I'm really angry. Should I complain?

Mojisola

Newly_retired wrote: »

I agree about volume of screaming being of no significance.

One of things you get taught on First Aid courses is that if someone is well enough to make a lot of noise, they're not too bad. It's the quiet ones who need to be looked at first.

OP - It is hard to deal with your own child when there's a lot of blood - it's frightening and shocking and very hard to think straight. Have a plan worked out so that you can react without having to think what to do next time.

barbiedoll

It's not just new mums that panic at the sight of blood, my then 3 yr old sister (my mum's third child) fell and sustained a small cut on her forehead, which bled copiously as head wounds tend to do. My mum, who is a complete wuss at the sight of blood, panicked completely and ran out of the house, clutching my sister in her arms, screaming and crying like a banshee (mum, not sis!) One of our neighbours took her to the hospital where my sister had ONE stitch and was none the worse for wear. My mum fainted at the hospital and had more care and attention than my sister did.

I can understand OP's distress at not getting help at the GP surgery. People who don't work in healthcare tend to think that anyone with any medical training is able to administer care to everyone who is ill. When I worked in a high street pharmacy, we had several instances of people who had been mugged or attacked in the street, coming in for a bit of first-aid. A builder who was working on a flat in the street, cut his thumb quite badly. Although it wasn't really our job to do so, we patched him up and sent him to A&E for stitches, we couldn't just sell him a box of plasters and send him away, it wouldn't be right!

I'm sure that there was a first-aid box, and a qualified first-aider at the medical centre where OP went, even if someone had just put a sterile pad on the baby's foot, it would have helped to calm OP down. Yes, she made a mistake but she panicked, a bit of TLC wouldn't have gone amiss here.

Hope you're both feeling better now!

peachyprice

silly_moo wrote: »

Yes, it was my own GP surgery. And it wasn't my decision to take him to the wrong place - I was totally panicked as I have never been in my life and wasn't making rational decisions. I hope you are never in a situation where you are panicked, scared, have a screaming baby and the people who trained for situations like this don't even want to see if they could help.

Of course it was your decision.

And yes, as a parent of 3 I have been in similar situations, most of us have, A&E is the logical place to take an injured child not the GP surgery where people aren't there to deal with the situation.

Mojisola

barbiedoll wrote: »

I can understand OP's distress at not getting help at the GP surgery. People who don't work in healthcare tend to think that anyone with any medical training is able to administer care to everyone who is ill. When I worked in a high street pharmacy, we had several instances of people who had been mugged or attacked in the street, coming in for a bit of first-aid. A builder who was working on a flat in the street, cut his thumb quite badly. Although it wasn't really our job to do so, we patched him up and sent him to A&E for stitches, we couldn't just sell him a box of plasters and send him away, it wouldn't be right!

It is hard to understand when medically-trained people won't even do what an untrained stranger would attempt.

Certainly there would have been sterile pads which could have been given to the OP.

We had a case here where a lady collapsed on a bus. With the agreement of the other passengers, the driver went straight to A&E where the staff refused to look at the woman and made the driver phone for an ambulance. The ambulance finally arrived and the woman was moved from the bus into the hospital.

The A&E wouldn't even come out and look at her. One passenger went into A&E and helped herself to a couple of blankets to keep the woman warm until the ambulance arrived.

thorsoak

kellykins wrote: »

what absolute ridiculous advice!
Ambulances should only be rung if the situation is LIFE THREATENING!

I am outraged that someone would actually advise someone to call an ambulance for a cut foot!

The NHS should charge people for calling ambulances for non life threatening events.

The thing is, one doesn't call for an ambulance, one calls 999 - and the operator will ask questions, assess the situation and then establish whether the situation is an emergency requiring an ambulance/first responder etc etc etc.

Person_one

The OP stated in her first post that she had cleaned and dressed the cut, why waste time doing it again? Getting to A&E was the only thing to do, staying in the surgery would have been pointless.

Padstow

silly_moo wrote: »

Thanks for all your replies.

My son must have been tired out by the whole situation as he's been fast asleep for the past few hours and didn't even wake up for his feed. Poor thing

I think this situation has given me the final push to enrol into a first aid course. I will also be putting the NHS 24 and the local taxis numbers on my mobile so I can call them quickly should anything happen.

I did have half a mind to call an ambulance but decided that it's better left for people who really need it. Although if my neighbour hadn't come home at that particular time and I had no one to ask for help, I don't know how I would have acted.

I didn't realise not all doctors/surgeries can deal with cuts/stitches. I thought it was one of the basic skills each doctor/nurse should possess. It only took the doctor at A&E a few minutes to clean and dress the wound and he didn't need proper stitches, just the paper ones. Surely a doctor at the surgery should be able to do that and maybe then waiting times at A&E wouldn't be that long

I see the point though and will not be complaining.

I didn't either, as many years ago when I was waiting in a doctor's surgery, a patient was rushed in as an emergency and we were told that there would be a long delay. I stayed put and an ambulance arrived for the patient.
I didn't know anything had changed as I haven't seen a doctor for years, thank God.

You do need to be calm though and learn about emergency care. What if your child stopped breathing, choked, had a fit? No point running around like a headless chicken, you have to take charge in a calm way, not only to administer first aid but so as to stop the child panicking too.

Not only are you the parent, but a nurse at home. Imagine taking your child into A&E and the NHS nurse running around screaming that she doesn't know what to do. That's what you did.

Hermia

Mojisola wrote: »

It is hard to understand when medically-trained people won't even do what an untrained stranger would attempt.

There may be reasons. My mum worked in a medical centre and a man keeled over with a heart attack. One of the receptionists performed CPR whilst the doctor phoned for an ambulance. People were really shocked at the GP's behaviour. The reason for it was that the receptionist had recently had CPR training whilst the GP was not an expert an CPR and felt he could do not better.

OP - when you have calmed down to think about going on a first aid course. The chap who ran the last course I went on had been a first aider/paramedic for 40 years and said he had seen so many instances of children's injuries/illnesses being made considerably worse because the parent did not know what to do. He had some awful tales to tell.

KxMx

Yes you probably should have gone to A&E first- but I think it's terrible that the duty Dr (who was free at the time) didn't at least come out and have a look, even if when the receptionist told him he knew he wouldn't be able to help.

And I think as it's your own GP surgery that just makes it worse to be honest. Even if there was no medical attention to give he could have had a few reassuring words for you, calmed you down and sent you on your way. A couple of minutes of compassion, and again he wasn't rammed with patients, Duty Drs are on duty for things that crop up before anyone remarks about patients he can help being kept waiting!

The Dr was right to send you away but handled it totally wrong in my view.

fluffnutter

There's so much information out there. Every pharmacy you walk into, every doctor's surgery you visit, every hospital has the colour-coded (it's shaped like a thermometer) poster on the wall telling you what to do for what type of medical problem.

I find it pretty surprising that a grown-up with a child doesn't know what the most appropriate course of action to take is when their child does something as basic and common as cut themselves. I appreciate that it's upsetting and that a lot of blood often looks very serious, but really OP, you shouldn't be in this position. You have a BABY, as you say. You should know where to go, what to do and some basic first aid.

Why are you going to the 'nearest medical practice'? Did you really just pitch up at some random GP's surgery (that you're obviously not registered at) and think this was the most appropriate thing to do? Why? GPs don't fix bleeding cuts - that's either a DIY job, or for the A&E department. And even if they did, you need to see your own, not someone else's!

I'm sorry to be unsympathetic, usually I'm very understanding of this sort of thing. But honestly, sign up for a first aid course. There's no reason for panicking because your baby cut his foot. It's upsetting of course, but panicking? You're not doing him, or yourself any favours.