"Overreacting "

I took my daughter in. The doctor said because she had a headache on Tuesday and a temperature on Thursday (15th) May 2025 I needed to take her to the children’s hospital from bloods to rule out sepsis/meningitis. He printed his findings and said if I took it in the children’s emergency dept would do bloods straight away.

I arrived at Birmingham Childrens Hosptal at 18:15 (£12 taxi fare). She saw a nurse who said the advice was wrong - I should have given calpol, the doctor told me not to do the staff at the hospital would see how high her temp was.

We were eventually seen to at midnight and told by the nurse they would not do bloods as she did not look like she had sepsis. After 6 hours both children were finally given a sandwich. We were all hungry and tired. It took the doctor another hour to check obs and diagnose tonsillitis by checking her throat. It took another 45 mins for antibiotics.

We returned home at 2am, children unable to attend school and me work due to tiredness. The children’s hospital said they had a new system and that’s why it took so long. They also said they do not take bloods.

Next time, I will ask the gp for a second opinion. The tonsillitis could have been diagnosed at the surgery saving 9 hours of my and the children’s time and I could have saved £25 in taxi money, not to mention the sleep deprivation. The anti biotics could have been prescribed by the doctor at the surgery.