To say every hospital should have a children’s A&E

[Wouldloveanother]

I know, it’s pie in the sky and won’t happen.
the state of A&E scares me at the moment. It’s one thing adults waiting 12+ hours alongside people high on drugs or in mental distress (our A&E seems to have a lot of both), it’s another thing for a small child to have to wait in such circumstances. I also feel in general children should take priority over adults (perhaps that’s controversial) and they shouldn’t have to queue with us.
Where we lived before had a dedicated children’s A&E and it was fantastic. AIBU?

We have a children’s hospital with a children’s A&E, and a general hospital with a children’s waiting area. The children’s hospital/A&E would be my first choice every time not least because they have paediatric specialists on hand. In the time we would wait at the general hospital my child has been seen, triaged, seen a specialist for her condition, been medicated and discharged.

Exactly this, the last time I was in A&E, there was a woman continually trying to take her clothes off and another woman pointing at people shouting you have cancer, you have cancer, we are all going to die. Both had police officers waiting with them but they still had to wait for hours like the rest of us. It was obvious they were both suffering with MH crises but still distressing to witness, even as an adult.

Our local hospital has a separate waiting area for children. Which I have been glad of in the past. It shields them from the carnage that adult a&e can be, and it also has toys and books etc.

We have a children’s A&E and it was still distressing and took ages, a young man who had been stabbed and was clearly under the influence of drugs was threatening to kill the staff and kept screaming in a room full of small children.

We have a separate peads A and E (actually different site) which has been fantastic for DS.

on the issue of people in mental distress (which can be children to) hospitals really need a safe place they can wait rather than adding to their distress in the main waiting room.

A separate waiting area makes sense if possible but YABU to think that children should jump the queue. As demonstrated on MN many parents take their children to A&E at the drop of a hat for a cold or slight temperature. The sickest should be seen first.

@Sirzy - I completely agree. I also think we should have properly funded mental health teams rather than police officers to look after people in mental distress. Sadly our government chooses not to prioritise these things.

Why should children be protected and given better resources and no one else? With your logic there should be a children's A&E, a disabled people's A&E, Elderly, Chronically ill etc. Kids are resilient and will be fine around other people in distress. The issue isn't children having to see it but that patients are dealt with. Someone in mental distress should be supported, not hidden from view of precious children

But children can have mental crises. Every time I've been in ED with my DS there has been a child MH patient in there as well (over dose, psychosis, suicidal, self harm, behaviour etc)

YANBU. I remember being in A&E as a child when I broke my arm, i found the drunk, shouting people terrifying and I can still remember it. My nearest hospital has a separate childrens A&E and it's a brilliant idea. So much calmer for upset and ill children.

I actually didn’t realise that not all hospitals have a children’s A&E. I’ve never been to a hospital where the kids are in the same area as the adults.

Children present differently to adults so yes they should be assessed separatley and in some cases, yes they should be seen quicker than an adult (a child with sepsis might compensate for longer than an adult does so while they might seem in better condition on arrival they will deteriorate much quicker when they can't compensate anymore, both patients are equally in need of emergency medical assistance though). I'm not sure how much waiting times would decrease though, my local hospital does have a children's A&E, waiting times are still very long.

The problem with children is that because they deteriorate quickly, you might see a child seeming quite happy in the waiting room who is still dangerously unwell, unless you are a medical professional and have assessed that child (which as a patient in A&E you won't be) you have no idea if their parents are over reacting or not.

I have a mental illness and 2 children - I'm not dangerous but I wouldn't want my children witnessing me having a severe suicidal episode, I certainly wouldn't want them witnessing me having a psychotic episode (thankfully only ever happened once and I wasn't doing anything dangerous) ! No children shouldn't be shielded from all mental illness, but they should be shielded from some of it! That's what the OP meant.

Also yes children can also suffer a MH crisis but a child having a crisis and shouting/acting erratically while scary, isn't as scary as a 6ft tall man doing the same thing. That's not fair but it is true.

Separate waiting area where there are toys to keep them entertained - yes

Priority treatment - YABVVU

As a pp said if that is the case there will be many parents of PFBs thinking their little darling should be treated ahead of someone having a heart attack

Our local hospital now has a childrens A&E it did used to be one so YANBU there

but I was there this week it was absolutely awful

6hours wait with a child with a head injury bleeding continuously and not seen by anyone

parents having arguments on the phone with family members extremely worried and anxious parents pushing the staff for answers

ive used the NHS for life saving treatment for myself and my child and never seen it as bad as I did this week

so separate space away is a good idea but nothing much changes

Absolutely this. Treat the sickest first.

Children will be triaged still so that's not going to happen however in a case such as a child being hit by a car and an adult being hit by a car, the child will seen first due to their size meaning they are more likely to get internal injuries, brain bleeds and really severe injuries than the adult is. In the case of dehydration children have less body fluid than adults and will need to be seen quicker than an adult who is dehydrated. A child with a fever is more likely to have convulsions than an adult with a fever because their bodies don't coll down as effectively. There are many reasons that children are often prioritised over adults - a child with a broken arm obviously will not be ahead of a heart attack, an infant in respitory distress sucking in at the ribs and neck might be.

But that wouldn’t happen, because the two units would have their own staff?

Erm, no, children shouldn't automatically get priority over adults unless you mean in the way they currently do via triage if their being a child makes their medical need more urgent than an adult?

Imagine a hospital trying to run that way. "Yes, Mr Jones is in cardiac arrest but a child with a sore finger has just arrived so sod him!"

Goodness sakes.

I think you’ve all misunderstood. I don’t mean priority in the sort of scenarios made up here, I just mean in terms of having their own A&E.

Our local hospital used to have a separate waiting area for children. Now it no longer sees children in A&E. Instead of a 9 mile drive to A&E parents in our town have to travel 40 miles - 1 hr 20 minutes on a good day. Other areas in the county have to travel even further. They have also closed the children's ward so should a child present with symptoms requiring an overnight stay they would have to travel anyway.

Yes, I agree. We have a children's A&E and it's fantastic, a much better space for children to wait away from ill or distressed adults. You get triaged in the main A&E and then sent through to children's.

No idea what the difference in wait times is because once you're in children's, you don't see the adult one - it's a completely different area with different doctors.

So you think a childrens' A&E should be the priority over a general A&E? That if a hospital can only have one, it should have one only for children? That's even weirder to be honest...

Paeds a&e is great. I attended with one of the DC a couple of years ago now. We still had a long wait, just in a room for parents/kids with toys/books and then the nurses were paeds nurses. It was just tailored to their age group and not queue jumping, we were still there all night long… also unwell adults probably don’t want to listen to screaming children 🤷‍♀️

Just to add it was literally just a small 4 bedded room and assessment cubicle, inside the main a&e with its own small waiting room.