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!

Honestly be that shouty chav, it went against every grain my body but it got my mum seen and got her pain relief. I apologised after and they were fine but you do need to be aggressive unfortunately

I'm so sorry you are in this very distressing situation @TheSnootiestFox , your poor poor lad🙏, I hope things start moving in the right direction very soon🙏💙
Imo the posters giving you a hard time are out of order!

I'd be tempted to ice it and keep it elevated on a pillow, both get a few hours sleep and then pack a little lunch bag for you both & drive to A&E in the night, 4/5am.. it should be quieter then and hopefully you'll be seen quicker than if you go back to that place at 8am when you're going to have the same thing with 111 calls going ahead of you!

If you are going to A&E, they will probably want him to be nil by mouth till they’ve triaged him. Only in case a fracture had to be reduced under sedation. Good luck gettIng seen, hope he’s ok x

You're supposed to report not just say Troll

I really think we should dump the NHS and adopt a French style system.

It's ironic that in 2012 at the Olympics opening ceremony we were trumpeting the NHS as something to be proud of.

I guess it's not acceptable, but that's a political/economic statement. I doubt very much anyone is not doing their job correctly. I'm not sure of the relavence of being 12 is. I'd say that might move him down the list not up, provided he's otherwise healthy. Guideline are to see people within 4hrs. This isn't happening as it should.

I'm so sorry you're in this situation. It's shit and what makes it even worse is that it's pretty standard. You should not be expecting that kind of wait time for anyone in pain, never mind a child. But it has become the norm.

I was in an UTC and a combined UTC/A and E just after Christmas because my mum dislocated her elbow. I sat in the car and cried after I eventually left her for the night. So much because of her situation - she received very good (if rather slow) care and the nurses and doctors were all so patient and compassionate. But because of the whole picture. There was a very elderly lady brought in by her family straight from a nursing home with a bleeding head wound. She was sitting in a wheelchair in the waiting area with paper towels pressed to her head and was still there when I came back out to the waiting area to get my mum's overnight bag 4 hours later. Her family were just telling reception that they were taking her back to the home for the night because she was getting too cold waiting. There was a young woman feeling so ill that she was lying against her mum sobbing. When we got into the A and E area the corridors were lined with trolleys with people sleeping on them, there for the night at least. Really old, frail people, still fully clothed and being sort of cared for by stupidly busy A and E nurses on public corridors instead of being on a ward. My mum spent the night in a chair and finally got a bed the next morning and she was one of the luckier ones. I spent a bit of time outside talking to paramedics who were waiting with their patients. One ambulance had been there for 3 hours and still had the patient in the back. It was horrendous and it still makes me want to cry thinking about it. I was on the fence about the paramedic and nursing strikes until that point (I understood the reasons but thought the harm outweighed the potential good). That night changed my mind. Something HAS to change.

I hope you get seen soon and that the painkillers are helping a bit.

Tell him to yell louder. I suspect that will escalate you in the queue.

' Not* so much because of her situation', I meant to write.

OP can someone drop off food etc? I was in with elderly mum - who had a stroke and a fall - and it was 18 hours on a trolley for her. Luckily a neighbour packed up food while the paramedics were steadying her ....because neighbour also knows what A&E is like now.

really feel for you both

I honestly think in this situation I'd take him to a&e

Why on Earth would a diabetic leave the house without their insulin and adequate snacks? It’s like everyone turns up at hospital and turns to jelly, totally dependant on the system for every single need.

I'm sorry your ex was I'll but I agree I've no idea why he wasn't prepared.

With regards to your son - make sure you have charger, food and drink and cash etc. Maybe a warm hoody or something.

We don't have urgent treatment centres here, only minor injuries and a&e. I'm presuming you don't have MI?

Hope you get seen soon op.

I also assumed you had gone straight to A&E.

Rest up for a couple of hours until they quieten down. It's now 'chucking out' time' so avoid that.

Get laid down with his ankle elevated, with ice (or frozen peas). Call 111 if you're worried it's more than a sprain.

@RobertsRadio

I really think we should dump the NHS and adopt a French style system.

How does that work, then?

This is for A&E

Broken bones arent always straight forward
They can be limb threatening and sometimes worse!

I would go now if i was you

Huh I my son had an asthma attack late last year.rang for an ambulance and got told none available so I drove him to a&e. By then I managed to get his asthma back under control but he was sweating and shaking and they still made us wait 3 hours. It was only when he collapsed on the floor they came running out all of which I kept saying to reception he said he felt like he was going to collapse before it happened. We spent the next 4 days in hospital and turned out he had pneumonia which had set his asthma off.he only 12 its a disgrace they used to see kids fairly quickly

And this is why we desperately need to get rid of the fucking Tories who have spent over a decade deliberately and systematically destroying the NHS.

I took my dh insulin etc when he was rushed in last year even tho he was in severe dka. Which I didn't know at the time but I took it anyways.

The 111 patients being seen when they arrive isn't necessarily queue jumping. When 111 told me to go to urgent care they booked an appointment for the next available time. It meant I waited for 4 hours at home rather than sitting in the hospital. Not that I got to skip the queue entirely.

FFS.

Absolutely appalling. They close at night??? I hate to say it but I saw better hospital treatment in a developing African country 10 years ago.
RICE while you’re at home with paracetamol as per instructions on packet. Your poor child. Email your MP.

i thought OP was seen? She said drugs and rest was the advice.