"Delay in treatment for my daughter"

In April 2024 I attended the QEUH Children's accident emergency with my 4 year old non verbal daughter, as she had been sent by our doctor due to a febrile convulsion caused by a high temperature.

My daughter was unable to open her eyes due to the bright lights, wasn't eating or drinking and the doctor said she could hear a rattle in her chest. On attending the QEUH, the service received initially was great and the measures put in place to help my daughter cope were outstanding. We were there for around 3/4 hours having had her observations done twice, her ears and throat checked as well as a chest x-ray before being allowed home as neither the nurse nor the registrar could find anything wrong with my daughter.

I was advised that it was probably viral and due to my daughter's needs, we could go home. Something I do agree with as it was getting busier within the major triage area and I knew I could get her to drink fluid at home. We were sent home with a throat spray and leaflets on how to manage her care. We had a particularly hard week with my daughter, who was unable to verbalise what was wrong with her.

A week later, I was called by a doctor at the QEUH, who didn't give a name, to ask how my daughter had been and to say she had checked her xray again finding fluid in her lungs and a prescription would be left with my doctors surgery. No apology was made for this oversight. I gave my doctors a call around 4pm that day to ask if a prescription had been sent for my daughter and advised on the urgency of needing this. I was advised the prescription was with the doctor and the wait time was 48 hours. I explained the situation and was told I needed to wait.

I called back the next day and spoke with another receptionist, who understood the urgency and sent a message to the doctor to advise that this needed done ASAP. I re-called after 4pm and they advised that the prescription had been done and it would be left at the pharmacy for me. This was not done, and we were another 24 hours without this medication.

On receiving the prescription, I then had to track down who had this medication in stock leading me to travel to the [pharmacy it had been sent to, who had sourced it for me. All in all, it took a over a week to realise the scan had been read wrong by not 1 but 2 doctors, then a further 4 days to receive the medication needed. For something that started so great, and we felt had understood our daughter, to majorly fail her.

This could have resulted in health complications for my daughter.