Absolutely livid with on-call doctor, won't come out to see dd1

[Chiccadum]

I am absolutely livid with the on-call doctor. Dd1 has a temperature of 39.4 and is quite drowsy and has just been sick, I also have an 11 month old who is very very bad with teething. I phoned for a doctor to come out and one rang me back, all he said was 'well get her dressed and bring her in', I explained she was being sick (if she's sick in a taxi I have to pay £40.00), it's saturday night and I Can't get one for a couple of hours at least and I've got a baby who is ready for bed now and throwing tantrums because she's tired. His reply, 'well really i don't see your problem you have a couple of hours to get them ready then haven't you'.

Why the hell do we phone up to get a doctor out to see our children if they won't come out (this doctor is not from our own doctors surgery). I am absolutely livid and ended up hanging up on him and telling him I'll take dd1 to casualty instead if she gets worse.

I think I'd make a complaint as soon as your free to do so. The on call doctor, proberbly has no children of his own and does not realise the logistics involved, either that, or they just asume everyone can just jump in the car, and off they go.
Perhaps, you could ring NHS direct and see what they recommend, they might even say you should ring an amberlance, if they think it sounds serious.

I've just got off the phone from them and they suggested ringing the on-call doctor. DD2 has now just thrown up all over the place.

I've had to spray febreeze and air freshener everywhere.

I couldn't believe it when he said he couldn't see my problem, at the minute it is blowing a gale her and piddling it down.

At the minute dd1 is reading a story to dd2 and they are sat quite happily. They'll end up sleeping in my bed tonight together and I'll be on the floor, there is not enough room for the three of us. It's worth it though to make sure they are alright.

I've calmed down a bit now, tempted to have a martini.

Chiccadum - nothing constructive to say, just hope things have settled down a bit for you and that dd's are OK. As for the Martini - GO FOR IT!!

I can't believe that they didn't come out, I remember calling them once and asking for them to come out and check on DS, they said I had to bring him in, this was 3 miles away and DH was working late (over 30 miles away). When they are ill, all they want to do is stay in bed, without you having to drag them all up. I am getting mad on your behalf.
I hope that your DD gets better soon, if she doesn't improve, try calling again, it might be more than one doctor on call and you should be able to talk to someone else. Hope you got his name to complain.

Ooooh - this has got me firing on all cylinders!!

Just before Christmas we took dd1 to the GP with earache. He said 'antibiotics' and prescribed them immediately. A week later - on Christmas Eve - we had to 'phone again when dd2 had the same problem. Dhs ex wife was 'round at the time , and God knows she knows what's right and what's not (they have had 4 of her own but trust her opinion more) and heard the wailing that wouldn't stop, for about three hours. We tried Calpol, children's Iboprofen etc but still nothing would console her. So I finally rang the duty docotor. He was familiar with our name since he was the 'rugby' doctor at the school my dh used to work at until recently. And do you know what he said? 'We don't normally automatically prescribe antibiotics for earache.' My immediate thought - B----cks you liar! 'Have you given her Calpol?' Me: 'Yes' He then went on to ask the dosage, he asked 'ten mll of ordinary Calpol? Double it, unless it's Junior Calpol.' I then hotfooted it to our local pharmacy who explained that Junior Calpol was only advised for children over six. So much for that advice!

Anyway, to cut a long story short on Christmas Day we took her to the doctor's co-operative (which I belive is manned by GPs who don't wish to practise home visits) and Alex was immediately prescribed antibiotics.

Several people have subsequently said that I should have made a complaint to the surgery, but if you've a sick child you always accept the first available doctor, and I wouldn't want it to be him in in the future if I had done so.

Mmmn... feel better now. Any thoughts?

Chicca - sod it, phone the ambulance. If you were going to go to casualty anyway you might as well do it in style. If there's no support from your doctor then it's their fault they wasted money.

At the minute all is quiet, but I think that I am in for a very very long night. I'm getting a bit nattered about dd2 now, whilst neither have a temperature any more dd2 is absolutely soaked through with sweat and very clammy although she doesn't feel that hot, her temp is 35.7 and dd2 is 36.5. I've got my duvet on the living room floor, both dd1 and dd2 laid on that and I'm on the sofa. I can't have the tv on as it disturbs dd2 and wakes her up. Both of them have got a really really hacking cough. (Dh rung earlier to say he feels unwell) aaaaaggggggghhhhhhhh

I can see your point GeorginaA, but probably wouldn't call an ambulance in this instance (unless of course your little one gets worse Chiccadum) - this service is really overstretched and it may be diverting a call from someone who is in dire need. Not just about wasting their money, but also resources - and these paramedics and doctors at the hospital are not the ones who refused to come out in the first place.
Makes me angry tho' when I read stories like Chiccadum's. Can't really see the point of these night time emergency medical centres - if someone is really so poorly they feel they have to request medical assistance at night, how on earth should they be expected to travel to get it?

Go with your instincts Chiccadum, and go to Casualty if you're worried. Best of Bristish for the night ahead........

They are both sleeping, dd1 has not rash and is at a nice temperature, dd2 on the other hand is clammy, but such a light sleeper if i look inside her grobag she may wake up.

It makes you wonder what emergency doctors would say if you phoned on a sat night with chest pains or your leg hanging off. They just don't want to get out of their comfy chairs, I'm still smarting about how ignorant he was, all he kept saying was 'I don't know what your problem is', duhhhhhhh

Glad all well at moment - hope things go uneventful tonight - had bad experiences with 'on call'doctors so understand how you feel..

When dd1 was 15 months she had a raging temp, couldn't keep a sip of water down and went all floppy in my arms whilst I was nursing her, I took her to the emergency doctors and all he said was give her a cold bath and some calpol, at that minute her eyes rolled into the back of her head, he saw it and repeated what he had just said. Needless to say I pegged it over the road to casualty, by the time I got there my arm was bright red where her head had been touching it (she was so hot), the hospital admitted her on sight and she was on a drip with the hour, she was there 5 days, so much for emergency docs, this doctor has actually had the cheek to ask why I refuse to see him (he is one of the doctors at our surgery). He also told me when i was 3 months pregnant with dd2 that I couldn't have anything for heartburn as I gone far enough to get it yet.

Chiccadum,
Just goes to show that you know much more than they think they do. Good luck for what seems to be an awful night - and as you already know - trust your instincts. Know that doesn't help now but YKWIM.

Love carla

Oh how I understand! When DS was 10 months he vomited very badly and flaked out deathly white in his pram in M&S - was with my mum & she raced us to to docs (luckily only few yards from shop) at surgery receptionist raced us in to docs where DS was just laying floppy in my arms and he asked in all seriousness 'Is it his nap time?' DS was subsequently raced to hospital in ambulance where he needed two 'bags' of fluid to rehydrate him and it was really touch & go - sorry but that really makes me sweaty even now - if I had listend to that stupid doctor.. all we can do is trust our instincts and I know that is not always 100% - oh sorry that I have had a moan but these things never seem to fade when it involves your own child - Oh rambling again am sure all is going to be well with you & yours xx

At the minute they are so bad with coughing it sounds like feeding time at the seal sanctuary
believe me if i didn't make jokes at this particular time I'd cry, as I'm on my own and want to sleep but don't know if i can.

Oh god! I freak out with my 'just' my DS being ill so feel for you! Is DH working late or away?

Dreaded nights. I really should try and get some shut eye but on the other hand want to stay awake and keep an eye on them both.

I know but try & cuddle up on the settee & get a few hours (or minutes!) Seems with any luck that they will be fine but I know that saying that wont comfort you - what a job being a mummy is!

When I've had a night like that I feel perfectly justified in having a 'lazy' day - ie not particularly having to stimulate/play with/occupy/teach anything to dds the next day - we have a 'chill out' day. Good for their recovery and good for yours too. Force yourself to enjoy Chitty Chitty Bang Bang/Oliver etc. on repeat. Promise yourself to!

Thanks for all the support and advice ladies, I'm logging off to try and grab an hour. I'll let you know how they are doing tomorrow.

Chiccadum, I think that every one who has suggested that you follow your instincts is on the right track.

If in doubt get them down to casualty. It is ALWAYS better to be safe than sorry. Those on call docs that work in those out of hours co-operatives are quite often worse than useless IMHO.

When my dd was 3 weeks old she looked so thin. I had nagged the health visitor about it pointing out that she looked very yellow. She simply said that was because I am half Thai!!!! She was sleeping all the time and barely feeding. I called the out of hours co-op over the weekend as I could barely rouse her and he just said that newborns sleep alot. Luckily my ex worked at a docs surgery at the time (the only benefit of the entire relationship, but that another story!). She took one look at dd and rang the hospital and she was admitted within the hour. Turns out she had had jaundice and though she no longer had it, the over sleeping it had caused had made her too weak to suckle. She weighed less than when she was born. She had to be tube fed for a week before being regaining her birth weight and being let home.

To be honest I hate to think what would have happened if the doc had not been a 'friend' of the family. If no steps had been taken by the monday I would have sat in surgery until they damn well took me seriously, or gone straight to the childrens A&E. I felt so strongly something was wrong and it is so sad that all it takes it a pig headed health professional to delay what can sometimes be essential treatment. My old GP saw a young boy in my sister's class and deemed his stomach ache was the result of eating junk food. And I swear his appendix burst during the night. How some docs are allowed to practise is beyond me.

Of course this is not to say that anything will happen to you little ones. I just wanted to say that follow your gut. Even if it turns out to be an 'over reaction' you'll be glad that they are simply going to be alright. God I really hope me tales have not freaked you...like I said I just wanted to point out you know your children and that counts.

Good luck for the night and if you feel like its the right thing, don't take no for an answer.

And if you can get hold of the docs name make a complaint. If nothing else comes of it, it may make him think twice about the way he deals with his patients.

If any of you are in London, it is well worth making the trip to the Paediatric a&e at St.Mary's in Paddington. I go there for any illnesses that my ds has (and will do now for my dd too). My ds used to get frequent ear infections that were always accompanied by very high temperature (40) that wouldn't come down with calpol. The first time he got one he was 6 or 7 months. I called nhs direct. After listening to the symptoms and plugging them into her computer, the lady told me "well the computer says you should bring him straight to a&e, but why don't you wait a few hours and see what happens." So when I did bring him to our nearest a&e, I found out that they had stopped taking children there a few months before. So then I took him to our other local a&e. It was 4 hours before he was seen by someone who knew how to look into the ear of a baby and figure out whether they had an ear infection or not. The next time he had a fever I took him straight to St. Mary's. He was seen by a paediatrician within 1/2 an hour of our arrival and we were home and in bed two hours after we left (and that included a 20 min. drive each way). The one time we took him to our gp for an ear infection she insisted that he didn't have one and that perhaps he had a urine infection (he had no symptoms of one) and sent my dh home with a urine pot and told him to get a sample and bring it back. He spent the next 6 hours trying to get our 9 mo. old to pee into a one inch diameter pot. And then when he finally did pee, he pooed at the same time and the sample was totally contaminated. I've since changed gp's.

It's a concept that doesn't exist in the usa, so it never even occurs to me to use the service, but I thought that the doctor has to come out and see you if you insist.

there a paeds a&e at St Thomas's as well. ds has been there a number of times suffering from over anxious parents' sydrome.

syndrome even. it's late!

I dont want to stick up for any totally crap doctors out there but really the on call GP's are at full stretch e.g in Glasgow there are only 3 doctors on to cover the whole city at night and weekends. Very rarely are the docs on call from your own surgery as almost all on call is done by some out-of-hours co-op and as often as not staffed by locums as your own doc has chosen to pay a locum rather than do it themselves. This is going to become worse under the new GP contract which is just out when all docs can opt out of any on call and it will mainly now bw stafed by locums.
Makes us mad as dh has no option but to do on call (remote, rural practice) and is going to do 150 nights a year for little over £6000. He's already had to go out to 2 bad calls tonight (drunk people falling out of bed etc) as well as having to admit 2 people to hospital.
There are some bad docs out there but the system is against them in a lot of cases, and it isn't fair to label them as sitting around doing nothing when they are probably working their bottoms off in the on call centre with people who have much less of a claim on their time than you do.
Complain if you can - only people complaining can change the system that makes it impossible for docs to come out to you in your situation.