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 know someone who last week who took their child to A&E, during the day while the GP was open (an OK GP practice as they go) to A&E to have a look at a minor injury done more than 24 hours before.

This parent uses A&E like a drop-in centre. No intention of using minor injury walk-in.

I'm not saying this is why A&E is a mess, but it doesn't help.

Hope your daughter feels better. As for the waiting five hours, I'm afraid this is the norm. Not just because the NHS is reduced our population is growing so big it's becoming unsustainable.

Hope gp sees your child promptly and gets the right help.
I agree with you, this is awful. A and E care is so variable.
Where we live is semi rural, no children's a and e in our nearest hospital 10 mins drive away, but 3 options within 30 mins drive. They vary hugely between 1 I would never go near again, 1 is ok and 1 is excellent. The 1 which is excellent is outer London, and generally care seems to be better in London we have found from previously living in various London boroughs - possibly better resourced?

Are there any other a and e's which you could reasonably get to?

"kids with iPhones watching telly ' @IAmADancer on what planet would you assume that this means they are not ill? TV can be an amazing distraction when ill.

I am sorry but you don't get to decide on severity illness based on how people are behaving.

Last time my son was in a&e it was because he had had an anaphylactic reaction. He and I played card games and then when the doctor chatted to him he found out he liked maths and the Dr was a total maths nerd too so set him loads of maths questions . My son had to be there to be monitored

My DS is prone to pulled elbows- once it happens, they’re more susceptible. I took him to A&E the first two times it happened and was waiting hours both times. The second time we had to walk past a drunk man who was laying on the floor near the entrance to the children’s section of A&E with vomit all over the floor beside him. A mum walking into children’s A&E didn’t see it and slipped on it so was covered in vomit. It was absolutely rammed, police were in the adult part too. I felt like I was in a third world country in truth, it was just grim.

I’ve learnt how to put it back into place myself now so I don’t have to take him. I’d do anything to avoid it.

This happened to me, I waited hours was sent from a&e to OO GP in hospital as soon as I was seen I was sent to resus in septic shock

Actually Im not sure thats true, It think people do vote Tory, with kids, with SEN, with disability, with elderly needs, with homelessness and they cant put 2+2 together to realise the Conservatives want small government, low taxes and for the public to work their own problems out. Thats literally want they stand for but people dont seem to know this or care and then vote for them

Quite but Reform want the same thing. They go a step further and want to privatise the healthcare system entirely yet the poor will still vote for them in droves because “forriners”.

Better off going to gp, i took my son to A&E and they sent him home with just a cold, my gut told me there was definitely something wrong so took him gp on emergency appointment and he was rushed to hospital in an ambulance, spent 5 days in high dependency room, on oxygen, drips, monitors etc came very close to having a lumbar punch before they pumped him full of strong antibiotics and he started to improve, he had to be kept in his own room because doctors didn’t know what was wrong with him, still don’t know what was wrong but he got better with antibiotics thankfully, always go with your gut xx

It’s really just your dismissive attitude of every other child there, OP.

They were all watching telly and iPhones whilst your daughter was asleep. So clearly she was more ill and more in need. But you left the hospital at 1am with no answers and were happy to go to the GP instead.

So how is this different to your daughters needs?

If the OP and others are such experts on Meningitis , more knowledgeable than the staff triaging it appears, then you should seriously offer your services to the NHS.

Yes it's frustrating to wait in A&E, especially with a poorly child, but the triage system is there to prioritise cases.

YOU are not the medically trained expert. Be grateful that your child is not so ill and badly injured that they have to be swept through to resus or emergency surgery.

Absolutely agree. Over recent decades a lot of localised care centres have been closed. I live in a small seaside town and our cottage hospital has all but closed (a few clinics still run). Our nearest UTC is 12 miles away and open very restricted hours; the nearest A & E is a 45 minute drive.

As pp have suggested, we've been conditioned since Thatcher to think we can have public services but low taxation. The likes of Farage are now gleefully seizing the increasing discontent with the struggling NHS to push the idea of insurance-based healthcare. I shudder to think where it might end.

With regards to the watching iPhones comment, my DS watched his phone in A&E last year and he definitely needed to be there as he’d broken his hand. If you looked at him, you wouldn’t have thought he needed treatment but he absolutely did as he had a cast on his hand for six weeks. At one point it wasn’t healing properly and there were some concerns that he may need an op but that was thankfully avoided.

Poor pet hope you can get seen by the gp today. How does her throat look? My daughter was very unwell with a fever when she had strep. I didn't realise it was bacterial and she ended up with scarlet fever before she was treated.

I’ve been to A&E a fair amount of times recently due to ds getting tonsilittis and non blanching rashes.

It really depends which paediatrician or triage nurse you see. I’ve never had to wait too long due to the non blanching rashes alongside fever.

One time, ds had been sent up to A&E by GP with tonsillitis 2 days prior. He then got the rash and was sucking in under his ribs and refusing to drink. Crying non stop. Had to wait hours as the triage nurse thought he seemed fine despite his oxygen being 93%. When he did finally see the trainee paediatrician, he smugly asked why I felt the need to bring him in as his chest sounded clear.

Put him on the obs machine and his oxygen was 88%! He rechecked his chest and suddenly he had crackling but he was determined it wasn’t there when he checked 30 mins prior. Was given oxygen and nebulisers straight away and admitted to the ward.

I do think some children mask illnesses well. My ds is always the kid running around playing with the toys in the waiting room. One parent tutted at me once saying he seemed fine. Fifteen minutes later he was being admitted for IV antibiotics.

This is why there is a triage process. You are in the right place if she deterioriates. It is worrying when kids are sick but they will see people in the right order.

I spend the same amount of time in A&E after my son was hit on the head by a flying water bottle at school. At velocity those things are dangerous! He was mildly concused and I spent the time stemming the blood, with half of it constantly running down my arm when we sat up. Heads just bleed A LOT.

Hope things are a bit better now x

This is why there is a triage process. You are in the right place if she deterioriates. It is worrying when kids are sick but they will see people in the right order.

I spend the same amount of time in A&E after my son was hit on the head by a flying water bottle at school. At velocity those things are dangerous! He was mildly concused and I spent the time stemming the blood, with half of it constantly running down my arm when we sat up. Heads just bleed A LOT.

Hope things are a bit better now x

With respect, if you had been really worried you would have stayed. If I really thought my child had meningitis I would not have taken her home. You are judging other people being there when it isn't needed but they might think you are guilty of the same thing.

I would really urge anyone reading this to visit the website of at least one of the UK based meningitis charities and read the stories on it, and the symptoms. Also get one of the small cards that shows meningitis symptoms - read it and keep it to hand. One of these cards saved my life, because (as a paranoid mother) I carried it in my handbag and when I myself developed the symptoms shown on it, knew (astonishing though it seemed) that I had a big problem.

It is also really important to know that meningitis will not start with a rash or a person rolling around on the floor or being in a coma. It may start with what appear to be symptoms of a cold or earache or undue sleepiness. Because of this overlap it is difficult to tell what is a genuine emergency and what is just a minor infection. Also, slipping into coma is difficult to distinguish from sleep - at least for the layperson/parent! (I know from my medical notes that in hospital this is measured using technical metrics but parents do not have these to hand.)

I very clearly recall my domineering ex partner bullishly telling me ‘you’re fine, just go back to sleep’ when I was taken ill. I was so tempted to do so because I really did feel sleepy! But I would be dead if I had. His refusal to accept someone walking & speaking could be seriously ill was very nearly the death of me.

Please people, learn the symptoms. Please! Don’t listen to anyone telling you online that a child who appears to be sleeping deeply, or who can move chin to chest, can’t have meningitis. Know the symptoms and know your child & go with your gut.

OP, you did the right thing. I am sorry so many posters have been aggressive to you. We live in a prosperous western country that pretends to have a health service, & no parent should be made to feel guilty for taking steps to ensure their child is safe. It is not our fault the NHS is in the state it is - it is politicians’. Other posters should be directing their ire at the corrupt self-seeking liars who have got our country into this mess, not at you.

YANBU OP and I hope you have been seen now.

I still remember being seven in the 1980s and being very unwell and in tremendous pain with chickenpox and being put in a side room with my mum and grandma and having to wait three hours even then. Good job they didn't leave it longer and the antibiotics worked as I had sepsis. I was in hospital for two weeks, and it took about two or three months to recover at home. God knows how long the wait would be now. DH had sepsis and was put on a drip within an hour in 2019 but things have got worse since Covid. DM had end stage cancer and I was in A&E for seven hours with her last year.

This is appalling especially when you’ve said you’re worried it could be meningitis. You know your child more than anyone and wouldn’t be there unless you had serious concerns. My daughter has been taken from out of hours twice in an ambulance to the hospital. Both times I was shocked as I didn’t think she was that unwell.

They would have been better to let her stay home until they had an out of hours gp appointment for her. If they then think she needs to go to hospital, it will often be an ambulance as they are worried enough that they don’t want you to drive the child. At least then you’re wheeled straight in and usually dealt with fairly quickly.

It’s just stupid to tell you to go to a&e as it’s more urgent than out of hours if you just sit for hours seeing no one. It’s a pretty sad state the nhs is in. I hope your daughter gets better soon.

I think you also need to extend some of the grace you’re expecting to the other people who were at the A&E - you can’t be disparaging about kids bouncing around A&E seemingly fine on one hand, and then on the other hand say obs are irrelevant and you were right to be in A&E with your daughter.

The point of triage is those that are there “unnecessarily” will be waiting a lot longer than those in need of more urgent care. You’ve got no idea if those you were side eyeing are also parents who do their utmost not to go to A&E and have been told to attend by 111 exactly as you have.

I hope your daughter feels better soon and gets any medical care she needs.

I’m on chemo and was coughing up blood. Sent straight to A&e. I had to sit in a room full of people coughing and in agonising pain for about 5 hours then I was put on a trolly in a corridor with loads others. I was on a morphine and antibiotic drip in a corridor for 12hrs. I didn’t know where I was or even where to nearest toilet was. I ended up back in A&e 2 days later as I wasn’t treated properly the first time. It’s shocking!

Yes but he continues to be increasingly popular. I just don’t get why? Unless it’s really that he appeals to people’s prejudices.

It’s so depressing because like Trump he and all his cronies are just out to enrich themselves. None of them care about the average person in the street. But like the MAGA hordes it only dawns on them when it actually directly affects them. Like when their goods and services cost more or when they can’t get an hospital bed. But by then it’s too late and it takes years to turn things around. Because you can’t just pick up a consultant A&E doctor down the job centre.

It really annoys me that some people think they know better than the staff who’ve spent years at university and have more years in experience. If you’re such a bloody expert why are you even there? You can’t judge why other children are there either. So what if they’re sitting there watching a program on the iPhone? They might have a bad chest that means keeping them still is the best course of action.

DGS attended A&E 8 times between September 2024 & August 2025. Each time he was seen within minutes and he was on HDU within an hour receiving the treatment he needed.

A lot of the problem now is people don’t understand self limiting illnesses anymore. When we were kids, and even when my kids were little, if they had a virus you saw how they went. Now everyone wants a doctor to perform a miracle but it doesn’t work like that. Most kids, and adults, just need fluids, painkillers and time when they’re ill.