Left A&E, Not sure I've done the right thing

[Perfect28]

My 17mo fell out of his pushchair head first on to concrete. about a minute before I said we don't need to strap him in he will be fine. Well he got excited and rocked forward. A massive bump and bruise came up quickly, we called 999 who said to go to hospital. We went and we were not even triaged in nearly two hours. Child seems normal, responsive, alert, no longer in obvious pain. We left and he is now asleep. I will sleep next to him and keep a close eye. Have read all the things to watch out for. Now lying here feeling awful. First it was my fault he wasn't strapped in (lesson well and truly learnt!!) But secondly for leaving before being seen. Advice welcome, and stories of bumped heads too!

The guilt is awful and I feel really anxious.

I'm sorry you are getting a hard time on this thread when i would imagine you are feeling shitty enough as it is. My 3 year old smashed his head HARD on the toilet bowl. Massive instant lump on the eyebrow, lots of tears. However, he wasn't sick. He wasn't knocked unconscious, he was walking fine, talking fine. I looked online to see what to look for in the case of a bad head injury and he didn't warrant a trip to A&E or a call to 111. Just some TLC. He had a black eye but he was fine.

My eldest got whacked in the head with a basketball at school. He got home and was repeatedly being sick whilst screaming. I rang 111 who rang an ambulance after hearing him. Ambulance came on blue lights and by the time they got there he was asleep on me.. taking him to the ambulance he started screaming again.. all the way to the hospital. He perked up as soon as he got there, was playing with the toys and they literally didn't even check him by the time we saw a doctor they sent us home with a leaflet.

Just watch out for the red flag signs. Sending a hug.

It's disingenuous to pretend that multiple comments like "this will be flagged as a safeguarding concern, expect a call from SS" are not intended to unnerve the OP, not to mention make her feel just a little bit worse.

I think some people are being a bit harsh. Trust your gut OP, if baby is behaving normally/not showing signs of concussion then they are most likely OK. I wouldn't want to wait in A&E for 8 hours, nor do I think anyone with a child should have to, it's a disgrace! NHS is a total mess. I don't blame you for going home after 2 hours.

@Widily I’m completely with you!

And I’ve done the same thing OP and SS didn’t come calling 🙄. The hospital phoned to check he was ok and repeated the list of signs to watch out for.

My nephew had a broken skull was seen in hospital and they sent him home wasn’t til two days later when he started vomiting that they found out. Were they alright with you leaving the hospital?

I have 4 DC. As you can tell from previous posts I’m not a “just go and get checked” mother in the
slightest.

Ive taken a drunk toddler to ED. A DD with a 4 day old broken bone. A DS with a burnt hand from the stove. Another DD with a smashed up head (needed stitching) and another DS who is now on his 4th fracture (2 requiring surgery). I’ve also left ED before being seen when DD made a miraculous recovery from ?appendicitus

Not once, not once have I ever had any contact from HV or SS. Not even for the drunk toddler.

I doubt they will be banging your door down anytime soon OP, please ignore the scaremongering

To be honest, having been triaged, I don't know why they couldn't have seen him straight away if it was going to be a quick check of the eyes, etc etc.
And the same for the other poster whose child was kept for ages.

I doubt they will be banging your door down anytime soon OP, please ignore the scaremongering

Why do people do it? What do they get from it?

SS just don't have time to check up after every accident and they're certainly not whisking children away, even the ones who should be.

The Op says she wasn't triaged in two hours, not that there was a two hour wait to be seen, that means she likely would have been there for a very long time after that with a very tired child.

I would not take a child into A and E for a bump on the head or falling off anything unless there was more than simply crying and a big lump now, as I've done it in the past and you just get a leaflet and no ongoing monitoring anyway- the signs to watch out for are on the NHS website and you are probably better monitoring them in their usual environment than a Sat night A and E when you are not going to get admitted anyway. Obviously if they show signs of concussion or the named symptoms, you go back immediately.

The SS safeguarding person on this thread- why would the OP make a GP appointment if the child had no additional symptoms? Are all bumps are told to go to A and E or the GP? This isn't realistic or necessary, children fall off things or have bumps all the time. One of my children once banged into something and got a black eye, for some reason I felt mortified taking her out even though it was an accident! I understand checking in with the parent, but if the child is responsive, alert and appropriately sleepy then how is trying to get one of the very rare emergency GP appointments several days later an appropriate response to a standard bump on the head?

I wouldn't have gone at all for a bump that went out not in, no repeated vomitting , no loss of consciousness. It's not necessary.

Also, being contacted by SS in our area is not remotely 'scary', they phone you up and try and close the case as fast as possible, quite appropriately as this is not a high-risk situation unless there was a pattern. If the OP wasn't triaged, perhaps she wasn't even registered in the system so no alert would be triggered, it's the same as if they decided at home not to go to A and E as the child was fine (calling 999 wasn't necessary on this occasion at all).

DS2 at similar age toppled over on stone steps and landed head first on step below.
I can still remember the sound it made, which was what made me take him to sick kids A&E immediately (leaving a neighbour to take ds1 to school)
Was lucky it wasn't too busy and one X-ray later showing no damage done we were sent home

Every time I went to a&e with an under five year old I got a call the next day from the HV (admittedly one time she was in stitches because dd had stuck something up her nose).

I did go to a&e once because of a potential head injury in a 20month old. He was observed all night - responsiveness, pulse and blood pressure. Checking responsiveness meant he was woken up every hour until 2am and then they switched to 2--hourly. So if you aren't going back to a&e please wake him through the night to check he remains responsive.

Some of the comments here are very unnecessary, but then I've very quickly learned myself that's just the power of people hiding behind a screen.

Hope your little one is ok, that's all that matters. Don't beat yourself up.

You're right, it's not scary but I'm quite certain that some posters want it to come across as ominous.

OP, when I worked for the NHS the situation that you describe would have been cause to raise a safeguarding referral.
These referrals are sometimes just noted and not acted upon, though most likely, they'll give you a call, and ask the details surrounding why you left without following through in ensuring that your child got medical attention.
Just be honest and upfront, tell them that you felt that your initial reaction was an over reaction, and you used the NHS website for guidance on what to look out for and kept yourself close to him to look for potential symptoms of concussion and was ready to ensure he could access medical attention if needed.
As long as no one else has concerns and your child isn't frequently getting injuries that are unexplained, you're likely to hear nothing else of it after the initial phone call.

I hope your baby continues to feel OK.

I’ve seen a few posts like this on Mn - ‘oh I was going to take them to A&E but the wait time is ages’ 😳😳😳😳 like that’s any kind of reason not to take them.

Op please take your son back.

It is a bit worrying if they weren't recorded on the system. If we consider here a couple phone 999 to say their child hit it's head, turn up at a&e then leave without the child being seen. What if that wasn't an accidental injury? If the child had not fallen out of a pram but had been punched. What if it was hurt? What if it 'slip down the stairs" last week and another injury before that but they left without being seen and not recorded? I am not suggesting this was OP at all but how could a child in need be identified if this is not recorded?

Completely Agree. No vomiting, external bump (better that one develops than doesn't), check his pupils dilate. The hospital aren't going yo put him in a Magic Scanner if he had no symptoms.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/head-injury-and-concussion/

Here is the details of what to look for, when to go to A and E, when to call 999, and when to see a GP according to the NHS website. It's worth a read OP so you know what to look for and if/when to return.

I would have thought if nobody bothered examining the child for two hours in A&E then the potential for something serious was slim to none. In my area they see everyone immediately at the hospital and would never ignore a child with a head for hours.

@Lovelyricepudding it may have been recorded on the ambulance system, but not necessarily in A and E, I don't know whether the OP gave all their details before waiting for triage (in ours you usually do).

Children do fall over, fall off things, hit their heads all the time and obviously only a small amount of these then present in A and E or 999 (the above link lists when this would be appropriate) so unless the child had any of these symptoms listed, then it wouldn't be appropriate to seek medical attention anyway but monitor at home and act if they developed them.

I did this only it was eleven hours and they’d done a brain scan and said she was fine and at 4am I wanted to get my toddler to bed. I still got SS sic’d on me. Now living with the consequences of that. Regardless, your child needs medical attention.

What are the consequences?

What trust do you work for ? I’m frontline ambulance and this is not policy in our trust