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

@SoIMO just go away. Show some empathy

much love @IAmADancer

I have always tried to hold out until the middle of the night and go then (not on early Saturday or Sunday mornings though!)

Yes

i really hope you are not patient facing. You are incredibly unfeeling.

Que? Why are you screaming god?

My DS was admitted ro hospital years ago with meningitis . He had a high temperature and was brought in by ambulance as he had had a fever induced seizure which is not usual in a 10 year old . They didn't do much but get his temperature under control until I told them he was not making sense. That made them do some simple neurological tests, a junior doctoe did them. I remeber him asking the nurse to call the consultant urgently after he did the tests, which showed he had something affecting his brain function . The consultant ordered a cat scan that confirmed inflation ( ie meningitis)

They did hourly obs for 8 hrs ours overnight and said if they got worse he would be taken straight to icu..Luckily his obs improved and tests suggested he had some sort of viral meningitis. Better than bacterial but still potentially very serious depending on which virus was causing it . Luckily he recovered fully but only after several days in hospital and 3 weeks at home. They monitored him over several months to ensure he was not left with any brain damage

Please dogo back and make a fuss if she seems confused. They really should do a proper neurological assessment if this is the case

A triage blood test that shows high infection markers could bump the patient up the list though so they see a doctor sooner - no training needed to interpret above X = higher priority

People get up and leave because they are too ill to sit in a fucking plastic chair The irony is you have to be well to sit like that for hours and hours.

My young child had a 4-5 hour wait recently. Had to be A&E as school sent due to injury - needing stitches ( well glue) and x ray. So thankfully we waited in the fracture room. But yes, chikdren were in their phones as they were distracting themselves from what some awful looking injuries in the room. Thankfully CBeebies worked a treat for my child.

Really hope you get some answers soon OP and that your DD perks up with the treatment she is receiving. It's so dreadful having a child in hospital.

Also please ignore SolMO she has been deliberately inflammatory and lacking empathy, concerning when according to another thread she is a patient facing midwife!

There is though (not to mention the fact that nurses have lots of training!). CRP raised - can be infection, but also can be inflammation and could sit chronically raised in a patient with arthritis. Just one example. There is lots of clinical judgement required by A&E staff. That's why it's so hard to sort it out.

She’s not in the medical field. She’s the same poster that has been banned about a thousand times by MN. When she’s manic like this she rampages across the forums making wild claims and accusations.

In the future if you come across her again just report her.

Yes it can indicate other things but its very commonly (in my country) used in patients showing signs of infection to help indicate whether its likely to be bacterial or viral and severity so it can be used this way to bump up priority, along with the other observations triage nurses make.

So your child has been unwell since Saturday and you wait until Monday evening! Why didn’t you try and get a GP appointment rather than wait and then complain because of the wait!

I’m sorry you are going through this. It is so traumatic. My DS went through two similar issues in the UK (we are not from the UK, but from another place with good care) and he is now too scared to get medical interventions no matter how simple they are. Literally traumatised by the slow, occasionally completely incompetent care that he got. I hope that it all works out for you. In my experience the U.K. system has always been very slow (even in the 90s, when everyone says it was good).

Grow up and find some empathy.

Its the NHS cult. And it is like a cult They cant help themselves

It is not OK. Presumably she has been triaged and will be treated according to her level of need (compared to others )

Deffo keep bugging them if she worsens

Hugs

A freedom of information request by a Welsh MS as to how many people died in A&E revealed that in the last two years over 2.5k did in our health board of three large hospitals. My friend was one of them. after going in with a suspected heart attack. 30 hours later she died in A&E before being admitted. Another friend phoned her husband to come and collect her. After being cleared to go home
She was dead before he got there.

the same hospital both times, both within the same month. Both dear friends. What are the odds on that.

Re. obesity. Here is what happened to me.
I lost 10 stone twenty three to twenty four years ago.. I got gallstones and it got so bad i couldnt eat SOLID food. i went through months and months of excrutiating pain and A + E admission. In and out of A + E for TEN MONTHS. then doctors coming to my home to give me morphine injections whenever i had an attack . Finally a doctor prescribed me morphine pills which melted under the tongue that i took every time i had an attack. First attack was 3 July 2002 Scan was on 19 Dec 2002 after months of A + E admissions . Early Feb 2003 i got a letter telling me id have to wait for ANOTHER YEAR. I cried my eyes out and actually considered suicide. It was only after a private consultation with a surgeon and then another admission to hospital and an NHS appointment with the same surgeon that my op was promised within 6 weeks It was done 5 weeks later on 28 April 2003.id lost 8 stone by the time i had my op. The surgeon and two doctors told me it was caused by losing weight too fast. (slimming world) The pain was excrutiating and the first attack appeared after id lost nearly 4 stone. Back then i had no idea fast weight loss could cause gallstones I was losing a stone a month and whenever i did try to slow it down i either stayed the same or gained.
I actually did seriously consider suicide especially after i got the letter telling me id have to wait ANOTHER YEAR. I thought it was beyond cruel especially when id lost the weight by myself with willpower.
i believe due to mixing tramadol with as many over the counter drugs as i could in the early months to stop the pain i have been left with long term issues and its also left a bitter taste in the mouth TBH. Im grateful for the NHS but i was in so much pain i was thinking of overdosing (which i was bloody close to anyway Oh and i lost my job. Thats right i dieted my way out of a job.

There is too much variation. I think my hospital is good (although have had one dicey experience) as is my gp but it isn’t really acceptable to be waiting that long with sick children. I have been in a&e myself this week and my daughter was seen immediately. I really don’t think you can make a judgement about how ill the other children are from how they are in the waiting room. There can be a lot going on under the surface.

I definitely prefer it up on the children’s assessment unit when we’ve been admitted directly though. Even the difference between having a bed versus sitting on a plastic chair can make a difference to dealing with a poorly child who just wants to sleep.

The OP’s child was clearly ill and should have been seen by a Dr. You can’t pretend that was a good service or effective outcome.

A postcode lottery is not nhs as intended, should illegal current system.
i have Parkinson’s, nurse great see her every 6 months, specialist nurse, Parkinson’s uk great, access to advice, and call back from a nurse if needed.
Currently experienced some difficulties 3/4 days, to reply to email
Haven’t seen neurologist in nearly 3 yrs, shortage of them here, 7/8 months for first referrals, last appointment a full 12 minutes.
Lots of others with conditions who don’t get support, in the form I get.
i hear lots of my age ( 63) say I’ve paid in, well yes, tho some take more out in terms of treatments than they paid in, it can’t add up.
As a society we need to take responsibility for our health too, cos it’s free some don’t

The absolute state of some of these posters giving the OP grief when she’s in hospital with her sick child. You are gross.
Sounds like op has done everything right and received dreadful care from the nurses last night.
I hope your dd is well again soon OP.

I’m sorry you’ve been abused, no need for it

Really hope you get some answers soon OP and that your DD perks up with the treatment she is receiving. It's so dreadful having a child in hospital.

Also please ignore SolMO she has been deliberately inflammatory and lacking empathy, concerning when according to another thread she is a patient facing midwife!l

I did and look what happened