Would you go to A and E with this? (picture included)

[BalaRua]

DH was weeing red yesterday and this is his wee this morning. He has a cold and has been taking lemsip. He's definitely had a temperature although no thermometer to check. Would this warrant a and e given the day/date? Thanks

I would be a little worried that he's now complaining of pain with it. I don't know if A&E again would be the right place to go but to be honest I would be quite worried and would consider going back.

Do your local A&E take calls? Ours do. I would ring them and ask whether they would see him again or whether they would still advise waiting for GP app tomorrow.

Has your DH got an appointment with the GP OP?

I don't suppose you can book them on a Bank Holiday. To be honest, it's going to be bloody hard getting one in the morning - the phones will be ringing off the hook after this long break. You might be better off turning up at Reception.

Do they have telephone or online bookings? That's one way of getting one tomorrow.

Unlikely for emergency appointments.

Your poor DN! How awful.

We could call A and E I suppose. We would like to know the micro results when the urine sample was sent off.

He hasn't a GP apt booked but we will make sure he will be seen tomorrow!

I got an emergency appointment just after Christmas via telephone booking, you might be lucky.

We'll be phoning first thing at 8am :)

If I ring my surgery first thing I get an emergency appt, depends on the surgery. If that didn't work I'd go at 8am and take a book!

At my GP surgery, they will ONLY book appointments over the phone and turn people away at the desk. DH goes to a different GP than I do so hopefully policy is different.

Mine is the same Op, to the point of ridiculousness where people have called from their mobile phones whilst standing at the reception desk. I guess they want to discourage walk ins, but when people are desperate & right there in front of them, it's a joke.

Should have added, sorry, that I hope your DH gets sorted asap.

Yes blue the consultant said that whilst it's not moving or causing a blockage then I'd have to go on the wait list. I was on a constant course of antibiotics and was given tramadol to take as needed.

Sorry to hear he now complaining of pain OP. Definitely get him seen tomorrow. Hope it eases off soon for him.

Ihatebikerides - that's a terrifying and common story. My son was diagnosed after several GP visits on a Saturday via A&E. I debated whether or not to take him. His BG was 50ish and he would have gone into a coma (certainly) and possibly died/suffered organ failure and brain damage if I hadn't taken him to A&E and had left it until the Monday. I still had an acquaintance who's a GP raise their eyebrows at me when I said I'd taken him to A&E. He was on a drip and hospitalised for five days.

T1mum3 and no doubt if you'd asked on here, somebody would have popped up accusing you of overreacting and being the cause of all the ills of the health service!!! Yes, there are stupid idiots out there who misuse the health service. But on the whole most of us know that we are sane and intelligent individuals and that sometimes the right thing to do to trust your instincts and seek a second opinion if you aren't happy first time round. I am still surprised how well I knew that my then baby DS was very unwell. He didn't look at death's door, but somehow I knew anyway. From the GP sending us to A&E under our own steam, I was about to get a bus, then looked at him and thought very clearly 'I need to jump in a taxi right this second'. In retrospect we were very lucky, because I did then believe the triage nurse when she said he looked ok and that we'd have to wait. It was only the nurse in the paediatric A&E who looked round the waiting room, saw him, and beckoned us straight in.

zoemaguire - thank goodness for mum's instinct.

I was on one of these threads a while back when someone said you should absolutely not use an ambulance for a broken bone. Well, sure, maybe not for a finger, but there are degrees of break. When I fell down the stairs, dh and I faffed around for a short while trying to remember the non-emergency number to ring for advice. As I couldn't actually move without screaming in agony and my leg was actually twisted at about 20 degrees from straight, we thought "sod it" and dialled 999. The paramedic shook his head in disbelief that we'd even thought about making our own way to A&E as I was stretchered out to the ambulance, on gas and air. He said they get called out by people who want help finding the TV remote.

I was in hospital for a week following surgery to insert pins, rods and plates for a spiral break of the tibia, fibula and ankle and was on crutches for months. So yes, calling an ambulance entirely depends on the circumstances.

I got told off by the nurse in Casualty for calling an ambulance when I miscarried.

Fingers crossed this gets sorted out quickly and your DH is ok

Problem is that you don't always know or have the ability as a lay person to make that decision and have to rely on instincts.

When my ds was a toddler he got what I thought was pink eye and so I planned to take him to GP on the Monday, but then by Sunday morning both his eyes were red all around the eye (the skin around the socket) and I got a bit worried and decided to take him to pediatric a&e. The pediatrician took one look at him and immediately put him on antibiotics and gave me a long lecture about leaving it so long that he could have gone blind had I left it another day. I've been a little less reluctant to take ds to a&e since then. It turned out he had a genetic disease (diagnosed when he was 10) which caused a lot of weird very exaggerated symptoms that normal kids don't get and we have spent a lot of time in emergency rooms around the world. I am now very used to doctors looking at ds, scratching their heads and saying "I've never seen this before." Luckily most of what he gets is treatable with antibiotics and/or ibuprofen and/or lying in bed for weeks to months.

And speaking of calling ambulances. His last weird illness consisted of waking up after a week long flu and being completely unable to sit up or walk (excruciating pain in his hips.) I was fairly sure it was inflamed hip joints triggered by a cold as he's had that before. But I had no way to get him to doctor as he's 16 now and too big for me to carry, so insurance company told me to call an ambulance and take him to A&E as that's the only method of transportation+destination that would be covered by the insurance. I felt very silly, but had no other way to move him as he was completely unable to even sit up, so couldn't have taken him in my car even if I could have gotten him to it with the help of a neighbor.

On holiday, i once took my 5 month old baby son in to the Children's hospital in Sydney as i was concerned about his breathing. He was admitted as code blue as they said he was minutes from heart failure. I had no idea that he was that ill (obv) and was asked why we hadn't called for an ambulance. 10 days in intensive care and another week on a ward.

I still shudder when considering the what ifs. As a lay person it can be difficult to judge.

Good luck at GP today

OP Hope all goes well with the GP appointment today.

Hope you've managed to get an appointment today op