"2 yr old daughter, suspected croup"

After a worrying night with my daughter, who was working hard to breathe and unable to settle down and sleep, I suspected she might have croup and decided to take her to out of hours.

Once we saw GP, they were very thorough and treated my daughter for stridor, but referred me to A&E to ensure they could observe my daughter and to make sure the treatment was successful. 

The Clinical Sister, Hannah, in Paeds A&E welcomed us straight away and almost immediately took a history of my daughters symptoms and identified that she could administer more oral steroids.

We had to stay for several hours (5hrs in total) for observations and additional treatment (nebulizer) as the oral steroids hadn't worked. Throughout the experience, Hanna was very prompt and professional with a warm and gentle manner towards my daughter, which kept her calm and somewhat at ease.

Dr Abi was also overseeing my daughters care and in a similar way was conscientious towards my daughter, who was very tired, unwell and somewhat anxious at the unusual surroundings. Despite this, my daughter cooperated with all that was asked of her without any upset or distress. I attribute this to Hannah and Abi's professional and thoughtful bedside manner, putting my daughters care and contentment as there top priority, ensuring that she remained comfortably and calm and never asking too much of her, while still ensuring that they had taken a full account of her condition and changes throughout the process, allowing them to make a fully informed decision.

As her parent they kept me fully informed of what the next step might be at every interval which was reassuring and made me feel safe and secure about my daughters standard of care. 

I couldn't have asked for better care for my child and was so grateful for the warm, gentle, efficient and thorough treatment we received. They treated her with the up most respect and dignity. My daughter also got a lovely little teddy from Hannah for being such a good patient, which was a very thoughtful touch and it really lifted her spirits after feeling so unwell. 

Thank you again to the Out of Hours team and the Paeds A&E department at CAH, for taking such good care of my little girl.