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!

That's terrible. I hope you are seen soon at A&E. You're poor son, it must be incredibly painful.

ignore me, just read the post confirming she wasn’t seen. That’s horrible

At our paediatric A & E kids are given Calpol & Ibuprofen when they are triaged if there is a suspected fracture or have a fever.

OP have you made it to an A&E now?

Ring 111 & get an appointment to go back to A & E ASAP, your poor boy being left in agony all night. It isn't good enough, this country is going downhill rapidly. We should be making more noise about things like this, if anyone affected wrote a letter to their MP & the local paper maybe someone would get their finger out & do something. This is one time the Daily Fail picking up a story would be useful.

My son had a nasty injury at school on a metal scooter with no rubber around the handles. The scooter sliced open his mouth and bent his two bottom front teeth (adult) I normally swerve our local hospital (10 min drive ) to go to the minor injuries (30 min drive) as the standard of minor injuries is do much higher. But due to the state he was in we took a chance. This was a Monday afternoon, we waited 6 hours to be seen as the children's a&e had NO doctor. He couldn't eat or drink although eventually the bleeding stopped. (Probably looked worse with saliva) no meds and no where to get them from. When we were seen the doctor wasn't a children's doctor and knew nothing about teeth!! He rang the children's hospital two cities away for advise who booked him in for next day. No stitching as it had started to heal. The children's hospital (which is excellent) were openly disgusted when they saw the state of his mouth. Thankfully they saved his teeth but his chin is covered in scars due to the fact he wasn't treated properly. He was 6. It is more than two years on and the scars are still very clear. I do not understand how we live in a society where this is acceptable.

I voted YABU because there's no point in kicking off. Believe me they're not sitting around playing video games. But it does seem like a very long time without even being triaged. Especially for a minor.

It took me just over 6 hours beginning to end about a month and a half ago in Homerton. And the doctor missed both fractures, but that's another story.

Well that's daft/untrue (the poster not the OP!). It will be down to the seriousness of the condition. My DH was sent in to A&E by his GP and it still took 12 hours to be seen by a doctor with many hours to be triaged initially. I cannot remember how long - it was a long night

Give him paracetamol yourself

Yes, those mean nurses won’t help. Oh piss off.

Only just reading this at 5:30 so too late. But in future be aware that nothing will happen between 21:00 and at least 07:00. Honestly I'd cut my losses go home give him some paracetamol and or ibuprofen and start again as early doors as you can manage (best time to be seen is probably around 7:30/8am, fresh day staff and a hospital full of doctors). Good luck.

This isn't A+E.

Op didn't ring 111 I guess so she decided to go to Urgent Care not A+E. If that's the same type of place we have, it doesn't do xrays but it can do antibiotics, glue small wounds etc, and you can get an appointment via 111. Like an emergency GP service plus minor injuries. Ours does have an appointment system that runs alongside a drop in.

Broken foot? A+E

At first ask politely if you are definitely on the list because you have been there 4 hours without triage and son really needs pain relief etc. Once I was at a minor injuries unit with daughter for a dressing change ...kept on seeing people who arrived after us go in (nature of the place we were meant majority of people would not be emergencies) asked politely if we were on the list .
Next thing I know we were called in. Sometimes it pays to be polite

Sorry just Read through the thread and see you did this / you are now home.

Whole situation sounds unacceptable.

Its an UCC, they close at a certain time, they are not designed to be staffed overnight! What do you expect the staff to so? Many of them will be rostered on to work at 0700 next morning.

Did you give any painkillers at home?

I think as a country we are becoming very accepting/tolerant of extremely poor/low/nil service. We just say “oh that’s the way it is”. It really isn’t acceptable that the OP has had to wait many many hours to be seen. It isn’t acceptable that people are waiting in A&E for 12 hours. That elderly are waiting in corridors. That schools don’t have enough funds. That roads are full of bloody pot holes, that local councils can’t afford to provide statutory services etc etc. But does anyone do anything about it? No. We will vote in another bank supporting government and carry on until there is nothing to be proud of anymore. And the rich just get richer. So sad. I fear for my old age I really do.

Just read your post and am outraged on your behalf. Why didn't they send you to A&E immediately if they couldn't definitely treat you in UC? I hope you and son have actually been seen now.

Do they even do broken bones at the urgent treatment centre? I’d always go to A&E for a break personally

Didn't read thoroughly @ArcticSkewer and assumed a&e where I would go (and did with DS) for suspected bone breaks

I'm sorry you've had to wait but your attitiude absolutely stinks.

1. No kicking off absolutely doesn't get you seen any quicker. The only thing it might quite rightly do is get you kicked out of the building. The system is a triage system based on people's needs. If you're waiting it means that people more poorly than your son need care more urgently. That's exactly how it works. There are no real shortcuts

2. The nurses aren't choosing not to triage him/medicate him for the fun of it. They're prioritising their work. You're right to find it worrying that they've been unable to get to you you're sbaolutely wrong to 'kick off' at them. Do you honestly think there's much more that they can do? Complain to PALs and your local MP but shouting at the only people who actually give a shit about the NHS will get nobody anywhere

3. You do know you can give him paracetamol and ibuprofen yourself and they're really cheap? Why on earth wouldn't you do that if he's suffering?

I don't think your experience is a good one but I think you need to think really carefully about who you're angry at. Attitudes like this will eventually demoralise the frontline staff so much that there aren't any left. And when that happens I promise you they'll be far far happier working for Virgin Health than you will be paying for it trust me

My nearest one does apparently

I hope your DS is ok OP. Just wanted to make you feel a bit better, in that I called 111 for a broken bone, was given an appointment at the urgent treatment centre. Got there for my appointment and was told they weren’t honouring an appointment slots because they were too busy.
So calling ahead doesn’t always help.
As it was it took 3.5 hours to be triaged and the person who did it didn’t even look at my injury or give pain relief just asked the same questions I’d had to answer on the phone to 111 and again at reception.

I voted YABU for not taking your child with a suspected broken foot to A&E in the first place.

Urgent Care is not for broken bones.

It’s wrong, really wrong and really sad but I’d expect this with anything UC/A&E related.

I had a very poorly little girl recently (age 3) and we were waiting hours before we were seen as the doctor wasn’t even on site.

Sad and scary.