2 hour wait to be seen by the Doctor

[willspal]

I had to take my son (5) to A & E on Friday as he was showing all the signs of Meningitis.

1. V high Fever.

2. joint pains.

3. Slightly drowsy.

4. Severe headache.

5. Stiff neck and did not like the lights.

6. V v cold hands and feet.

He was checked in straight away and we were taken to a side room. He was given Calpol put under a fan and then left to wait for the Doctor.

He did not have any sign of a rash but I know the Meningitis Research Foundation have recently said one of the very first signs of Meningitis (even before any sign of a rash) is cold hands and feet.

Do you therefore think it was acceptable to wait just over 2 hours for a Doctor to actually arrive to check him over.

What if it had been meningitis ??? surely this 2 hour wait could have proved v dangerous and if a rash had started to appear then valuable treatment time wasted.

I did not say anything to the Doc or anyone else and I am not slating the NHS. I just wanted opinions about such a long wait for a small child with all the classic signs of meningitis when time is not on your side.

It turned out to be a viral infection in the end thank goodness but I can't stop thinking about the wait and the 'What if's'

WP

[fat rascal]

god willspal... that must have been horrendous, i do not think that was an acceptable wait with such a poorly child..i'm afraid you have to get vocal insitutaions like that... 2 hours... ridiculous...one of my friends had a similar sitaution... except she had been to her gps first.. they said it was probably meningitis .. and gave a shot of ab's.. and told her to go to the a&e... the doctor there had a massive rant saying who did the gp think they were giving a jab etc.....lukcy that they did.. s the blood test came back psitive for meningtitis and he'd been wsting time slagging the gp off... he did eventually manage to say it was a good thing that the gp had done....infections like that take hold so quickly....

hope he is ok now, but what a nightmare for you..

[B00]

Yeah 2 hours does seem a long time, and I'd have been fuming if I was you, I can only presume it's because you took him on a Friday night- one of the busiest nights in A&E!

I had to take my daughter for exactly the same thing a few months ago, but gotta say, they were extremely quick in seeing her and they made sure her temp was a more acceptable level before we were allowed to go home.

Guess the only thing you can think about now is thank God it was nothing serious with your son and everything is ok :-)

[Gale_Snail]

such neglection of the NHS is disgusting at times like that i hope that your son is better and that you are releaved from your grief!

[karenfward]

Had exactly the same experience a year ago with my son who was 5. We were sent to A&E by G.P. He was seen fairly quickly by a nurse in triage who gave him a dose of nurofen, then sent us to the playroom to wait. He was really upset and grumpy and didnt want to do anything. It was nearly 4 hours before a dr (who appeared to be about 16!!!!) came to see us. By this time my little boy felt a lot better and his temperature had gone down so we were allowed home. Apparently the reason he felt so bad was that he had a really bad headache brought on by his high temperature - hence his dislike of bright light. All I can say to you is, that although you had to wait a long time if you had any further worries or you thought he was getting worse the dr would have come sooner (we hope!) Glad he is okay now. I know how worried you were.

[gleaveyweave]

Good god willspal, that is just awful, you must have been going out of your mind. 2 hours is WAY to long when meningitis is suspected in my opinion, have to admit, I would have been kicking up a stink after about half an hour! Glad all is well with your son now, try not to dwell on what might have been, you can't go back after all xx

[sherrardk]

God I would have been going out of my mind - we were recently told to go to A & E by NHS Direct who rang ahead to say we were coming and still had to wait over 2 hours to be seen! Don't know how long you would have to wait for something less serous than suspected menigitus - you could be there for flipping days!

[willspal]

Thankyou for all replies.

Seems I was not wrong in my thoughts then. I sometimes doubt myself and think its me being to OTT but I was annoyed that we had such a wait especially with what we thought he had. There were notices all over the walls about no staff tolarating (sp) people demanding to be seen quickly and no amount of demanding would be accepted. Did not want to say to much in case I was seen as demanding and thinking my child was more important than anyone else.

Have to say though the World Cup had just started and the streets and the waiting room were pretty much ghost town. I was surprised to see a sign in the waiting room saying there was a 3 hour wait. I think there was 2 people sat waiting to be seen.

My family are all surprised I sat and excepted a 2 hour wait and looking back I surprised myself.

I guess I have to forget it now and just be grateful it was only a viral infection but if I was ever in that situation again I would make sure my voice was heard.

Thanks folks. XX

WP

[alijangra]

Just a thought, but although you may have thought that the signs strongly pointing to meningitis, the professionals obviously didnt. And they were right.

You cannot see what is going on in the department with regards to serious cases. They have to prioritise according to clinical need.

[Joefish999]

Willspal...it's a shame you got upset but it does appear as if the system worked absolutely as it should, no harm came to your son and no knee-jerk treatment, which can carry it's own risks, was started which would have meant your son being admitted to hospital for at least 48 hours of unnecessary antibiotics.

Unnecessary antibiotics being one of the major causes of the increase in so called "superbugs"!

When you arrived at A&E you weren't just "checked in", you were triaged by an experienced and highly trained Nurse who's job it was to immediately assess your son and categorise him into what is an acceptable waiting time.

I agree that when it is your son any time is far from acceptable!

Treatment was immediately given and time passed to allow the treatment to work before he was examined by another highly trained doctor who, by the sound of it, was able to reassure you and send you on your way.

And Gale_Snail, accusations of negligence when people were doing a difficult job very well and no harm came to anyone are unfair and uncalled for. Maybe when, god forbid, you need the services of your local NHS establishment you might remember that and not be so quick to judge from a distance.