Do all paediatric an and e units have this rule ?

[Notagoodrule]

Just 1 parent/carer per child?

We’ve had to really argue today so that both of us were allowed to stay with dd. Not what we needed at a stressful time. She has autism (she’s 3) and needs both of us there to care for her but it was just a constant battle. It just made a difficult situation so much worse

Ours has that rule. Dh brought DD recently and plan was that I'd go a few hours later and swap. Then I got a call saying I was needed, a nurse said to call me and I raced in a panic worried sick. I was there about 5 minutes and a different nurse told us off for both being there. Dh then left. I can only assume that Dh was being useless at answering questions. I think its mostly a fair rule but it's something I would expect falls under reasonable accommodation for SN.

We have a chronically unwell child who is under consultant care. We have regular unplanned admissions which do go via the local paediatric A&E. Normal rule there is 1 parent per child.

I would say we've been via A&E at least 40 times now over the latest couple of years. Many younger children unwell enough to be at A&E are in pain, scared, upset, don't understand what is going on etc etc or are frequent flyers. It may not be very easy for medical staff to tell at a glance which child is distressed because they are ill and which have a condition or complication which would fall into the category of needing extra support which justifies 2 adults at all times. As someone else has already said, A&E isn't the best place to deal with this, definitely look into the passport. You can then mention this at registration or triage. We mention her consultant and treatment plan for admission when we have to go, for example. We use the play team support workers at the local children's hospital which has been really helpful too and you might want to investigate if you have lots of admissions?

The rule is likely based on the space available in main A&E pre triage and the queueing space for treatment rooms in the treatment area,post triage.

Also they are trying to limit cross infection and doubling the number of adults attending and queueing somewhere with lots of undiagnosed but very sick children is sensible for that reason too.

I think it is a common rule, which they might turn a blind eye to if it is quiet.

Too many people seem to treat a trip to A&E like some kind of extended family outing, then there aren't enough seats for people that need them, plus it gets stressful and noisy.

It therefore makes sense and helps staff trying to manage it.

As with any rule, there will be situations that make it a challenge for some, but overall, it is there for all the right reasons.

Ours does have that rule, however it’s not particularly enforced even when busy. I had to take youngest DS to A&E a few weeks ago and remembered from a previous visit that there was a sign up.. I chose to go with him while DH stayed at home with our eldest. That night was extremely busy and to be honest it would have made sense for there to have only been 1 adult per child but support is crucial when it’s a high stress situation like taking your child to A&E so I don’t blame anyone. Although when one girl who had seemingly broken her finger arrived with her dad, they were joined by 5(!!!!) adult family members / friends? Seemed a bit excessive especially when there weren’t enough seats

I agree it's to stop a cast of thousands turning up. I was there once (always alone with whichever child it is because we have other children at home) and someone brought a toddler in with 3 other adults and an older child, then spent over an hour kicking off because the older child is diabetic and they hadn't brought his insulin. He had been brought along as a tool to get seen faster.

When we have been admitted to the children's ward we both tend to be there in the day, and I sometimes nip home/out for a bit of a breather, but at night they only allow one adult. This seems a sensible approach to me, it's loud enough as it is, the wards aren't big and it's not nice for the other children to be surrounded by unfamiliar adults, it's hard enough as it is.