I'm really angry. Should I complain?

j.e.j.

Hindsight is a bully. You know NOW that you should have gone to A&E, but you didn't then. The most important thing is, baby's fine, and it's over now. (ETA: AND you know what to do in future!)

I am sure if I had an 8 month old who was injured I might not be thinking straight either! How about people quit the blame game, it's not helping anybody and will only stress the OP further.

Thomas_Hardy

The reason doctors do not help when something is outside their remit? The fear of litigation, people are all too quick to complain. Not unlike the OP ...

There is nothing to say the GP did not have someone with them. At my surgery they do appts outside normal hours for those with long term health problems, that need more time than a regular appt. They tend to be more relaxed than the normal appt slots, and as already mentioned, it is not unheard of for other staff to knock and ask brief questions during the appts.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Mojisola wrote: »

And just hope you're not the parent of the child who is greeted by the A&E staff with "Hello, James, are you here again? What have you done this time?" - it made all of us occasional visitors to A&E smile but I felt sorry for his Mum!

Nah. That was me. As an adult as well as a child. The phlebotomist I usually see remembers me from when he had just started work at the hospital and I was the smartarze kid who told him not to bother with trying to get the needle in that part of my arm, but to do it *here* instead .


Hence when DD2 started visiting hospital a lot, there were plenty of jokes about adding her onto my frequent fliers' card and lending her my sleeping bag. .

Valli

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.

erm...

they are not trained to deal with emergency situations like this.

jackomdj

Mojisola wrote: »

And just hope you're not the parent of the child who is greeted by the A&E staff with "Hello, James, are you here again? What have you done this time?" - it made all of us occasional visitors to A&E smile but I felt sorry for his Mum!

My now grown cousin can beat that with three trips in the air ambulance as a child as well as regular trips (all for various things) to their local hospital he was very well known.

I totally agree with other posters about staying calm, getting some basic first aid, knowing where to take your child for various ailments.

I am fortunate that both OH and I are quite matter of fact when it comes to medical care, I almost sliced through DD's toe on our first day in Spain. I shut the door and DD's foot was in the way, it had some sharp metal under the door which sliced through her toe, luckily we are quite good at first aid.... Compression, elevation, got it bandaged up (I always take a first aid kit on holiday), we left it covered for a day, she went to the beach with a sock on. Once it was uncovered we realised just how deep it had been. Even now you can see the scar, last year I was talking to a friend who is a nurse and she said we managed to get it together very well, but it could have probably done with a hospital trip!

I think she was calm about it because we were. Our friends that we were with said they would have panicked!

Cherry_Bomb

Valli wrote: »

erm...

they are not trained to deal with emergency situations like this.

An emergency?

Tupperware_Queen

Ask any paramedic and they will tell you that the worst people to deal with first aid situations are doctors - they are used to the patient being dealt with by either a well trained first aider, paramedic or A & E nurse!!

Seriously, as you now acknowledge OP, the best place to take anyone with an injury is A & E or minor injury unit. I am glad you are considering first aid training, I think it should be compulsory at school, its just a vital life skill.
I do think you need to have a plan thought through for what might happen in the future, there are so many accidents/incidents/problems that can happen to kids, and if you are not going to react (over react??) in such a way, having considered how you might deal with such events will stand you in good stead.

A good idea is to have a list of taxi companies, local hospital/minor injury unit etc to hand - stuck on the fridge or whatever. The local telephone directories sometimes have an emergency contact page in them, this can be useful.

Good luck with your first aid course OP

valk_scot

silly_moo wrote: »

I think this situation has given me the final push to enrol into a first aid course.

Do it. I took one when my boys were very young, a proper extended one that ran one evening a week over ten weeks and taught me a vast number of things including CPR (used it once), how to control bleeding (used it a number of times) and how not to panic (used that one many times!) It also gives you a very good idea as to what you should keep in a home first aid kit...more than you might think, btw, and much of it not included with yer average off the peg kit.

ska_lover

Valli wrote: »

erm...

they are not trained to deal with emergency situations like this.

Sorry, but I don't see why people are being unkind..all the OP was looking for initially was some BASIC first aid, and if doctors and nurses at the GPs practice aren't trained in first aid then god help us if an injured child cannot be looked at because they cannot provide this!!

It would not have hurt and only cost minutes for a nurse to put a dressing on, and point her in the direction of the A&E dept.

A couple of years back, I was sat in my GP's surgery when one of my neighbours walked in looking very ill. He asked to see someone as a emergency appointment as was struggling to breathe. The doctors receptionist gave him a real patronising attitude and basically looked down her nose at him whilst telling him he had come to the wrong place and told him he should use public transport to get himself to hospital as he wasn't poorly enough to warrant an ambulance and the GPs could not see him. Whilst on his two - bus journey to take himself to hospital, the poor bloke collapsed of a heart attack and died. I do not think the doctors receptionist, with her zero years of medical training should be giving advice like this to people! There were people sitting there waiting for these so called 'emergency' GP doctors appointments with coughs and colds, but breathing difficulties..no they send you out the door..

Most people would not turn an injured or sick animal away, but a human being, different kettle of fish

Theres just no compassion anymore. People will not go above and beyond or out of their way to help anyone...even if they are getting paid 70k a year to do so!

balletshoes

ska lover - I dont disagree with you - but the OP had already cleaned and dressed the wound had she not?