"Experience at children's A&E"

I arrived at A&E with my screaming baby, the place was extremely busy so we had a long wait as expected. I was told I was not allowed anyone in with me, which I was fine with, even though I witnessed several other patients allowed more than one person for no reasons, which was frustrating.

When I was taken to the CDU I was finally allowed someone else in to help me with my baby, who was still screaming. Although when my second person approached the sleeping HCSW on the door at children's A&E, they told her she has to walk around to the main hospital to access CDU and not via the door I just went in. This was ridiculous, as it was the middle of the night.

The lack of communication when waiting and after being reviewed was awful. My son was reviewed by a student nurse who did not introduce theirself, communicate anything they were doing, ask anything about my son's medication history, and tried to give further medication. I communicated these concerns already to a nurse on shift.

I was asked about throat swabs on my baby to make sure his tonsillitis was not bacterial. I agreed. I have since received a text to tell me my baby's PCR was negative. I was not asked about any PCR test, I would have said no to this considering how much pain he was in and how many times his tonsils were examined. I already carried out an LFT prior to coming, which was negative. Nobody asked about covid.

I would like to say that Dorothy is an absolute credit to the CDU. She could not have done enough for us, continuously checking in and offering support when my baby was continuously screaming in pain.