Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To be furious

195 replies

Threelittleduck · 21/10/2024 01:09

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.

OP posts:
nosmartphone · 21/10/2024 09:50

Take yourself ffs! An ambulance is not a taxi service.

You are the one wasting resources. You and the lady who fell in Morrison and potentially broke her wrist. Absolultely wasting an ambulance.

longestlurkerever · 21/10/2024 09:51

I hope your dd is on the mend OP.

RampantIvy · 21/10/2024 09:53

nosmartphone · 21/10/2024 09:50

Take yourself ffs! An ambulance is not a taxi service.

You are the one wasting resources. You and the lady who fell in Morrison and potentially broke her wrist. Absolultely wasting an ambulance.

OK, let's keep kicking the OP when she is down.

The response from so many posters on here is disgusting Hmm

Dotto · 21/10/2024 09:55

Sorry OP, I was being unreasonable in my post above. I hope you can get to the bottom of it swiftly today, and that your DD will be ok

OldTinHat · 21/10/2024 10:01

I hope your DD receives a diagnosis, treatment, is well and home soon.

AccountantMum · 21/10/2024 10:05

Threelittleduck · 21/10/2024 02:29

So you don't think ambulances should be available if people need them? Do you also think it's okay to be told after having a seizure in July you have to wait until January for a brain scan? If they had resources and staff they should have it would have been done quicker and maybe we wouldn't even need an ambulance.
Is it okay for my brother to have to wait 5 weeks to hear if he had cancer despite being told it would be a week?
The NHS is in a state and the staff who work there are doing their best in a shit system.
I'm not blaming them for the problems but our last government really shafted the NHS

My son had a seizure around a year ago - it lasted 15 minutes and was his first so he was taken via ambulance (ambulance arrived in around 15 mins), taken straight to resus, and kept as inpatient. We were told similar that there is a long wait for the eeg scan if you are discharged and waiting as an outpatient however if you are being kept in hospital due to the severity they can arrange you a scan during your stay if needed.

Hopefully the fact they did not prioritise an ambulance is because with the details you shared with 111 there was a lower risk and at that point getting to yourself to hospital the best thing to do - this probably increased with additional seizures and went up in priority. Hope your daughter is well and gets treatment as needed, imagine this is /was a scary time for you but the fury at ambulance service may be misplaced.

Nanny0gg · 21/10/2024 10:07

Sunshine1500 · 21/10/2024 02:34

The nhs is in a state and you’ve not been given the care daughter needed from them. But she’s 16 with two parents you should have driven her to hospital or got a taxi. Hope she’s doing okay now x

The seizures make her wet herself

A lot of taxi drivers wouldn't take someone to A&E as they'd be worried as to the problem

Nanny0gg · 21/10/2024 10:08

nosmartphone · 21/10/2024 09:50

Take yourself ffs! An ambulance is not a taxi service.

You are the one wasting resources. You and the lady who fell in Morrison and potentially broke her wrist. Absolultely wasting an ambulance.

And a taxi is not an ambulance service

What do you think an ambulance is for if not to attend someone having seizures?

Pocketfullofdogtreats · 21/10/2024 10:10

A lot of it is to do with pressure on A&E, of course, and on the ambulance service. When DH was waiting in A&E a few years back he said it was a constant stream of drunk people (taking up a disproportionate amount of attention from police and doctors) and people with mental health issues, that seemed to be a danger to themselves and everyone around them. This was on a Tuesday night too, heaven knows what it would be like on a Saturday.

ByQuaintAzureWasp · 21/10/2024 10:25

MessyNeate · 21/10/2024 01:14

Can't you get a taxi?

Absolutely this

ForeverPombear · 21/10/2024 10:33

NRTFT but most of it.

The amount of people who have no idea about seizures commenting is ridiculous. My DM is epileptic and I couldn't have her in the back of a car whilst having a fit, adult there or not it's a bloody dangerous thing to do for so many reasons.

And OP driving when feeling sick and dizzy with a daughter having a fit in the back is just asking for trouble.

Womblewife · 21/10/2024 10:34

No matter what government the NHS cannot be fixed. It was never meant to cater for such a large scale of people and illnesses. It’s no longer fit for purpose sadly.

middler · 21/10/2024 10:34

Freeyourminds · 21/10/2024 04:09

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.

Yes, I am glad she is getting care and is at the hospital that is indeed the main thing, but the fact she kept her at home waiting for the ambulance suggests it was a lesser emergency than say a stroke or a heart attack.

I am sorry but today in the UK, you get someone in a taxi and get them to a hospital in these circumstances rather than just sit and wait for an overwhelmed ambulance service to come and transport you to the hospital and I say this as someone who lost a family member who was told it was 6 hours to wait after collapsing.It was stroke. They died waiting for the ambulance. This is the reality of the ambulance wait time in many parts of the UK today.

You can get at furious as you like but this is the state of the NHS ambulance service currently, they are overwhelmed with calls and if you can possibly get to the hospital by your own means you should do. Your anger will not help you access care or an ambulance any faster.

The NHS does not have enough funds to run properly and will need much higher taxes to improve speed of access. My employer pays about 30 k for my health insurance for my family of 4 in the US so that is what it costs over here and if I end up in hospital I am on the hook for 3K. I have one of the best employer health insurance packages after the military in the US so many over here contribute between 700 and 2k a month toward that annual amount for thei access to health care.

I am not saying that is a great way to get your health care but that is the cost and I think maybe people in the UK take for granted the NHS without realising how much it costs to deliver the care and the ambulances, so your national insurance contributions are no longer enough to fund the service for the millions of people, a significant proportion of whom are unable to contribute anything due to being unemployed, under employed or disabled etc. Of course it would be nice if the super wealthy could contribute significantly more that the average person, and many do already via taxes.

So get ready to start paying significantly more if you want to call out an ambulance and not have long waits like this. That is the hard truth of living in a country with a free at point of service health service that is overwhelmed with people wanting to use it at no cost.
I hope your daughter is ok, it must have been very scary not knowing how to get her to hospital, next time you know call a taxi and don't even expect a fast ambulance for a seizure, it's just not high priority as in your area there will be people having heart attacks, strokes, choking, burns etc and yes they trump seizures for those ambulances.

Freeyourminds · 21/10/2024 10:36

RampantIvy · 21/10/2024 09:53

OK, let's keep kicking the OP when she is down.

The response from so many posters on here is disgusting Hmm

Even though, op’s daughter is now in hospital, went in an ambulance.Posters are still posting she should have got a taxi! They’re not interested in her daughter, more interested in berating.

GiveItAGoMalcom · 21/10/2024 10:43

Threelittleduck · 21/10/2024 01:18

I'm a bit scared to get a taxi as she's literally just had another seizure and I can't even leave her to get dressed as obviously it's happening too much

I don't understand why your DH couldn't stay with her while you got dressed, or even grabbed your clothes so you could stay in the same room while dressing?

StarSlinger · 21/10/2024 10:48

GiveItAGoMalcom · 21/10/2024 10:43

I don't understand why your DH couldn't stay with her while you got dressed, or even grabbed your clothes so you could stay in the same room while dressing?

Edited

Why are you nit picking the OPs posts just so you can continue to stick the boot in?

Lyannaa · 21/10/2024 10:52

Womblewife · 21/10/2024 10:34

No matter what government the NHS cannot be fixed. It was never meant to cater for such a large scale of people and illnesses. It’s no longer fit for purpose sadly.

So, how come it was working perfectly fine back in 2009?

Lyannaa · 21/10/2024 10:54

The advice for my daughter was always that an ambulance should be called in the case of a tonic clonic seizure. And that's what happened.

It's wild to me that people are bitching about how she should have been driven to the hospital.

Hoppinggreen · 21/10/2024 10:56

It sounds very scary and I hope your DD is ok.
The NHS isn't in a great state right now but with a poorly child its a good idea to always have a way to get to hospital independently.
Shouldn't be necesssary but is sadly

StMarieforme · 21/10/2024 10:59

Your clue is in "thank fuck it's not life threatening"

That's the priority. Otherwise you'd be seeing headlines that say "man dies of cardiac arrest as ambulances all sent to non life threatening cases".

Not the NHS fault that your DH had been drinking and you felt too poorly to drive.

Harsh but true.

Freeyourminds · 21/10/2024 11:01

@middler As you’ve mentioned you don’t live in the uk, the ambulance service here, don’t just come out, they decided whether an ambulance is going to be allocated.A seizure is an emergency, because in some cases it’s not known what’s caused it.
The nhs might be free to you, when you visit the uk, however it isn’t free to uk citizens who pay through their national insurance contributions, the population has got bigger, people will be paying more taxes for it in the future.
I’ve never been in a situation where l needed an ambulance, l have been to A&E though.I don’t begrudge, someone using the ambulance service as l know, if it’s not deemed as a medical emergency they will inform the person to make their own way, they ultimately make the decision not the patient.

Duckyfondant · 21/10/2024 11:03

I hope she's feeling a bit better and gets properly checked out this time, OP.

I get that it's terrifying when your child is ill and you don't feel like you can rely on the NHS to take good care of them.

GillBeck · 21/10/2024 11:08

Freeyourminds · 21/10/2024 10:36

Even though, op’s daughter is now in hospital, went in an ambulance.Posters are still posting she should have got a taxi! They’re not interested in her daughter, more interested in berating.

They are surprised that OP would rather wait four hours and spend the time on MN rather than prioritising her DD and getting her to hospital sooner.

GillBeck · 21/10/2024 11:12

The NHS is a money pit that will not be fixed by simply throwing more money at it - or doing as Labour did last time and putting it into huge debt meaning it is still paying billions back in interest payments two decades later. It needs complete restructuring.

GiveItAGoMalcom · 21/10/2024 11:15

StarSlinger · 21/10/2024 10:48

Why are you nit picking the OPs posts just so you can continue to stick the boot in?

Why are you policing a thread on a website you don't own?