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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think A&E should see a child with a bleeding gaping head injury a bit sooner than 3 hours??

82 replies

surprisenumber3 · 16/01/2009 12:08

Took DS2 to A&E last night. He had a gaping gash to the back of his head, was shaking, clothes soaked in blood (he is just 5 BTW). He also had purple spots all over his eyes from the pressure. The woman on A&E reception said she'd put him on the 'minor injuries' list just so he'd be seen quicker.

After a while DH went to ask how long, they said 5 people in front of us. Different woman so he explained the situation. By now DS2 was falling asleep and we were desperately trying to keep him awake. This woman said she'd speak to 'medical staff'.

Sat and waited. Adults with little burns, holding their wrists, bruises etc came through door and were seen in an hour.

By now I was fuming and went up to reception desk again. Explained situation and asked why all these people were being seen before him (twas midnight by now!). Was told it was because we were on the 'minor injuries' list and it takes longer!!!

I then asked why and she said she would get a doctor. A doctor came, told us off when we said he'd done it 3.5 hours ago. I told him we'd been there for over 3 hours. He looked totally shocked, cut my poor babies hair and 'glued' him back together.

AIBU to write a letter to the hospital asking them to explain their procedure??

OP posts:
wrinklytum · 16/01/2009 12:11

Sounds a bit odd,does your A+E not have a separate childrens cas?

Also usually cases are "Triaged" by a nurse,not a receptionist.

Poor DS hope hes better now.

laweaselmys · 16/01/2009 12:13

It sounds like the receptionist put him on the wrong list by mistake to me. I don't think a letter asking them to explain the procedure would be unreasonable - I thought head injuries were always a priority...

Glad he is all stitched up now though!

kitkatqueen · 16/01/2009 12:14

Go for it guns blazing girl!!!!

They have obviously messed up big time!! bang out of order.

Complain to the the cheif exec of the health trust they will then reasses their procedures and prevent a repeat. And u should get a written apology!!

If not could happen again.

Hope your ds is feeling better soon.

KKQx

MrsSeanBean · 16/01/2009 12:16

No you are not BU at all! That sounds apalling. Sorry you had to go through all that, hope DS is on the mend.

mayorquimby · 16/01/2009 12:16

i'd hesitate to complain about how a&e prioritise patients as they must do because frankly i don't hae their medical knowledge and they take a lot of flak for doing a hard job.
in this case though it does seem a mistake was made on the receptionists part and a letter asking for an explanation would be quite restrained on your part and not at all unreasonable

Original poster
surprisenumber3 · 16/01/2009 12:16

thanks everyone. when we got there we did see children going through to 'children's A&E' but this seemed to shut about 9 pm.

I asked if someone, ie a nurse, could just see him and say if he was okay to wait or not but I was just told he would get called in turn.

I was so upset, I am 27 weeks pregnant too and I had left DS1 with a neighbour cos DS2 was bleeding too much to go in the car with DH driving and me not there.

I need to write don't I, even if just to stop it happening again.

OP posts:
mm22bys · 16/01/2009 12:18

That's absolutely terrible.

DS2 cut his head a while ago, blood everywhere. I called an ambulance. They were fine with it, checked him over, and offered to take us all to the hospital. I declined.

Later on it was still bleeding so I took him to the GP, who told me off for calling the ambulance.

I still don't know if I did the right or wrong thing. I wouldn't have wanted him to wait 3.5 hours so who knows?

Your DS obviously should have been straight away....

YANBU.

VinegarTits · 16/01/2009 12:19

Sounds like the receptionist got it wrong, where was their triage nurse?

A head injury should definately be asessed by a nurse straight away before being put on the list to see the doctor imo

Definately write and complain

MrsSeanBean · 16/01/2009 12:21

I called NHS direct once when I was PG and had trouble breathing - they asked a set list of questions and decided I needed an ambulance. It arrived 30 mins later. Luckily I was still alive/breathing.

I think it's a good idea to call NHS direct though and let them decide if you need an ambulance. Still a bit cheeky of GP to tick mm22bys off for calling one though, in the circumstances.

Original poster
surprisenumber3 · 16/01/2009 12:22

I think that is what gets me the most. if a triage nurse had said he was okay to wait then so be it, but a receptionist who didn't even look at him?? All she said was 'did he lose consciousness?'.

He wasn't triaged at all, he went straight in to the doctor. In fact the doctor came out into reception to get us and took us straight into the cubicle.

I am writing to the hospital now!

mm22bys - I did say to DH that if anything happens like this again we will just call an ambulance and risk getting told off because last night was horrendous. Other patients in A&E were coming over and saying they couldn't believe it either.

OP posts:
BoffinMum · 16/01/2009 12:36

My consultant friend told me if this happened to one of mine, the correct answer is "I think he may have lost consciousness for a moment but I can't be sure". Then apparently you're in straight away.

Receptionists should not be doing diagnoses of whether it's a minor injury or not - YANBU and I would complain. The vision disturbance was a red flag for concussion apart from anything else.

Mooseheart · 16/01/2009 12:36

That is disgraceful!

I was once kept waiting (after being sent to three different hospitals) for 72 hours to have my half-severed finger sewn back on, (I needed complicated hand surgery).

But to keep a child waiting that long is ridiculous! It makes me wonder what on earth one has to do to get emergency treatment these days.

Yes, write a strongly worded letter of complaint. And one to your local paper too.

TotalChaos · 16/01/2009 12:38

very very bad that he wasn't triaged, so had to wait 3 hours to be seen by a health pro. I don't think a 3 hour wait after triage is great, but does happen at busy times unfortunately.

kitkatqueen · 16/01/2009 12:43

I have called 4 ambulances in my life - not all for my kids thank god - but each time the paramedics have told me I did the right thing.

To tell someone off for calling an ambulance for a child with a head injury is absurd.

I hope you will ignore the telling off and do it again if you feel you need to!!

Good luck with your letter surpriseno3 its irritating that you have to write but a necessesity.

Somthing has obviously gone wrong in the dept and lets face it next time it could be v serious.

mayorquimby · 16/01/2009 12:45

"My consultant friend told me if this happened to one of mine, the correct answer is "I think he may have lost consciousness for a moment but I can't be sure". Then apparently you're in straight away.
"

ah but then you get into the moral dilemma of lying to skip ahead of other people whos injuries may be a greater priority than your childs.just to give us something to philosophise about

Original poster
surprisenumber3 · 16/01/2009 12:45

thanks all - I have done my letter. Have just written what happened and then pointed out and listed what my questions are.

It wasn't a visual disturbance Boffin, it was on the skin around his eyes, Bright purple spots under the skin which are still there now! But still, he should have been seen. I will remember what your friend told you in future, thank you!

I really wouldn't have minded waiting once he had seen a medical person and they said it was okay to wait.

OP posts:
CaptainKarvol · 16/01/2009 12:51

Huge sympathies, head injuries are scary and bleed a lot.

BTW, "I think he may have lost consciousness" may work for children at A&E, it didn't work when some bloody idiot whacked a golf ball into DH's head in our local park.

4 hellish hours waiting to be seen in A&E after the ambulance dropped us off, when I knew DH had passed out for a few moments after the impact, and wasn't coherent in A&E...

Original poster
surprisenumber3 · 16/01/2009 12:57

gosh CK, that's awful, I always thought ambulance patients got seen straight away

OP posts:
normansmum · 16/01/2009 13:21

Yanbu at all. That sounds awful and a head injury Think they may need to review their proceedures / training of reception staff for prioritising patients. They wont know they need to do this unless you write telling them what happened. Contact PALS if you need advice - 42k - link

normansmum · 16/01/2009 13:23

Sorry x posted

TotalChaos · 16/01/2009 13:24

how grim CK. Child ambulance patients don't automatically get seen straightaway (DS had a c hest infection and got taken in by ambulance as NHS Walk in centre nurse freaked out because his SATs were lower than they ought). We had to wait about 2 hours after triage for him to get seen (not that he desperately needed attention earlier).

Original poster
surprisenumber3 · 16/01/2009 13:25

thanks Normansmum, it is PALS I have contacted.

I sent them an email and they have replied already saying they are going to look into it and let us know.

OP posts:
Sidge · 16/01/2009 13:28

That's really poor. All patients should be triaged by a nurse, not sorted by a receptionist.

I would question their assessment procedures.

TheNinkynork · 16/01/2009 13:48

Oh your poor DS, and you

This happened when DD was a toddler and we were kept waiting for the same amount of time. As it happens, the other A&E patients kept going up to the desk and asking why the little girl with her head pouring blood hadn't been seen yet as they were horrified on our behalf.

I would like to think that the people around you were feeling the same!

MrsMagooo · 16/01/2009 13:57

YANBU!

That's appalling - your poor DS (& poor you too!)

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