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??

Christ this is terrifying, I'm so sorry. Sending strength and best wishes for your daughters comfortable recovery.

I think the OP can do without the "you should have" at the minute. We are expected to follow medical advice and trust in those qualified to give it.

So sorry to hear this.

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.

And yet she could very well have died anyway because she completely lost consciousness and OP didn't take her? I'm sorry but sometimes parental instinct and common sense has to prevail.

P.s. OP I am genuinely glad to hear your daughter is on the mend

Thank you for making us aware op. It’s all very well to say take them to hospital yourself with the benefit of hindsight, but when not thinking calmly, being told not to by medical experts, and expecting the ambulance to arrive any minute I can see exactly why you waited. Glad your dd is on the mend and hope she’s fully recovered soon.

See screenshot here. A lot of current issue is people panicking at home and not following the proper advice.

OP I'm so glad your daughter is on the mend.

Nobody consider that OP has a seriously unwell child and really doesn't need a good old Mumsnet like on to tell her she did something wrong?

OP I'm glad your DD is on the mend, please don't waste any time on guilt, despite what these posters are saying, just focus on your DD

Yes it's ridiculous you had to wait so long, but really, I don't understand why you didn't just take her yourself?? What were you thinking?? "Just following advice" is a bit of a cop out tbh.

Glad your DD is on the mend OP.

This is all down to generation snowflake who call an ambulance at the drop of a hat and believe they have a right to immediate medical attention. So those who really do need it, have to go without.

Not sure how the fuck we start to address it, tbh.

An acquaintance of mine's DD had meningitis as a toddler (thankfully despite being desperately ill, she is fully recovered with just some scarring). The paramedics gave her a massive dose of the right medication within seconds of arriving, and continued treating her during the ambulance journey, which saved her life. I can absolutely see why OP followed advice - otherwise they risked something happening on the journey, a delay when they arrived at hospital, or similar. Things could have been far worse if she hadn't followed advice.

OP - I'm so glad to hear your DD is on the mend now. You have experienced a very traumatic event. My acquaintance still has PTSD to this day, years later. Take care of yourself, do not berate yourself and I strongly recommend getting in touch with one of the organisations for parents who have been through this, when you are ready to. They are amazing organisations, understand what you are going through and can help you enormously.

This is terrifying OP I can't imagine what you went through.

I'm a single mum with no car. I'd have NO way to get my children to hospital in an emergency if I couldn't get an ambulance - not sure what's going on with taxi's at the moment? I think we all knew what was going to happen to the NHS though. They are overwhelmed and it's going to get worse and worse. I think kids WILL die because of it. Praying mine don't get ill - or I don't, as they need me more than ever.

So glad she's okay OP. Breathe. It's okay.

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

That's ridiculous. The ambulance service has been warning the of service provision. And that was before this crisis.

Terrifying. Absolutely, terrifying.

I'm glad your daughter is now recovering, OP.

I’m so sorry you had to go through that OP, it sounds terrifying! Wishing your DD a speedy recovery

has been warning the government for years that cuts have led to the bare minimum of service provision

Yes it's ridiculous you had to wait so long, but really, I don't understand why you didn't just take her yourself?? What were you thinking?? "Just following advice" is a bit of a cop out tbh.

Which part of this post did you think would be helpful?

That sounds like a really frightening experience for you all, but fortunately your dd is on the mend now.

Through my job I have to contact ambulances regularly and sadly your experience isn’t unusual. I hope there is never a next time for you.

I’m not going to get on my soapbox about the misuse of ambulances because

1. MNetters with no experience of the issues would rip me to shreds

1. If I got on that soapbox, I’d never get off again

A poster called 'Not everything is black and white' comes out with this utter crap:
It has nothing to do with the government

Go on, tell us why we only have 4000 ICU beds - a tiny number per head compared to the rest of the world.

Tell us why we've got masses of NHS staff shortages.
Go on. I can't wait to hear what it has to do with.

That's horrendous. Hopefully the lockdowns and ban on sports means we'll have no sports injuries, less RTCs and no drunks falling about on Friday night. That might create more capacity for cases like your daughter.

She was unconscious for an hour and 25 minutes before the ambulance came, did you phone back to update them she had lost consciousness?

So glad your daughter is being taken care of. Scary situation. Surviving a stroke or heart attack depends on fast intervention too.

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'm sorry you had such an awful experience OP, but .....NHS workers have been screaming about the state of the NHS and need for funding for many years. Sadly, most people and the government did not give a shiny shit about this until it started to affect them. So here we are.

Panic very rarely makes you sit and do nothing.

Says somebody who has no idea what they’re talking about.

I was advised to keep her at home and wait just in case she stopped breathing I could monitor this at home and this would have been difficult in a car. I should have taken her myself but in a state of panic and the call handler specifically telling me not too as it could risk her life further. So I waited with my hand constantly on her chest to make sure she was breathing. I was terrified I thought my baby was dying so for all of you who said I should have just taken her there were reasons why I didn't. I'm not a complete idiot I wasn't thinking straight and believed with the state she was in that she could have stopped breathing then I would have lost her. Thanks again for the kind words.