if i demand a GP's appointment tomorrow?

[claw3]

I spent all day and most of last night in A&E at my local hospital with ds 4.5 years old. He was having difficultity breathing and had to be given a nebuliser, oxygen and steriods. Also x-ray taken of chest, which showed he had shadows on his lungs.

Dr has given me a letter to take my GP asking her to refer to chest specialist. Now i know when i phone for appointment, she will be fully booked for days. I think a referral for something like this, is an emergency and i should be able to see her immediately?

I will be demanding anyway, but just wondered what your thoughts were?

Do you actually need an appointment if all you need is a referral? It could probably be done with a phone appointment.

I would ask for an urgent (same day) appointment. If they question why or say impossible, explain why. If they still say no say you want a call from the GP same day. The GP will then be able to speak to you and if they believe they need to see your son tomorrow they will call you in. Also, they may even be able to deal with the referral over the phone without you even having to go in at all.

You should be able to see her. Our surgery has a system whereby a patient with an emergency is given a 5 minute appointment between appointments. If it's a child there is never a problem.

Why not go down and drop off the letter , asking if you need an appointment or if it is a formality .

We have the opposite problem in our area..it is possible to book a GP appointment in advance - you have to ring up on the day...

I think you may struggle tomorrow though - Mondays are always hell - round here you have to ring by 8:15.

Does he need to see a dr - or do you just need a referral. If it was me I would probably ring the recpetionist - explain you have a letter asking for a emergency referal. You may be able to drop it in and let the GP deal with it without seeing you. They may allow you to do a telephone appointment if there is anything extra they need.

Sorry....lots of x posts there....

Ladyjulia - I was assuming i would need an appointment so i could give her the letter from hospital Dr.

Lots of people have said that it can be done over the phone, so i may give that a try first.

Thanks ladies

No he doesnt need to see a Dr, the Dr at the hospital has treated him and given us medicine to take home, just a referral.

They will need the letter - but it is best that that goes via the receptionist anyway. The Dr will not action it whilst you are there - so unless you feel he needs to be seen there is no real benefit of an appointment. The dr may ask for him to be seen...but give them a chance to do it via receptionist/phone first rather than wasting valuable appointment slots.

Madscientist - Its the shadow on the lung bit that has scared me. Dr compared x-ray with another x-ray that was taken a few months ago and commented that shadow was much more prominent now.

I have no idea what this may mean, Dr at hospital would not speculate as to what had caused this. I wouldnt mind having a chat with my GP.

Will do, i will call GP surgery first thing tomorrow and explain. Im just panicking. Even if i see GP, she isnt going to speculate either and worry me to death with what it could or couldnt be.

Apparently hosptial Dr cant refer, he just does the letter to GP, thats what he tolds us anyhow.

Thanks everyone i will try to stay calm.

It might be a funding thing, whereby the referral has to come from a gp as they have a budget.

Hope you get some answers soon.

I think you should be able to get an appointment in the next day or two but try not to worry too much. If there was serious cause for concern your son would have been admitted and kept in until a paediatrician reviewed him. Is your som asthmatic? I think a shadow can be caused by an infection - has he been prone to chest infections?

I would hand the letter in and then phone your GP the next day to get a timescale and any other advice.

If you don't get any luck from your GP go back to A&E and ask to see a paediatrician today.

It is a funding issue (I am a doc) but I bloody hate all this red tape crap. In defense of the doc involved they may actually not be concerned about this 'shadow' in which case it is reasonable for a GP to deal with non-urgent problems. But if they are concerned I personally think they should have referred you direct and not done this - A&E is for urgent and emergency problems and referring for these to specialists is entirely appropriate.

Regardless of whether they are concerned or not by refusing to answer your questions as to what it could be (even an 'I am sorry I really do not know as I am quite inexperienced but I can see that this has changed and I want to get it checked out') they have made you very anxious and therefore should at least be prepared to let someone more senior see you to allay some of your fears.

Good luck

DS had shadowing on his lung, and it was due to a part of the lung collapsing as the mucus from his asthma (as it turns out, but he was 9 months old when this started) was so thick it plugged up the lung. This sounds bad, but was resolved with antibiotics, inhalers and chest physio - we had an urgent referral to the childrens lung specialist for this who also did a lot of tests to check that it was just asthma

Oh and hospitals have funds to refer patients too - fair enough to not spend them for something non urgent but if I took my ds to hospital and got told what you had been I would not have left until I had seen a senior paediatrician!!!

Easier for me to be bolshy in this situation though as I would just tell them I was a doc and that does tend to expedite things like this, rightly or wrongly

As a GP speaking, this is the kind of thing that I would gladly see and sort out as an emergency slot on a Monday. Give them a ring tomorrow. I also wouldn't refer without speaking to the parent and examining the child myself.

Thanks for all your comments, I went to GP surgery this morning and explained to receptionist, who said she will give letter to Dr. I also made an appointment for tomorrow.

Northernlurker - My ds hasnt been diagnosed with asthma, as he only gets breathless if he has a cold, rest of the time he is fine. Nor is he prone to chest infections, in fact this is his 1st.

GOOD SOME DR'S ON THE THREAD. On referral letter it stated bilateral hilar?

My ds has been aneamic since he was about 18 months old and has been taken iron supplements for this. Recent blood tests showed that the medication is working and his hemoglobin level are ok. Im not convinced, he is still deathly white. Any advice?

I have constantly mentioned this to my GP and she replies with the all too familiar 'dont worry, he will grow out of it'

claw, do you have a reason for the anaemia?

DDs anaemia was down to coeliac disease, so I am always "on the look out" for other potential coeliacs - if he has not been tested ask about it, don't be fobbed off with any GP/HV saying "but he hasn't any other symptoms" - this is very under diagnosed and can occur with and without many symptoms

Loobey - Yes basically his diet, he has Sensory Modulation Disorder and will only eat about 5 foods, all being sweet, so no iron intake whatsoever. His diet has remained the same since he was about 6 months old.

Someone else did mention to me about coeliac disease, he doesnt seem to have any of the signs, but i will be getting that checked next time he has his regular blood test.

I was told 3 years ago that once the iron supplement kicked in, the colour would return to his cheeks, im still waiting.

My ds's anemia went untreated for about year, as one Dr didnt read his results properly, apparently hemoglobin are not the only levels you have to check. Im going to ask to be referred back to dietician again.

My DS has alot of bad showdowing on his lungs when the collapsed, BUT he has Cystic Fibrosis so this is probably different.

All i will say is push as hard as you have to if you are not happy with any of your sons health (i.e the anemia) i had to fight untill i was emotionally exhausted to get ds diagnosed as i was bieng brushed off all the time.

I hope all goes well.