My dd nearly died waiting for an emergency ambulance... the nhs is broken!

[finallyahappygirl]

Last Saturday my dd 8 woke up extremely poorly. She had a temperature of 39c and was complaining of a sore throat, I rang nhs 111 at 7:30am and was told I would be called by a nurse and I should not take her to a walk in centre or A&E due to the risk of her being infected with covid-19. Fast forward 12 hours my dd tried to get out of bed but collapses straight on the floor, she could not bear bright lights she couldn't not move her neck and everytime she spoke or cried she was screaming in total agony with the pain in her head. Her temperature had risen to 41c and she began losing consciousness.... I rang 999 and was advised that it sounded like meningitis and I was to strip her clothes off and try and cool her down. 5 minutes later I was rang back by a first responder who talked me through what to do and how to keep her safe, he then told me she was top priority and they were coming blues and twos but.... there were no available ambulances and he didn't know when one would become available. I totally lost it at this point sobbing down the phone that my baby is dying I don't know how to save her. He apologised profusely but said she is top priority and they will be with us when they can.... 5 minutes later she lost consciousness completely and we couldn't wake her at all even nipping her ear she didn't come round. I frantically dialed 999 only to be told very rudely there was still no ambulances and what were they meant to do. I said I would take her in my own car and they said that was too dangerous due to the state I was in and the likely medical treatment she needed immediately. 1hour and 20 minutes later the ambulance turned up my daughter still unconscious my eldest dd in hysterics thinking her baby sister had died. My partner in complete shock!!! My daughter has meningitis and thankfully is now on the mend but the outcome could have been so different it does bear thinking about really.
I totally appreciate we're in a pandemic but surely the nhs shouldn't be this broken where children's lives are being put at risk!!! Wtf has happened to this countries priorities?? Why have the government let things get to this point??

I am so sorry. I cannot believe that we are already in this state of affairs. I hope your daughter fully recovers very soon.

Our hospital is 15 minutes away. I think as soon as they said they had no free ambulance, I would have immediately got in the car and gone straight there.

Glad she is on the mend now but if she takes a bad turn, just get her to hospital.

It has nothing to do with the government. It is probably due to people calling ambulances when they aren't needed so that when people do need them, they aren't available.

If I was told no ambulance was available and my child was unconscious, I would definitely have taken her myself and told 999 to alert the hospital that I was on my way with a child with suspected meningitis.

Sometimes we do know better and you should be guided by gut instinct. I am so pleased that your DD is on the mend.

Why have the government let things get to this point??

Because people have repeatedly voted to allow them to. As people put other concerns above health, not realising that no other concerns matter if you are dead

I am so sorry about your daughter and hope she is on the mend soon

I would've taken her. There is a news story about a man dying because he couldn't get through to 111.

I wouldn't have waited an hour and a half for an ambulance if I had a car available...

I'm glad your DD is on the mend

How awful. I am so glad your daughter is on the mend. This happened to a friend of mine a few years ago. I'd never considered before what would happen if there were no ambulances 😩

‘It’s nothing to do with the government’

There is definitely an element of inappropriate use of 999 but I’d say successive cuts to services (ambulance service themselves plus closure of A&E’s, minor injuries units and walk-in services) over the years by the government have had quite a significant impact on ambulance response times.

I can understand your anger, it must have been a very frightening time. I don't think people realise that as well as the coronavirus the NHS are still having to cope with people having heart attacks, strokes, serious car injuries, people with breathing difficulties not related to CV, and other life threatening illnesses like your daughter's. This is why people need to take coronavirus seriously and stop any non essential contact now.

Glad your daughter is on the mend.

I'm sorry you waited so long and hope your dd is on the mend. However, you really should have just driven her yourself or you partner should have. If you had the means to get there there's no way I'd wait that long for an ambulance

I’m sorry this happened to you, @finallyahappygirl. I’m glad your DD is on the mend, hope she makes a full recovery

I now know I should have taken her myself but I was in a state of panic, so stupidly follows advise I was given! I would not wait again. I would never have forgiven myself if she had of died because I didn't put her in the car. Thank you for your kind words.

I did think ambulances were really only when you could get yourself there or when its dangerous to move the patient. I saw a thread on here last year and everyone was saying that unless it's a heart attack or like, broken neck or something then you should just get there yourself rather than wait or use up an ambulance.
What is the actual official advice?

This has been the case with ambulances for a long time it’s nothing new . I’m glad your child is improving but I literally cannot imagine why you stayed at home with an unconscious child rather than getting her in a car and driving to hospital yourself .

It has nothing to do with the government. It is probably due to people calling ambulances when they aren't needed so that when people do need them, they aren't available.

I don't think that's true. I think that a lot of people are blissfully unaware that the UK is already in crisis. People are calling ambulances because so many of them are sick and they do need them.

OP, I am glad to hear that your daughter is recovering. She is so lucky to have survived. You must all be very traumatised.

I think it's a bit harsh to scold the OP for not taking her child to A&E when she had specifically been told not to, in the circumstances.

I also don't really believe that the problems with availability of ambulances is down to people misusing them. Yes, some people do, and that's a problem that needs tackled. But you only have to read a few threads on mumsnet to see that vast swathes of very very sick people have been brainwashed by the media into believing that they are somehow not worthy of an ambulance or A&E treatment. That if they report to A&E with serious symptoms that turn out to be a false alarm, they are time wasters.

The system is broken and it is a combination of factors. Ambulance crew spend a huge amount of time attending to elderly people who have had a fall, but carers aren't allowed to lift them back into their chair, for example. They spend a lot of time in nursing homes for similar reasons. They spend a lot of time attending to people who didn't really want an ambulance, but they rang the out of hours service and an ambulance was called because they met certain criteria on a checklist. Then there's the lack of investment...

OP, that sounds terrifying, I hope she makes a quick recovery.

To the people saying 'I would have done...whatever'. You don't actually know what you would do until you are in the situation yourself. Panic takes over.

No point in asking why you didn’t just drive there yourself at this point...
But; seriously, why the hell didn’t you??

Panic takes over
Panic very rarely makes you sit and do nothing.

I'm so sorry this happened to you OP and I'm glad you're raising awareness.

This was a problem long before Covid and will only get worse.

If it's not Covid and you think it's life or death -- get yourself to hospital any way you can!

Twice in my life I've had to call 999.

The first time I almost died waiting and was fighting for my life in intensive care.

The second I had to watch a relative bleed out in front of me. It was over an hour until the ambulance finally arrived.

Unless it's something you've personally experienced you have absolutely no idea.

I was so ignorant. I thought you'd just call and they'd blue light straight to you.

Doesn't happen like that in real life and we live 10 minutes away from the main hospital in the City.

I hope your daughter makes a really swift recovery OP.

All those reprimanding the OP for not taking her DD in the car. What if she had arrested on the way? It's hard enough to do CPR on a floor let alone in the back of a car between home and the hospital with no available ambulance to help.

This just shows how close the NHS is to breaking point. A few thousand more corona cases will tip it over the edge

I had to have emergency surgery at christmas and there were no spare beds at the nearest hospital, a large hospital in a major city.
They found one after a few hours, but it was at full capacity on a normal night before all this so god knows where we are all heading

OP glad your daughter is on the mend.

Panic very rarely makes you sit and do nothing.

Of course it does. There is all sorts of research into what people do in situations like being trapped in a burning building and it's accepted that some people react by doing nothing, or carrying on as normal, or freezing in fear.

I am glad your daughter is recovering O/P

I have zero faith in ambulances being on hand to help at this time. This is absolutely not a criticism of our amazing NHS and its employees, more that resources are stretched so thin that it is struggling. Cutbacks, a lack of funding and merging areas so that there is a wider area to cover.

I say this after witnessing a very serious car accident recently with multiple serious injuries and it took an hour for the ambulance to arrive. I should add that this was before coronavirus.

OP how terrifying for all of you. I am so glad your dd is on the mend now. Very worrying that the wait was so long and could have killed her.