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

@Hiptothisjive she started feeling unwell Saturday. I assumed it was just a cold and then today it got much worse over the course of the day

I’m actually in the same situation only it’s me suffering. I’ve been sitting in an ambulance now for 3 hours whilst we wait for a space (I called 111 and they felt I needed one)

I have the needle prick rash and other symptoms. They have taken my blood and put in a cannula whilst I’m waiting though

I hope your little one is seen soon

Nhs has been awful for over 20y.
It is traumatising for anyone having to use it.

Good points
Vaccination. That has pretty much been smooth

Issues
Kids with ear infections awful treatment as no treatment. I think its contributed to asd symptims in dd and potentially hearing loss.
Awful labour and delivery services
3y and waiting for asd referral and took almost 3y to get adhd diagnosis

Some of what has caused us irreperable harm has been nhs/nice guidelines or stinginess re antibiotics.
Personally though i think the nhs would have referred us earlier for asd /adhd the delay in that was the equally crap schooling system.
Oh and non existent cahms.

@Soubriquet i hope you get seen quickly and feel better

Thank you. I’m currently in a lot of pain and distracting myself with the internet.

Hope you get seen soon. Agreed..how have we got here ? How much lower will we go ? Its very worrying.

I went to a&e with my dd (who is pg and adult) it was a 2 hr wait for gynaecology to come down. Whilst others were seen far quicker

all treatment was in waiting area, just an examination in booth then drips etc all done in waiting room.

we were there 6/7 hours

i was ill before Xmas and didn’t think I was sick enough for a&e so waited 2 days to see go. Got appointment within 15 minutes of triage form going in at 10am I was seen by go, 11.30am was on ward and in bed, operation later that day. I eas really lucky, I was far more sick but the thought of sitting in a chair in a&e put me off getting help earlier

Totally agree OP it's indefensible. NHS is not fit for purpose at all. My 75yo mum worked as a nurse for 40 years and she had cancer a few years ago. After having her bladder removed and being sent home post surgery she developed an infection & was very unwell. She rang for an ambulance & was told to take a taxi as it would be quicker. She then spent over 24 hours in an upright chair in a triage room waiting to be seen. It is disgusting.
Part of the problem in our local area is that the shut down the local hospital and redirected everyone to a new purpose built hospital which turned out was not fit for purpose and cannot cope with the demand. The local GP has a 3 week waiting list for a telephone appointment. Trying to get an imperson appointment is almost impossible. So most people have no choice but to go to A&E.
I live in Switzerland and here we have mandatory health insurance. Longest wait I've had with my son is 2 hours but most of the time we are seen within 30 mins.

Hopefully you see a doctor soon. I think the 5 hours will be a worst case scenario. My family have been to A & E (adult and paediatric) a few times in the last year and been seen either immediately (baby and toddler) or much faster than advised at arrival

I think the A&E here isn’t split into adults/paeds, everyone is in one area and there are no drs.

Totally this. Everyone believes the lie that we can have functioning services without paying for them. We can’t. Farage will probably promise the world again - remember £250 million a week for the NHS post Brexit? Except he’s a liar. The drop in the economy post-Brexit plus the additional bureaucracy from not being in the customs union have wrecked government finances. Plus long term Tory cuts to services and reductions in training places for medics has decimated the NHS. You get tax cuts you get crap services.

No way was it this bad 20 years ago. It’s just a lie.

So sorry for you. We would have been sent to the out of hours GP for something like this, I think. TBH I didn't realise this option wasn't available in other areas of the country.

@3point5yes this is why I totally understand why they were there. There were lots of toddlers with very rosy cheeks, clinging onto their parents. Lots of horrendously sounding babies, and lots of anxious parents. I’m not blaming them for being there at all, I’m just explaining why our wait was so long.

But OP, you don’t know if there are any children having a cardiac arrest. Resus will be seperate to A&E, as will the ambulance bay. You really don’t know what’s going on in the main department. You don’t know how many ambulance waits they have for handover. As crap as it is, if you have gone there you just need to sit it out. If you think she would be better in her own bed, then perhaps she can wait until morning for your GP practice to open. If I was you, I’d stick it out now that you’re there, then any necessary tests can be carried out.

We got here cause of social media, and more access to information or hysteria online. Parents being judged no matter what they do.

You don’t have to accept it - you could just go home?

None of those symptoms sound like an emergency unless I’m missing something? How high is temp?

Theyre so over run cause of so many patients treating a&e like a day out 🙄

The responses amaze me!! I got ripped to shreds for wfh in the afternoon yet nobody seems to think a (potential) virus presenting to a and e is totally normal:

I don’t blame you OP - you would have been told to go I’m guessing.

have we all gone soft?! WHY would anyone choose to sit in hospital for hours if they don’t need to:

@jamcorrosion i would normally have just put it down to a nasty cold and did for the last few days but then her temp went through the roof, she was vomiting, she has weird dark marks on her chest, she’s dizzy, she’s saying odd things and she’s agitated. She says it hurts to put her chin on her chest.

I have friends that have had meningitis and a lot of what she is displaying is very similar or there is every possibility it could be nothing. I’m not an hysterical parent I fact I’m very much the opposite and don’t take the choice of coming to A&E lightly, in fact I would do my utmost to not come here. But if you speak to a Dr on the phone and they say she needs to be seen would you just ignore it because we’ve apparently all gone ‘soft’

Her child has worrying symptoms that need checking out?

I’ve been transferred to a different ambulance but this one is also giving me painkillers. I’ve just had a good dose of IV paracetamol and anti sickness

On one hand I’m glad to be laid down on a stretcher cos sitting in a chair for hours would be torture. On the other hand this stretcher is numbing my bum

im also wearing sunglasses to help

So sorry OP💐 Hope you manage to get seen quicker, and your daughter manages to stay asleep until a doctor arrives, so at least the wait won’t seem as long to her.

Also, if you’re unhappy with whatever the outcome is, please don’t be afraid to challenge for a second opinion. You know her best and you know when she’s not well.

I’ve had meningitis before as a child. When I was two. It caused me to go deaf

Fair enough no I absolutely resonate with every thing you said!

j didn’t mean to sound submissive by any stretch: and tbf I’ve just had a very similar experience. I have sinus issues and used my private health from work for an online weekend appt. Apparently what I’m experiencing is an abscess despite no evidence of one!

it’s very difficult I know - 9/10 if you ring 111 they will just send to a and e even if they’re 80% you don’t need it!

sending love.

From what you've said, her temperature came back down, as has her heart rate, with medicine. If that's the case, they have probably taken that into account with triage. If she's asleep with a normalish temperature, then perhaps she's not hitting any red flags for them at the moment.

Hopefully it's just a regular bug, but if it's not, she's in the right place. Fingers crossed you get seen soon.

It's always been shit but we are conditioned to applaud our brilliant NHS, the envy of the world. I straight up hate it. It's fucking shit.

Ha, they tried to send us when it was clear there was no need and they were being OTT, but didn't send us when they needed to as it actually turned out to be a life or death emergency. Both re young kids.

I don't trust them any more.

Really sorry op I hope your child gets seen soon.

This is a brilliantly accurate comment. I would add that NF wanted us to vote out European workers on the basis that it would free up money for the NHS. It didn’t. But a lot of people made money shorting the stock markets over that vote result. NF now wants to convince us that ‘stopping the boats’ will result in better public services but we should all consider what is in it for him and his donors. The conservatives drained the country for a decade and now Reform is selling itself as Tory 2.0. Luckily there are a few more years to build services back up before the next general election but do we really want Reform (whose councils can’t organise their way out of a plastic bag) draining the NHS and everything else that doesn’t put money in NF’s back pocket?

It also varies greatly by region. I’ve taken my child to A&E twice in four years touch wood 🪵 and was seen almost immediately once and within about an hour the second time.

Yep this is what I mean! Makes it harder to trust your own judgement too!!