To be furious

[Threelittleduck]

How has the NHS come to this? My DD had a seizure in the summer. We went to hospital but discharged later.
Nothing has happened but today she had two seizures. One at around 9 and one an hour ago. Called ambulance after her seizure at 9, they said it would be hours for an ambulance but 4 hours? After she's had a second seizure? I can't drive her as had a Covid jab yesterday and am feeling sick and dizzy and DH has been drinking.
I mean thank fuck it's not life threatening! (I know she'd be higher priority before anyone takes that seriously).
She's asleep on the sofa now and I'm sat with her, feeling tired, ill and worried about DD
Is this what the country has come to? Is that government actually going to do anything to help our healthcare system and support those who work in it.

Taxi? Uber? Neighbour? Friend? Family?
🤔

Yes

This is one of those missing the point posts, people have literally died waiting for ambulances and have died in A & E.

My brother was prone to seizures and I remember circa 2008 the advice was always to ring for an ambulance and one always came pretty promptly. He was 30 odd at the time too so not a child.

Hope DD is better soon.

This is exactly why we all need to accept things are going to be painful for some time.

The Tories let the NHS rot while handing out backhanders to their pals.

We need to let Labour sort this out, but it’s not going to happen immediately and it’s going to take ££££. If we want a better NHS, we’re going to have to swallow some unpleasant budget decisions.

I hope your DD stops having seizures soon OP and things settle down.

I am in the US where we pay between 1k and 1600 if we call out an ambulance. That is the actual cost to the system even though you do not pay with the NHS.

So we usually drive our kids in to hospital when we need to and that is what you need to do or get an uber? Maybe I have become Americanized but I do not think this warrants an ambulance- they are surely for heart attacks and strokes and the like and for this kind of thing you need to get your own child to the medical care facility. The system does not have enough ambulances to send them out to taxi you into hospital so your husband should not have drunk frankly??My fury would have been directed at him. You get your person to the facility unless their life is actually under threat, always. Ambulances are for life death emergencies only.

As you weren’t there you wouldn’t know for sure if it was an actual medical emergency Her daughter is at the hospital now, that’s all that matters now.

The hospital won't care if you arrive in your PJ's just shove a coat on their used to it. I often take DD to hospital by taxi for cluster seizures. I can get her there quicker by taxi than it takes to get through to ambulance service. But now she's had 3 seizures they have to investigate further and consider putting her on medication.

Understand regarding, it’s quicker to go in a taxi and every seizure can vary.How do you manage, if your child in loosing control of their continence in a taxi? Which happens regularly when someone is having a seizure.

Her daughter had another seizure after they called an ambulance for the first one she had. She's 16 not a young child. She hasn't been diagnosed with anything yet she's on no medication no rescue meds and they don't know what the severity of what they are dealing with.

So until that person is put on medication the advice is to ring an ambulance. After 3 seizures they have to investigate. Some show seizure activity on a CT scan and put on medication straight away.

But that wasn't the case with my children and we had to ring an ambulance every time they had a seizure.

Two seizures in 24 hours is dangerous.In future, perhaps it would be better to take a taxi op as there is a condition called staticus elepticus, which is very dangerous, where the body struggles to get out of the fit and is hard to treat… that’s presuming these are epileptic rather than reflex anoxic seizures, which are less common but my 16 yo dd has and has been having since she was a toddler.

I am not saying this to berate you, rather to explain the risk. I hope your dd is ok.

It’s terrible that the ambulance would take that long but when you heard 4 hours and knew you couldn’t drive you should have ordered a taxi

Can DH watch her while you quickly get some clothes on? Even when the ambulance comes you'll want to be dressed as you'll be in hospital a long time at the other end too

Yes, ideally enough ambulances should be available for everyone without any wait. However, this is not the case and will not change anytime soon. I’m utterly flummoxed as to how you are ‘furious’ about this yet can’t realise the dysfunction in your own household though.

Your DH being over the limit and not being able to drive is fine, I don’t see it as an issue. However, I’d be furious at my DH if he was SO drunk he couldn’t organise a taxi, grab some towels and a bin bag and left me to deal with it all by myself. No need for anyone to get changed, go in your pj’s if you are in them. One can sit in the back with DD (on towels over bin bag) and the other in the front of the taxi, the driver will understand. Surely, DH being over the limit doesn’t mean he can’t co-assist his child to hospital in a taxi unless he is fall down drunk needing to be helped to walk?

I worked in A&E for decades. I wouldn’t give a second thought to anyone in their pj’s or disheveled who had raced in (by whatever means, I wouldn’t know if you drove or got a taxi and couldn’t care less either way). However, if someone blathered on that they had to wait ages as no ambulance and it was obvious they just couldn’t organise something as simple as a taxi, while I wouldn’t show it, internally I’d think it really odd. Did have people saying they could not afford one which makes complete sense, but not the case with OP seemingly, just a general level of dysfunction when there are two adults who can’t manage it between them.

So you don't think ambulances should be available if people need them?

You having a Covid jab and your husband being drunk isn’t a reason for an ambulance though. An ambulance isn’t a free taxi.

@Threelittleduck I'm so sorry about your Daughter. My DD too had mysterious seizures and we called an Ambulance each time, blue light to Hospital she was eventually diagnosed with Epilepsy on her 3rd Ambulance visit within a few Months. Does she have a consultant yet? Thankfully each Ambulance was just a few minutes but we did have to wait 4 weeks for an EEG and MRI. I can't really complain as our situation was dealt with so well, the team looking after her each time were amazing. How is she today?

If she wants to get changed quickly there's no reason DH can't watch for 2 minutes. How long does it take to get changed? (Unless OP has mobility issues then it might take a bit longer but presumably DH isn't a complete write off due to the alcohol)

I'm not blaming you but I'd have to be pretty damn sick not to drive my child to the hospital

Then you apologise to the taxi driver who will either be very understanding or charge the cleaning up fee the charge drunk students who vomit. If it is safe for her to go in a taxi then they should go in a taxi. It's either an Accident or Emergancy or it isn't.

If OP is too dizzy to drive she can't drive or they might crash and then yes they'd possibly get to A&E quicker but they might also die

Get a taxi to the hospital then. Not the NHS’s fault your DH was drinking and you were feeling a bit nauseated. Don’t blame the ambulance service for responding to emergencies that needed immediate attention, a seizure is very rarely life threatening.

Even when the ambulance comes you'll want to be dressed as you'll be in hospital a long time at the other end too

Honestly, in an emergency don’t worry about getting dressed. I saw many people in many states of dress over the years both as patients, and the person bringing them in. No one gives a shit, they just don’t. It’s not unreasonable as the reason you are there is in the name ‘emergency’, and in true emergencies it’s expected that people just go, via ambulance or other means in whatever state they are in when the emergency occurs. If there is time to dilly dally getting changed then the term ‘emergency’ becomes questionable. I once overheard people (non staff) loudly sneering at someone else in the line at the coffee stand who was wearing pj’s. Pretty obviously someone who had accompanied someone during the previous night, or a patient who came in the night at some point and subsequently discharged. Let’s just say they’ll never do that again.

@Threelittleduck

Ambulance is here now.

• So strange how you are on here while the ambulance is there.

At the risk of going slightly off piste - RR has said they need to raise £40bn to keep services standing still. I wouldn’t be holding my breath that any budget can raise much more than that (even if they can get that much), so I don’t think they will be funding any improvements in services any time soon.

I had three seizures on one day, @Threelittleduck— then never again. They could never figure out why or what happened.
I hope your daughter has a similar experience and I hope she’ll be okay.
Sending love.

Sorry, you can't get dressed but you can post a thread and then engage with those who respond to you?