Child suffering - no doctor's appointments

[cofingalthetime]

So a friend's little boy aged 3 had a cold that hasn't gotten better - he has a chesty cough, and his eyes are very very sore with green gunk - obviously conjunctivitis. She just cannot get a doctor's appointment. Last night she rang 111 and they said they would send an ambulance, but it would take 6 hours so she took him to A&E but after 5 hours, without even seeing a triage nurse, she brought him home again. On the phone to the doc again this morning, and no appointments. I've just seen the little boy - he's totally listless lying on the sofa, his eyes glued together, breathing sounds awful and his cough is terrible. He just needs some antibiotics? She tried the pharmacist but he would only give her a cough medicine. My friend herself sounds terrible, with an awful cough and she looks terrible, I think she has a chest infection. This must be being duplicated across the whole country - I can imagine people ending up in hospital with pneumonia because they couldnt see a doctor. What should she do... I said maybe go to the surgery with the child so they can see how sick he is...?

My DD was taken to hospital in an ambulance and spent 2 nights in hospital when she had a cold. I phoned NHS24 for advice and they sent out an ambulance as they were so worried about her. Simple things like coughs, colds and eye infections can make little ones really ill.

I am shocked the GP hasn't seen him in all this time. My GP saw my 2 year old last week, despite no appointments and me calling outside the phone call hours. Marked him as urgent, was thoroughly examined, given the necessary medication and he was a new boy by the evening. (He had v similar symptoms including conjunctivitis, a horrific chesty cough, hard work to breathe as seen by his tummy muscles sucking in when inhaling and a fever). Similarly, a friend with an ill 2 year old at a different practice in another part of the UK, was given an appointment on a day the surgery was actually closed for training. She arrived and the shutters were down but the GP was standing in the car park waiting for them. Incredible, attentive, caring and conscientious GPs. So grateful and reassuring. I wish all surgeries were like this and I hope your friend and her son get the medical attention they need very, very soon. If GP isn't cutting it, a long wait at a&e sounds like their only option.

Sounds like a her problem if she couldn’t be arsed sitting in A&E it can’t be that much of an emergency

GO back to a&e, i've sat there for 8hours plus and my twins are younger. Yet have had to go multiple times. It is draining but has to be done.

111 do usually phone back with a doctor? Mine have called back to video (my son had a fall) and prescribed antibiotics. There are options

They do if a child is over 2 years old

Online GP. About £40. Includes prescriptions.

It's a real shame, but this is the way this are going. And I say that with 25 years NHS service. It's so sad that services are as broken as they are and the government is less than useless.

Hope they both feel better soon.

I would never, ever take a chance with a small child.

My 25 year old was really ill when she was 19 months. Took her to the GP (because back then you could!) - think he gave her antiobiotics. I was still very concerned, and the next day she was totally listless (trust me, you will know listless if you see it!) so I went back. Different GP, took one look at her and sent us to the nearest children's hospital. She had pneumonia.

I'd literally be beating doors down to get my child seen, in this situation.

The thing is - you know your child. Don't be fobbed off. If it doesn't feel right - it usually isn't.
I took my 2 week old to a&e where they told me he was fine, but I knew he wasn't right/wasn't the same as before. It was only because we insisted that they monitored him for an hour (which they did "just to reassure" us) that they realised he great rsv and his oxygen levels were very low. So ill that he was admitted and was on oxygen for 2 weeks.

GP situation is terrible. DH had to go to hospital with his back problem on Monday as when he phoned the Dr for a prescription they said he would get a phone call in 3 weeks time! Chiropractor was unavailable & he was in so much pain we had to go to A&E for pain relief & drugs to stop the spasms - we were there for 8 hours

I haven’t RtFT since I posted but I hope the child has been seen.
my friend had to drive himself to A&E with chest pains as no ambulance was available . Couldn’t access GP and was told to go to a walk in centre. What a collosal shot show the nhs is.

So if your baby is turning blue before your eyes you would shout for help? You'd just sit and wait your four hours whilst your baby with a heart condition desats and turns cyanotic?

Just British things ... Mustn't make a fuss!

I wasn’t sure about this either.

Baby's eyes haven't developed as much as an adults. Their vision is only as close as to see mum when breastfeeding.

Eyedrops need to be prescribed with babies to reduce the risk of long-term damage to the baby's vision and ensure that it's the correct one.

For example, if babies are born with chlamydia in the eye you don't want over the counter drops as the baby is going blind and needs to be monitored and referred accordingly.

Breastmilk is better than any eyedrops.

Your friend needs to call 111 and ask for an out of hours GP appointment. No need to wait for hours at A&E.

I think if the kid in question had been born with chlamydia in his eyes, they'd have known about it before now since HE IS THREE.

Poor boy, hope he improves or his mum can get him seen soon if he’s not.

In the 80’s when my brother was about 4/5 he came down very ill with a fever which wouldn’t go, v tired, sick. My mum was able to speak to the local GP at about 9pm that night. GP gave advice and said to bring him straight in in the morning if no improvement.

You can imagine her shock when there was a knock at the door at 2am and there was the GP. He literally said ‘hope you don’t mind but driving past I saw the lights on and your boy has been playing on my mind all night, can I see him?’ The doctor was concerned about meningitis, my brother was fine by the way but it always stuck with my mum.

Suppose it’s sad hearing this poor mum poorly herself dragging this little boy out for hours… it feels like we were pretty spoilt in the past….or maybe just v lucky to have that GP!

The duty of care starts as soon as she walks into A&E. She needs to go back asap and sit it out

Chloramphenicol eye drops can be bought over the counter for eye infections, no need for prescription. Any chemist can supply them.

Conjunctivitis can be treated OTC. So see what pharmacist would prescribe. If she goes through a and e she will be best going early morning. Take his buggy and a comfort blanket so he can sleep if he wants and will be more comfortable than those awful chairs. Ginger tea with lemon and homey works better than any cough medicine I've ever had. As well as drinking plenty of water gets the phlegm up.

The mother left the child suffering by leaving a an e had she off stayed then child would be on road to recovery now!

@Creameggs223 or the more reasonable answer is if they had stated they would still be waiting in some forsaken corner of the A&E

stayed *

For his eyes get some optrex from the pharmacy.

Let’s face it, that is more than incredibly unlikely. He would have been seen by now and would either be sent home with the appropriate medication or might have been admitted. They wouldn’t be sat in an A&E waiting room 24 hours later.

I work in a GP practice and there are plently of both face to face and telephone slots for urgent same day appointments. The routine ones are 5-6 weeks wait :( . No one would be turned away with a sick child.
If your GP practice is particularly rubbish. I would turn up and sit in waiting room until seen!!!!

maybe the practice you work in but the one I work in is slammed! No appts left by about 9am usually and literally urgent stuff slotted in as and when.
the GPS work really
hard and I have just left tonight at 6:30 after an 8am start leaving the Gp who also should have finished at 6:30 ( and started at 8am with no lunch break) to do over 50 urgent blood results and 2 patients to see plus countless tasks - they are human too and can only safely work so many hours -
the issue is not enough GPs and to be honest I wouldn’t want to be one either.