NHS what’s going on? Everything closed? Nothing in the news?

[dealbreaker555]

Went to walk in - closed - sign up saying they’re looking after sick people and too busy.

called 111 and told they would get a gp call back then get a text saying their too busy and call ambulance if needed!

what is going on, can’t find anything on news?

If your often having to seek care for breathing issues then you need to be pushing for referrals (if you haven’t already) to put a plan in place to stop it getting to that point.

I would say pretty much the norm. The NHS is an absolute shit show and nothing that happens would surprise or shock me. Its not fit for purpose and hasnt been for a long time. Time to dismantle and get something in place that runs efficiently.

If you get to A&E with a child having breathing difficulties and A&E is closed then you call 999.

But if this is happening regularly your child needs a steroid preventer inhaler. If an emergency is foreseeable and preventable you take the steps to prevent it rather than agonising about what you should do if it happens.

was your child vomiting, if so for how long before you went to the hospital? Any other symptoms?
Just seen you meant ill not vomiting.
If your child was having breathing difficulties then you should have banged on the door, they would not have turned away a child that was having trouble breathing.

I have asked about asthma and inhalers but they said they can’t do anything till he is older but I think you might be right. I’ll look into pushing for this thank you

They can't diagnose asthma till he's older. We got prescribed a steroid presenter inhaler after the 3rd emergency can't breathe incident in the space of 6 months.

Yes—the NHS certainly makes things harder for themselves by not providing a free flu vaccine to everyone. I’m sure it would be a damn sight cheaper to vaccinate the whole population than to treat people in the hospital, especially given the knock-on effects that has across the entire health service.

We’ve had similar and it seems stupid we’re scrabbling for last minutes support all the time it’s always at night too. I have asked a few times I didn’t know they could prescribe an inhaler asl I asked specifically about that - was it hard to get? I’ll research a bit more and push harder

A really virulent covid strain is absolutely rampant right now. My DS brought it back from uni last week and as a result we’ve all had it (even our poor dog had a bit of a cough and a temperature), my parents 70 miles away have got it, lots of friends all around the country have had/have it. A lady we often see while dog walking said yesterday that it’s already seen off two residents of her husband’s care home and it was in lockdown last week as a result.
Disease is everywhere.

With respect, you didn't try the A&E. There's no point hand wringing asking 'what if the A&E was closed'? The walk in was closed. Your child had breathing difficulties so A&E was the place to go.

I do agree there NHS is under immense pressure generally.

He didn’t have breathing issues this time hence not an and e, but has recently a lot.

111 have told us to go there for breathing issues before though, it depends how bad though doesn’t it. If quite bad, irs not unreasonable to go there and get the medicine.

if it’s really bad of course a and e.

But I am wondering in a situation like now they effectively close 111 and walk in how that would impact an and e for emergency situations.

this thread has been useful and I’m glad I posted thnaks to those who mentioned I might be able to get an inhaler.

Where I live, we have "urgent treatment centres", open 8am to 8pm, 7 days pw, that deal with minor injuries and illnesses that people can't wait for a GP appointment for.

I've never known my local one to be closed during its opening hours, and even if it was, there are 3 others within a 20 minute drive.

It's really excellent system, and I don't understand why more NHS trusts don't run similar centres. I suspect that it's also part of the reason why there's rarely a wait for GP appointments. For anything urgent, the GP can usually see you the same day, or first thing the following day, and I haven't had to wait more than one working day for a GP appointment for years.

Generally they won’t diagnose it as asthma until older because so many get viral induced wheeze but they can still treat it as such and just monitor.

DS has been on preventative inhalers since he was 6 months. He was actually diagnosed with asthma at 1 but his was a severe case.

I paid £15 all in next day delivery.

Last week our local minor injuries put up a sign behind us saying they were closed to new arrivals. DD1 just needed antibiotics for an infection around a fingernail. No response from the GP 2 days after doing an e consult form, pharmacy said see the GP so we headed to minor injuries.

Was triaged quickly but the nurse suggested calling 111 so they could send a prescription to a pharmacy to collect instead of waiting for 6+ hours there. This was at 3pm, 111 phoned back the next day at 5.30 and said they've booked a call from our GP. They never called. Her nan ended up pulling some penicillin out of the back of a drawer.

Next time I'm going to look at paying for a private GP appointment. It's almost like they're pushing everyone to private quietly.

Depends on age, depends on other health conditions, depends if you've already had a uti recently. Don't be so disingenuous.

My comment was related only to replying to a person who said the chemist she visited did not offer the Chemist First services. There is a raft of online chemists which do.