Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
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:
tiggerlovestobounce · 16/01/2009 13:59

Its good that you have complained. A receptionist shouldnt be making that sort of decision. She probably thought that she was being helpful, but it wasnt an appropriate choice for her to be making.

dilemma456 · 16/01/2009 14:02

Message withdrawn

NewAmazingBeginning · 16/01/2009 14:04

I would have said maybe the nurse felt it wasn't that serious but then I see it was a receptionsit that basically triaged him and even the Doctor was shocked.

Definitely write to point out that some retraining might be in order - rather than a full on rant.

cory · 16/01/2009 14:18

Not surprised: I sat for hours with an unconscious toddler on my lap in A&E, admittedly 10 years ago. Finally she came to briefly, threw up all over everything- and bingo, we were in!

honeybehappy · 16/01/2009 14:31

YANBU!
Same thing happened to my sister a few years ago,my nephew was really ill and after 4 hours the receptionist said "oh sorry i put him in the wrong pile with the non-urgent people".

Original poster
surprisenumber3 · 16/01/2009 14:32

that's terrible cory, DS2 kept saying he felt sick so I'm surprised he wasn't really as normally when he says he is, he is!

I just want to make sure it doesn't happen again. Luckily he is fine today and we've had a lovely day at home, but it could have been a lot lot worse.

OP posts:
Ineedmorechocolatenow · 16/01/2009 14:41

I really feel for you. My 2 yr old was running across the bedroom and smacked his head against a bed post and had a huge swelling all over the side of his head and face. I called an ambulance and once at hospital was told to wait. 4 hours later I saw someone who said 'he's fine - you can go home - you should have been told you can go home hours ago'. We were fuming as if a triage nurse had bothered to tell us that when we arrived, we'd have bloody gone home. I know they do a hard job (both my parents do the job).

Hope DS is okay now x

It's so horrible when they injure themselves

ithinkimtallandblonde · 16/01/2009 14:59

You should definitely of got to see a nurse to be triaged. Your right to complain its only by people complaining this will stop and it happens all to frequently.

"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."

By doing this you risk putting your child through an unneccesary night in hospital and possibly even a CT scan.

Calling an ambulance does not mean your seen any quicker thats a myth, In all of the hospitals i've worked at we triage the ambulance patients and put them in the waiting room if its safe to do so mainly to stop the hundreds of people who hitch a ride to get seen quicker.

Reallytired · 16/01/2009 17:45

It really annoys me that some mothers seem to think that their children are the only people on the planet. I think that its unreasonable to expect childrem always to be prioritised, just because they are a child.

Surely someone who needs an intensive care bed should take priority over a child with a bump on the head. If your child had started to detoriate then I am sure that they would have been prioritised.

My son was knocked unconcious in the school playground. He was sick at school and the school asked me to take him to A and E. Like you we were kept waiting at least hours. By the time we saw the doctor it was blatently obvious that he was not going die. I was just instructed to observe him for 24 hours.

The reason for the wait, was that two people were brought in with horrific burns. I have no idea what had happened to them, but I just pray that they made it through the night.

Maybe there was someone like them and that is why your child had to wait so long. A and E staff do not tell you about other patients because it would be breaking confidentality.

Original poster
surprisenumber3 · 16/01/2009 17:50

reallytired - there were adults with bruised knuckles, a slight burn from grill pan, and painful toe going in within an hour. They were laughing, joking around with the people accompanying them. They were in and out while we were still sat there.

Meanwhile DS2 was sat on my lap caked in blood, his head still bleeding (didn't stop completely til it was glued), shivering and shaking and falling asleep at midnight.

Surely that isn't right in anyones books!!

Believe me I am quite happy to wait for more urgent cases to be seen but this was quite blatently wrong.

And I didn't need A&E staff to tell me anything, I could see for myself who was going in and out. The patients themselves were saying it was wrong.

OP posts:
Original poster
surprisenumber3 · 16/01/2009 17:55

I think what riles me the most is that the receptionist took it upon herself to put him on the 'minor' injuries list instead of the general list, saying it would be quicker which it quite blatently was NOT! and because she said this no-one realised the extent of it until he went through. She even said herself it wasn't a minor injury but that he would be seen quicker initially and then if we had to wait for a doctor at least he would have been assessed.

I really thought all patients should at leaset be triaged within 3 hours!

OP posts:
tiggerlovestobounce · 16/01/2009 18:08

I agree that sometimes children have to wait,if that is what is appropriate, but I think that in this case the point is that no-one knew whether the child should wait or not because they hadnt been triaged.

deepinlaundry · 16/01/2009 18:16

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
surprisenumber3 · 16/01/2009 18:21

I agree that 3 hours is not excessive...once you've been triaged.

The questions I have raised is why we weren't triaged and why others were taken in before us with much less problems.

The doctor was about to tell us off for not going to hospital for 3 hours - surely that tells me that something was wrong there!

Unfortunately I know that a bleeding head can be a major injury, my aunt banged hers on the wall after slipping on her stairs at home and very tragically this killed her at a very young age.

OP posts:
deepinlaundry · 16/01/2009 18:24

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BoffinMum · 16/01/2009 18:25

Deepinlaundry, it was actually an NHS consultant suggesting a way around crap receptionists and inefficient systems. All too grounded, I am afraid.

Original poster
surprisenumber3 · 16/01/2009 18:25

if he had been seen by a triage nurse who said he was okay I would have been more than happy to have waited.

as it was he was drifting off to sleep with hundreds of purple spots appearing on his eye sockets, cheeks and forehead and we had no idea what they were and his head still bleeding from an open gash.

anyone would feel the same if it were their child.

OP posts:
deepinlaundry · 16/01/2009 18:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
surprisenumber3 · 16/01/2009 18:27

deepinlaundary - no it was not lifethreatening but a doctor/nurse needed to tell me that, not some jumped up receptionist who think she knows it all without even seeing him!

OP posts:
Original poster
surprisenumber3 · 16/01/2009 18:28

drowsy....yes, he was falling asleep, as I told the receptionist when I got there.

And I went up to tell them twice that I couldn't keep him awake.

OP posts:
stoppinattwo · 16/01/2009 18:30

DD put a 2 inch gash in her forehead last year...same place harry potter has his (we told her)....blood everywhere...we didnt even get to see the triage...she was straight through and glued ..I cant believe you were left fo 3.5 hours

deepinlaundry · 16/01/2009 18:31

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
surprisenumber3 · 16/01/2009 18:33

I certainly wasn't afraid to challenge, I myself worked in that very hospital for 15 years.

But the receptionist was well...erm...think of the 'computer says nO' lady in Little Britain and you might get the picture - and there was no getting past her!

OP posts:
deepinlaundry · 16/01/2009 18:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

cory · 16/01/2009 18:35

Talking of old ladies, that time I sat waiting with unconscious dd on my lap, there was an absolutely ancient lady with a broken leg, obviously in a lot of pain, and she kept saying to her daughter: " oh that poor baby, oh I do hope that baby gets seen soon". Still brings tears to my eyes that does.

Swipe left for the next trending thread