled to some degree ( it will always go back up if body is fiting an infection, that is what it is supposed to do) but both ecalpol and ibuprofen piggybacked work very well in most cases,
Antibiotics take at least 24 hrs to kick into the system, so it is vital to have meds at home to help with ie temps etc. ( antibiotics still unfortunately over prescribed in some areas.
Also A&E is for just that, Accidents and Emergency, not really a child with signs of colds couighs etc, high temp but no other worrying symptoms. we all have to remember as said on here before it is the NHS and we are still very lucky to have it, IMO.