I'm so fucking sick of a and e wait times

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As a working mother to a toddler in nursery, I'm just fucking done with how long it takes to get help in a and e for my child.

It's starting to make me not want to go, in situations that I would have maybe gone in the past.

I'm absolutely exhausted. It's always 3/4 hours wait, at least.

I'm just so done with it. It's a disgrace.

In fairness to OP I think things have changed in the last 5 years or so. They are so cautious especially with very young children. Or even just since the introduction of 111. GP waiting times can be so long that they then refer you to 111 if you can’t get an appointment in person. Then once you’re on the phone, all you have to do is mention a very high fever or rash and they will send you to A&E because they can’t risk you not being seen in person. I’ve two kids aged 4 and 2 and have been to A&E numerous times, always on the advice of either GP or 111, never having gone straight there myself. Once I rang 111 for advice and they said to go to A&E, I said I didn’t think it was necessary, they said if I didn’t take my child there then they’d send an ambulance. I think it’s often way over the top, I’ve only been properly admitted once with each child, but what are you meant to do if a medical professional literally says “take them to A&E now”? Ignore them?

Also I think some children just are healthier and have better immune systems than others. That's not a dig against anyone. My dc have never been to A&E with illnesses, they are pretty healthy, just ds5 is accident prone. They both got chicken pox for example and it was a mild illness like it is for most children. My friend's 3 year old got it and ended up in hospital for several days with varicella pneumonia.

If your kids are healthy then that's something to be grateful for, not boast about because it's not in your control.

All these people saying they have only been to A and E once or twice are lucky.

I took my daughter 3 times in as many months once. She turned out to have Crohn's disease and was indeed seriously ill. My son had pericarditis and a condition where he began to bleed into his skin as he lost all his platelets. My autistic adult child had serious bilateral ear infections and at 5 am was groaning and crying in pain. I had a child with intussusception. I had a child bite the end off a mercury thermometer.

None of these were time wasting, but neither have I been to A and E infrequently as a parent.

I don't believe the problem with a&e is people taking the children in and 'clogging it up'. Personally I think that's the rhetoric that those in charge would have us believe, because otherwise we would have to properly look and realise that NHS is in a real mess indeed.

A very high temp that won't come down, no you don't wait a few days. A very high temp that won't come down with Calpol could be sepsis. Children compensate for being very poorly for too long and it can be too late. Equally of course you would go to a&e if your child can't breathe.

Oh for goodness sake, I can’t believe people are missing the point so spectacularly. The NHS isn’t screwed because of people like OP going to A&E too often. If anything they will be doing that less because the waiting times are now horrendously long. Do people really think that there was a massive dramatic increase in malingering between 2010 and 2019… or could something else have caused the problem?
And yes, it was all going wrong even before Covid. See the graph in this video:
https://twitter.com/belvoirplc/status/1735263843402616889?s=46&t=MK9c4nuq4R1VWRN7OjczEg

Crap People cant get admitted because of lack of beds Beds that are taken up by people who need a care package BUT 40"000 carers left because of the Covid vaccine mandate which many on here supported.

Breathing problems, definitely A&E

Fever - calpol and infant ibuprofen, keep the child.cool and damp sponge. If temp persists then seek medical help.

Blood in poo due to constipation. Is child in discomfort - if not, wait for GP. Give sufficient fruit/fibre if weaned.

If you go s much you need a loyalty card for the hospital you need to find out long term issues with the GP, it cannot be normal needing to go this much

111 always send children to A&E. I wouldn’t even call 111 for any of those things. Blood in stool is a GP thing, it doesn’t need seeing right there and then. Red blood is rarely serious.

I’ve only been to A&E a few times with my dc, when one scalded themselves with boiling water, and when when one cut their head open. One dc was taken with a febrile seizure, but I wouldn’t take any child other than a tiny newborn with a temperature.

you are contributing to the long wait times.

I worked several years in ED early 2000s- and over the switch from Tory to Labour.

The difference within a few years of Labour and investment was astounding.

I’m not a huge fan of either party but I’m this, at least, I have to give labour credit. It was still a bloody warzone in A&E- we worked incredible hours and shifts to meet labour targets (the sort I don’t think you’d get away with now) but it was better for patients. Also outpatient access was better and GP was robust so demands on A&E were less.

Admittedly as a country we paid for it for decades with labour PFI investments- and they handed over an empty bank account at eventual change of government.

I’d be less angry with the OP- she’s doing her best in a failing NHS- and be more angry with the catalogue of leadership judgements that have led us here.

Ive been 4 times in the last 6 months with my baby and admitted on every occasion (chronic condition). I totally agree it’s the pits of hell. When listening to why others have come in, makes me realise why it’s so busy, and the things 111 send them in for… Good grief. Common sense doesn’t seem to exist.
We have always been seen either immediately or very soon. They triage and see in order of urgency.

So whats your solution?

Knit some paediatric nurses? Build a few consultants paediatricians??

When you are there - are the staff trying there best? are they kind and compassionate and they trying to help? Those are the things they can control - not the complete lack of a and e space, the lack of staff and the fact there are no beds!….. if you are that pissed off talk to your MP and ask them to invest in childrens healthcare!!

You are not stuck in traffic. You are the traffic.

I think the issue is that when you’re worried about something and you call 111, they often tell you to go to A&E. You call the GP for something and because they rather be safe than sorry, they tell you to go to A&E.

I remember calling 111 for something and they told ne to call 999. I did that and the paramedics came out. Because my son was under the age of 1 and they’re not Paediatrician’s, they have to take you to the hospital so that a Paediatrician can confirm everything is okay.

All of these things result in more people having to wait in A&E. It’s a ridiculous system tbh

3 to 4 hour wait is pretty good to be honest. My hospital was roughly 26 hours the other day, which is a regular occurance.

Every time I've visited a&e it's because I've called 111 and they have said I have to go. I always thought by calling 111 I could speak to a dr or possibly arrange an appointment for the next working day, it doesn't help that our town only has a small hospital so no minor injury unit after a certain time.

Last time they halved the waiting lists so I'm quite looking forward to it.

I hear you - waiting for hours in a and e with a child is hard work.
you are getting piled on here, but if your GP is telling you to go to a and e then you haven’t much choice !

what would be helpful is if the GP could see you, or if there was an out of hours service, instead of directing you to a and e always …

I went recently to paeds a and e for the first time (1 year old baby) and was horrified by the wait time ..

3-4 hours doesn't feel too bad OP.

Live in NI. I have a child with a chronic condition that affects their breathing. In the winter before covid we spent 10 hours on a corrider with a young child in a pushchair on an oxygen cylinder, me on the floor because there was no seats in the waiting room and that was the wait to see the doctor. We absolutely did need to be there as DC was very ill and was admitted to hospital eventually for a considerable time. Waiting times have worsened since then!! Not unusual to spend 14+ hours in ED!
I'd be absolutely delighted if i thought we could be seen in under 4 hours with something not life threatening!

Not where I live we have had ambulances queuing here since labour closed all our A n Es and laughed about it! we've never had them reopened. Seems it was ignored when Labour did this....both are to blame.

You're a regular the. op. They'll have several.

I've hardly ever been to a and e with my kids (eldest 5) and don't know anyone who goes often.

Yeah, well, once someone has sorted the actute shortage of doctors, nurses, radiologists, porters, beds, etc, then a &e waits will go down

They need to bring back gp home visits.
When ds was little if he had a fever the gp came to us, that's only 37 years ago, not so long.

Our nhs board are always posting about how extremely busy they are and not to attend, there's no local OOH or M.I anymore in the whole county, so a&e it is, which has 20 seats at most and about 10 bays, and at least 100 elderly patients bed blocking and that's being very generous.

Three years ago I couldn't walk (MS) I was left in the waiting room for 17 hours as an oh well we'll get to you when we can find someone to help you along to a bay cause not one nurse would push the damn hospital wheelchair. Thank fuck I hadn't drunk anything as I've the bladder of a toddler.

In saying that, I've 4 kids, been to a&e 5 times with them so far in 15 years, they've always been treated fast.

To be fair to op 111 and gp will always refer to a and e for under 5s.