Just checking if iabu before I kick off...

[TheSnootiestFox]

Is 4 and a half hours in an urgent treatment centre without being seen even for triage unreasonable for a 12 year old with a suspected broken foot? No pain relief, nothing and he's been crying and begging me for help for hours.....my blood is boiling but I just need a reality check before I decide whether to say something or not. Opinions please!

I raise you 7 hours with appendicitis culminating in perforated appendix.

YANBU but at least a broken foot isn’t particularly life threatening.

i went to A&E this week because of acute lower abdominal pain. I was fainting, being sick and crying with the pain. I sat for 5 hours before I was triaged, with an estimated wait time of 9 hours to see a doctor. I walked (was wheeled out) after 6 hours. At no point was I offered any pain relief either. Saw a private GP, referred to gastro consultant the next day. Scans/bloods etc tomorrow. She gave me antibiotics and strong painkillers to get me through the next few days until we know what’s going on.

our A&E departments / Injury units are broken and no amount of money will fix it

I'm sorry your son had had to wait and hope he gets his ankle sorted soon. He should be at least x-rayed and advice given. If you want to lay blame at anyone's door, direct it at your local MP and the government. The hard working doctors and nurses are just as frustrated and angry as you are. The system is at breaking point and no-one cares. We need to keep our NHS and properly fund and staff it.

I think as you have asked for pain relief and had no satisfactory response, I would speak to them again - politely - and say your child is in a great deal of pain and can he be seen quickly please if he is not allowed any pain relief until then.

The whole situation sounds quite appalling. I don't suppose it's the staff's fault - the NHS has been ground into the dirt over the last few years.

What bones did he break, OP? Has he got a cast on?

The organisation and attitude at the UTC doesn't sound very good at all, but to be fair, for a suspected fracture in the foot and a child in a lot of pain I think I would have opted for A&E instead of UTC.

The problem in this country is that things have changed so much these last few years about what you can expect from the NHS that people actually don't know how to use the various services. People genuinely don't know what to do for the best. They are floundering. It's awful.

I’m guessing you were at Brid UTC and have now been sorted at HRI? Glad your son has now been seen and sorted.

It’s a disgrace how all the towns in areas such as East Yorkshire have had A&E and UTC downgraded to the point everyone has to go to Hull to get proper treatment. At least an hour by road from Brid.

@funnelfan love that all east ridings people are trying to work out which rubbish UTC it could be….as there’s multiple 🤣

if I don’t laugh I will cry

I've had good experiences at Goole.
Beverley is dire though.

Gotta be Brid. It shuts early evening and there’s a Morrisons up the road which is presumably the shop that OP was directed to.

let’s face it, if you were at Bev with a kid in pain and a long wait, you’d just get a taxi into Hull wouldn’t you?

Kicking off is never good, by all means showing how upset you are and still being polite is the best way. Care staff on frontline get too much abuse from those who can't control themselves, you clearly can as you're asking.
When I've been in this situation worried I've burst into tears but never been aggressive.

I hope he got seen

They obviously vary, since our UTC can and does deal with fractures.

You went somewhere with daytime only opening hours and chose to sit under a poster for four hours telling you that 111 calls were prioritised (and didn't at that point call 111 to get said appointment or to check if you were in the right place) and then chose to go home instead of to 24 hour a+e.

The trouble with that is that we all know that 111 can take hours to get through to or to call you back if they decide that you need to speak to a doctor. It's also not clear that, if you've already clocked in at a UTC, phoning 111 from there will let you jump the queue; would you have to register again at reception? Otherwise I would worry that they wouldn't necessarily put two and two together to tie up the 111 referral with the patient who is already there.

Not everyone is able to, WonderingWanda
My son is 12 and severely autistic. He regularly goes through my bags looking for sweeties, and if he ever finds a blister pack of paracetomol, hayfever meds, IBS pills, etc, he will pop them all out and bite them in half. So I've had to stop carrying ANYTHING on me, it's just not safe. It's a proper PITA when I get a headache when out of the house, I just have to buy some on the hoof and then make sure they go in the safer medicines place at home.

FFS wind your neck in and try not to be so bloody patronising.

Why haven’t you given him pain relief at home?

I understand your feelings, I’d be upset too in your shoes, but you absolutely would be unreasonable to “kick off”. The staff won’t be making your 12-year-old wait without good reason. There will be cases as important, or more important in front of him. You don’t know what they are treating do you?

No it was Beverley would you believe? 🙄

No it was Beverley. But I've had a run in with HRI in the past about removing a child from the waiting room and them wanting to call social services as then I'd be refusing treatment for an injured child, so I stayed put. HRI is an 8 hour wait so I was reluctant to start again in any case. The car was outside so a taxi wasn't even the issue!

Well this is what you get for being a tory babes.

He went straight from school. I did say!

Waiting times are awful - I waited 5 hrs in A&E without been triaged all while passing out I had been passing clots for 4 weeks after a loss 3 months earlier (had been sent away by a previous dr who told me I was wasting his time as it was a period bearing in mind it had been going on 2 weeks and I was not bleeding all day just passing a clot once a day of up to 10cm of bright red blood) I was then sent up to the assessment unit as all the DRs were in resus and waited a further 5 hours til the Dr came on shift (same Dr who sent me away) finally found out I needed emergency blood transfusion and surgery (may not have if he'd have taken me seriously the first time!) as my artery had fused with my veins in my uterus and so my artery was bleeding into it!! I was passing out coz my brain wasn't getting enough blood or oxygen!!

I was sat by reception and they were treating broken fingers and cuts.

He didn't, but thank you x

Exactly! Thank you. And no the hospital did not have a bloody shop. I have said several times now! Even a couple of paracetamol would have helped.

That was at @WonderingWanda btw.