As advised by the pharmacist we contacted NHS24 regarding concerns about our one year olds deteriorating condition. While waiting ninety minutes for our call to be answered was less than ideal, the call handler we dealt with was excellent. Along with a senior charge nurse they agreed that my daughter required to be at the very least spoken about with the out of hours GP. I was told we would received a call within four hours. Twenty minutes later I received a call from an unknown Unidentified staff member telling me they had reached capacity and no one would be calling me. When I asked what my options were I was told take her to A&E or call back via NHS 24 this evening or tomorrow but the situation was unlikely to change.
I am a health professional who is more than well aware of the pressures facing the NHS and have every sympathy for my colleagues but I am also the mother of a child with a new and spreading rash, reduced irons output and general malaise who to say is disgusted is the very least I can say. The decision not to even allow me to speak to a medic about my daughter seemed to be based on no clinical reasoning that I could see and I can only hope that her condition does not deteriorate further as it is clear there are no appropriate assessment or treatment options available at this time.
As we are well aware of the strain on our NHS at this time we followed all advice in ensuring we did not place additional pressure on staff and services - we approached our local pharmacist who advised contacting NHS24 should her condition deteriorate, this we did. A&E is for emergencies and therefore not appropriate for us to take our child to - on a holiday weekend we were left with no options and no help - this is truly horrifying. Nhs advice is do not attend a and e unless an emergency yet this was the advice we received. I look forward to your reply and face an anxious night of watching our daughter to ensure we do not end up in a and e as an emergency when a simple conversation with a medic could have prevented all this.
"Accessing the out of hours GP service"
About: Lanarkshire Community Services / GP Out of Hours service Lanarkshire Community Services GP Out of Hours service NHS 24 / NHS 24 (111 service) NHS 24 NHS 24 (111 service)
Posted by Gratefuldaughter15 (as ),
Do you have a similar story to tell?
Tell your story & make a difference ››
Responses
See more responses from Andrew Cassidy
See more responses from Carmen Obre
Update posted by Gratefuldaughter15 (a service user) 2 years ago
See more responses from Carmen Obre
See more responses from Andrew Cassidy
See more responses from Carmen Obre