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??

Wtf has happened to this countries priorities??

People voted Tory.

Yes but it’s partly because it’s abused. If there was a charge it wouldn’t be. I’m not suggesting we do charge but when something is free, people will use the service whether it’s an emergency or not. Like going to A&E when it’s not an accident or Energency. It’s what people do. We are unable to ration services to those who need them. Truly need them!

Other countries have more efficient and effective health care systems that are funded on a different model. We need to accept our model of funding is out of date. We need to look at how we could fund in a similar way to Germany or France perhaps. We will need to pay more and make payments that are ring fenced for health.

We also need old age care insurance to take that burden away too. But look what happened when Teresa May took advice and suggested it. Outcry. If people won’t insure for services they only have themselves to blame. We need Boris to grasp this one after the crisis.

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

Well, quite .... that would have gone to the highest priority call in my trust even though we are struggling massively, IF they had become completely unresponsiveness and not just very drowsy.

How awful and scary for you. Friday and Saturday nights are always the worst for ambulances, especially if you live in a town or city with lots of nightlife. I garee with others I think the service has been wound down abit and the population has risem also a lot of local A&E's were shut to have larger more specialised ones but that meant ambulance journey times were longer.

Glad your DD is on the mend. Did she have viral or bacterial meningitis?

And yes I phoned back several times as did my partner I eventually had a first responder on the phone with me for a good 40 minutes before the ambulance arrived I'd called back that many times. They were telling me to pinch her to try and get her to respond. Apparently it's a natural response to having such a high temprature.

Ithink to leave her unconsoius with out seeking help for over an hour is as neglectful as the ambulance serice. They couldn't be there to take her to hospital. OP was. Could she not call a neighbour/ a friend even a taxi?

Yes but it’s partly because it’s abused

How is it abused?

Pinch her? . Prodding the forehead usually just as effective and shouldn't leave bruises.

Did she have the meningitis vaccine OP? How scary xx

How is it abused?

Well, where to start on this one- our health services are hugely abused and have been for used. Just look at some of the 999 call programmes and what people ring up for (though tbf there is also a huge MH provision shortage that contributes to this)

How awful 😢😢

Also she wasn't completely unconscious for the whole time. She was in and out of consciousness but when I did manage to rouse her she was not with us at all!! Then she would slip back unconscious again.

I wouldn't have been able to get an unconscious 8 yr old into the car! (Lone parent)

Why didn't the first responder come in a car????

Jesus. What has happened that people are so unkind. All these comments. So sorry OP that you had such a scare .

Other PP's please stop sounding like mini-me JRM's blaming individuals for their own deaths for taking official advice to stay put in grenfell. The OP listens to official advice and all you can do is blame her?!

Incredible. Take a step back. Don't fall into the trap of blaming individuals for structural failings.

We need to demand support and money for our public services. Surely the scales can fall from our eyes as we suddenly see how public money is magically now available as it's needed.

You did the right thing OP - you sought advice and you took it. You did what the trained medical professionals in full possession of the relevant facts asked you to do and now your daughter is on the mend. The situation was tough, but you powered through it and nobody can ask for more than that. It must have been so awful for you and you are quite right that we shouldn't be in a situation where essential medical care cannot be delivered because the system is so drastically overloaded. Stay safe.

are always the worst for ambulances, especially if you live in a town or city with lots of nightlife

So true, I wonder if this was another factor considered when they decided to close all pubs/ clubs. Hopefully it will take some of the pressure off, but I'm not convinced some won't start having parties instead (especially when it gets warmer) and create the same mayhem there. I hope not.

I’m so disgusted at all the posters heaping the guilt on the OP. I’m sure she had no idea it would take that long and she was told to wait because paramedics could treat her DD at home and in the ambulance. She now knows not to if it were to happen again. But given that she’s most likely traumatised by what’s just happened, people need to show some compassion instead of slating her!

To contrast I was hit by a car yesterday and the ambulance arrived in 10 minutes. Luckily I wasn’t badly hurt so was able to be discharged. Then later on I went to A&E for an x ray and they were really efficient, couldn’t be more grateful for the NHS

I am so sorry but this is the reality of our NHS. This happens more than you realise but sadly the general public keep voting in the monsters who have destroyed it. I hope she’s fully recovered and you too

Please report this to your ambulance service: there will be a feedback link on their webpage. If the bosses don't hear the stories things don't change. You can also report it to your local Healthwatch. It's nota. complaint, just information. Everyone trying to help you would have been horrified at not being able to send an ambulance immediately but things aren't going to get better in the short term and both 111 and 999 need to revise their protocols around telling people to stay at home and wait for an ambulance when they could get themselves to hospital far more quickly.

our health services are hugely abused and have been for used

You haven't explained how they are abused.

Just because people phone 999 doesn't mean an ambulance rushes out to see them immediately. They are assessed and, as this thread demonstrates, even when the patient has been assessed as being in danger the ambulance might take ages due to CUTS IN THE SERVICE

It's abused by people ringing for the ambulance as if they were taxis! Read the news reports of "daft things people have called 999 for" that are published regularly.
Two years ago, long before the crisis we face now, I needed an ambulance. I am reasonably young and fit but my condition required urgent hospital care. It took so long to arrive and get to A&E (almost two hours feom calling 999) that I had brain damage.
This isn't a new problem in many areas. Look at the threads complaining how impossible it is to get a GP appointment. Of course problems that aren't too serious but get left unseen for months then become serious/critical.

It has nothing to do with the government

Constant upheaval and reorganisations, constant cuts and "efficiency" exercises to keep costs down are entirely the fault of the government as is the lack of spare capacity. They are government spending choices.

You can have all the plans for pandemics in the world but if your health service has had every ounce of "fat" cut from it and the service has been fragmented to buggery and distributed to umpteen private companies who don't work together then yes, you are responsible.

As a nurse, this isn't a surprise to me. The 999 ambulance service was absolutely at breaking point, even before coronavirus. We regularly have waits for an hour or more for calls which should be priority 1 calls like heart attacks or breathing problems. This is going to get much, much worse over the next few months.

It's a depressing mix of inappropriate use of resources (I.E, people using ambulances like taxis or for non-emergency situations) and poor resources and slashed budgets from years of a Conservative government. And the NHS has warned repeatedly that it wasn't coping even with regular seasonal pressures and another 5 years of poor funding would ruin it, and yet people voted the Conservatives in again. Unfortunately the public are going to feel the full force of that decision over the next few months. People keep thinking that the UK may be as bad as Italy soon. They're wrong. It'll be much worse than Italy soon because Italy have far more resources than the NHS has, put social restrictions in earlier, and even they can't cope. We will probably have people dying waiting hours for ambulances, and many more dying in trollies in hospital corridors because we don't have the beds, equipment or staff to cope with hundreds of people needing inpatient care.

I'm really sorry to hear about your DD OP and hope she gets well soon.

I’m so glad she’s doing ok

That first responder should be ashamed of themselves though.

They should have told you to try and calm down and then drive to the hospital instead of waiting over an hour for an ambulance.