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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Just checking if iabu before I kick off...

435 replies

TheSnootiestFox · 29/03/2023 22:59

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!

OP posts:
MonkeyMindAllOverAround · 30/03/2023 07:05

Notnormalami · 29/03/2023 23:06

Go and complain OR ring 111 and queue jump...

Show quote history

I have found in the past that walking outside for a moment to call 111 made a massive difference.

Having said that, things may have changed with the NHS so short staffed. I was taken into AE by ambulance in the last year with breathing difficulties and they left me waiting for hours. I left after six hours without being seen because by then I could breath easier.

Advicerequest · 30/03/2023 07:15

Yes it's unreasonable. I broke my wrist a few years ago and was seen immediately despite queue

Bikeybikeface · 30/03/2023 07:15

How is he now op? Our a&e has a children’s a&e and although it’s still busy, it’s not AS busy and you don’t have to wait in the Star Wars bar.

Pipsquiggle · 30/03/2023 07:22

This is the output of chronically and systematically underfunding a service for over 10 years. My family are hospital Dr's and nurses. It's truly awful that the tories have done this - making it so bad to be sold off in pieces to their mates

I am so sorry about your son. I hope he has been seen and has got pain relief

Advicerequest · 30/03/2023 07:22

Is there any hospital within an hour and a half driving distance of you with pediatric a and e? I recently took my daughter to my local depressing hospital but it does has pediatric a and E and she was whisked in right away past all the queues of Ill looking people (zombie apocalypse vibe) given brilliant care and a bed.

U2HasTheEdge · 30/03/2023 07:40

coffeecupsandwaxmelts · 30/03/2023 07:03

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.

If that's the case, why wasn't she told to go to A&E when she walked in/ booked him in? They obviously knew he was there was a suspected foot injury.

In my area, you have to go to A&E who will then triage and send you to urgent care or elsewhere. We don't have a separate UC.

I hope your son gets seen soon OP.

WonderingWanda · 30/03/2023 07:40

Why on earth didn't you give him some paracetamol before you went? Surely you have some in your handbag? I get that you are frustrated by the wait but you are his parent you can give him pain relief too!

MrsCarson · 30/03/2023 07:45

I went with my broken foot yesterday. I took ibuprofen about 4 hours before I was seen for an x-ray waited 2 hours once I got there (At the local minor injuries unit). They put a boot thing on it Now waiting for a call from fracture clinic.
Hope he's ok.

ancientgran · 30/03/2023 07:47

I took GS to A&E a couple of weeks ago, another football injury. He is just 18 so we waited about 5 hours, anyone under 18 were seen very quickly and some looked like they were 16 or 17 so it wasn't just very little ones being prioritised. We were triaged quickly though. I was told we were lucky because it was a quiet night.

Hope you get it sorted out today, I've broken my foot, not playing football, and it is painful.

ancientgran · 30/03/2023 07:48

WonderingWanda · 30/03/2023 07:40

Why on earth didn't you give him some paracetamol before you went? Surely you have some in your handbag? I get that you are frustrated by the wait but you are his parent you can give him pain relief too!

She said he was sent straight from school and we don't all carry painkillers with us. I don't and I know plenty of people who don't.

ancientgran · 30/03/2023 07:54

Noengagementhere · 30/03/2023 05:03

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

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There are mean nurses, they aren't all saints. I've got nothing against nurses, one of my kids is a nurse but it is pointless pretending they are all kind because they aren't.

WonderingWanda · 30/03/2023 07:55

ancientgran · 30/03/2023 07:48

She said he was sent straight from school and we don't all carry painkillers with us. I don't and I know plenty of people who don't.

Show quote history

Most people I know do so maybe you should start. Every newsagent /small convenience store / petrol station sells them, no doubt the hospital has a shop.

The op is carrying on as though the hospital have left him without some sort of specialist pain relief but all he will get is otc pain killers. He's broken his leg it is going to hurt for at least the next 6 weeks.

As for kicking off at the hospital staff over this, it's not their fault they are following protocol.

OnTheRunWithMannyMontana · 30/03/2023 07:56

trythisforsize · 29/03/2023 23:15

If it were me I would have given my child a couple of paracetamol plus before heading to A&E, and taken the packet with me.

For all you know they are resuscitating 6 car crash victims that came in on blue light. Harsh I know but your sons broken foot is not life and death - painful though. Raid the chocolate machine and keep his mind off it.

Unless of course if you mean bone-protuding-through-skin type of broken - then I'd be pissed at waiting 4 hours.

Unlikely in an urgent treatment centre.

Dyslexicwonder · 30/03/2023 07:58

TBH I am surprised school didn't give him a couple of paracetamol assuming senior school, Dd's seem to give them out like smarties (every headache, period pain etc).

ancientgran · 30/03/2023 08:03

WonderingWanda · 30/03/2023 07:55

Most people I know do so maybe you should start. Every newsagent /small convenience store / petrol station sells them, no doubt the hospital has a shop.

The op is carrying on as though the hospital have left him without some sort of specialist pain relief but all he will get is otc pain killers. He's broken his leg it is going to hurt for at least the next 6 weeks.

As for kicking off at the hospital staff over this, it's not their fault they are following protocol.

Show quote history

I've managed to get to 70 without needing to carry painkillers with me. Maybe you have a problem with dealing with normal things and need painkillers more than I do. I don't think taking too many painkillers is healthy, maybe you should stop?

KnittingNeedles · 30/03/2023 08:05

This is appalling @TheSnootiestFox and I hope you are seem promptly this morning. I cannot believe there is anyone who is trying to defend this sort of wait and put the blame back onto you for doing something or not doing something.

When the NHS works, it works well. My mum recently had to call an ambulance for my elderly dad and it was there in 20 minutes. Straight into A&E, triaged quickly, no trolleys in corridors and admitted the same night onto a ward. But sending a child home with a suspected broken ankle? Inhumane.

We need to seriously look at the NHS model as the current system is not sustainable. And yes, if that means going down a route of a paid-for insurance system like other European countries that is what we need to do.

ancientgran · 30/03/2023 08:05

WonderingWanda · 30/03/2023 07:55

Most people I know do so maybe you should start. Every newsagent /small convenience store / petrol station sells them, no doubt the hospital has a shop.

The op is carrying on as though the hospital have left him without some sort of specialist pain relief but all he will get is otc pain killers. He's broken his leg it is going to hurt for at least the next 6 weeks.

As for kicking off at the hospital staff over this, it's not their fault they are following protocol.

Show quote history

Wow amazing you have diagnosed his broken leg without seeing him, his mum thought it was a suspected broken foot.

The protocol isn't that you should wait over 4 hrs for triage.

Dyslexicwonder · 30/03/2023 08:10

I thought it was a broken toe, very different from a broken ankle or a broken leg. The management of the toe is likely to be conservative ( strapping, support, pain killers) rather than plaster casts and operations.

WonderingWanda · 30/03/2023 08:12

@ancientgran I'm not suggesting it is right that waiting times are so long in the NHS. I am saying she is unreasonable to consider "kicking off" to staff it is not their fault. It is perfectly sensible to take your own pain relief while you wait.

WonderingWanda · 30/03/2023 08:13

The fact that it'S a broken toe or foot is even more ridiculous. Why didn't she just take him home and go back in the morning when it's quieter.

KnittingNeedles · 30/03/2023 08:14

OP says: "It's the top of the foot and ankle Very puffy and a pocket of swelling to the top."

That's not a broken toe. That's far more serious.

FlyingCherries · 30/03/2023 08:17

Are you in NE England? I had a v similar experience last week. It’s supposed to be 15 minutes to triage and we waited 2 hours. And we’d been sent by 111.

FlyingCherries · 30/03/2023 08:19

WonderingWanda · 30/03/2023 08:13

The fact that it'S a broken toe or foot is even more ridiculous. Why didn't she just take him home and go back in the morning when it's quieter.

If it’s a displaced fracture(and she’s said ankle not toe), this is stupid and dangerous advice. If you don’t know enough about a subject don’t give bad medical advice to strangers online.

Dyslexicwonder · 30/03/2023 08:20

Sorry obviously misread it. Really should have been as urgent (child, in pain likely to need intervention). How are you getting on this am OP ?

coffeecupsandwaxmelts · 30/03/2023 08:24

If that's the case, why wasn't she told to go to A&E when she walked in/ booked him in? They obviously knew he was there was a suspected foot injury.

She should have been told that IMO.

But even if OP wasn't, that doesn't mean she can't use her own common sense and take him to A&E herself anyway.