5hr Wait to see a Dr with sick child - how are we at this point

[IAmADancer]

Just that really. Called 111 as my DD is poorly, very high temp, vomiting, lethargic, can’t put chin to her neck as it hurts. Was told she had to attend A&E.

She is currently sat on a plastic chair, looking horrendously pale and feeling so unwell. Seen the nurse and been told it’s a 5 hr wait for a dr.

Why do we accept this as the norm, it’s awful. I feel so frustrated that this is the best we can expect and that a small child who is obviously poorly is left to wait this long

I can’t even be bothered to respond to this @SoIMO because I am too exhausted.

Some hospitals definitely have nurses that can take blood though, I don’t understand why they all can’t have some that are trained in triage? And then the results can be shown to the doctor, if they come back with sky high infection markers they can be prioritised and treated? Seemed to work for us in certain places but not sure if that’s transferable? I’m just coming at it as a patient’s parent.

@SoIMO THEY HAVE SAID ITS BACTERIAL FOR GODS SAKE!!!!!!

You are an absolute disgrace of a person. Are you enjoying causing further stress to a mother who has a sick child?

Raised infection markers indicate bacterial rather than viral

Go to hell @SoIMO. I refuse to engage with you anymore. You are a disgusting person and you should be ashamed of yourself. Obviously this type of behaviour brings you joy, which is absolutely pathetic.

enjoy the rest of your day

what's the truth here?

The only truth here is you have entered into some bizarre point scoring game with a mother who is in hospital with an ill child. What exactly are you hoping to win?

Get off this thread and have a word with yourself.

The OP has already told you she was informed that it's bacterial.

Is there something wrong with you? Because to keep trying to point score over and over when you've been told already is tiresome and shows you to be a bully.

Yes, but nurses are actually more senior than the staff who tend to take blood so training the nurses in phlebotomy doesn't help. It sounds simple to show the results to the doctor and they can make a decision on the spot, but blood results in isolation aren't helpful. You need a history, physical examination of the patient etc. And that's basically what you're waiting on after you're triaged. Can you imagine if a doctor discharged a patient from A&E based on normal blood results but they had missed something?

Think you're making everyone feel aggrieved in this ridiculous pursuit of "I told you so, aren't I fabulously clever."

In my country nurses certainly can. I was at a&e last week, when I arrived a nurse did a fingerprick crp test and ecg, then when I saw the doctor he requested more tests which required a proper blood draw which the nurse did and she tested the bloods herself (tiny local a&e after it was officially closed for the night so the only staff were that nurse and that doctor) and results were ready in 20 minutes.

Do you know how serious meningitis is? How important it is to rule out. Why are you trying to minimise the fact that op needed to get her child seen regardless of the outcome. My nephew nearly died of sepsis and meningitis. My sister thought it was a virus and didn’t want to be one of those mums who ran up to a&e for a virus. Luckily she had family who knew the symptoms. he very nearly died.

op hasn’t done anything wrong and quite frankly I can’t believe someone can be this unfeeling and nitpicky when a parent is in hospital with their child who has a very serious infection

are you being deliberately obtuse. I have already explained they have said it’s bacterial not viral.

Is this not good enough for you? The latest post by OP. So anything else said before has been updated through the doctor updates for the OP. To be honest, what you are arguing is totally pointless anyway, it's just trying to point score.

For the love of god, let it go and just wait to see the outcome from the OP, if she is good enough to update us as to how her little one is getting along.

No need for a big argument but @SoIMO has a point. People seem to think 'it's viral' means it's minor, but covid is viral, herpes encephalitis is viral, HIV is viral. (For clarity, I am not saying OP's daughter has any of these). Bacterial infections are not necessarily more serious.

Haven't seen anything in OPs posts to suggest she is bullying anyone.

You however very much come across as a bully. Do everyone a favour and get off this thread, and cut your sanctimonious bullshit.

Makes sense. I think all my experience has been with very obvious signs in blood/sats/lack of consciousness which made things a lot clearer than some other cases. So obvious sepsis signs high CRP etc

seems to me there’s just not enough staff a lot of the time