Because kids are cared for by paediatric trained staff and therefore are in a different queue. They legally have to be cared for by paediatric staff (although for some reason mental health services are allowed to ignore this for some strange illogical reasons) because general trained adult staff would have insufficient knowledge about how their anatomy/physiology differs and what acceptable parameters would be along with the necessary skills to effectively communicate with a child and their family. Add into that you have kids get ill faster than adults.
A+E waiting times.
- Thread starter sityeuropa
- Start date
Because kids are cared for by paediatric trained staff and therefore are in a different queue. They legally have to be cared for by paediatric staff (although for some reason mental health services are allowed to ignore this for some strange illogical reasons) because general trained adult staff would have insufficient knowledge about how their anatomy/physiology differs and what acceptable parameters would be along with the necessary skills to effectively communicate with a child and their family. Add into that you have kids get ill faster than adults.
What you don't realise mate is young people and kids compensate and compensate when they are unwell, then all of the sudden drop off the cliff next minute and are having big problems. Kids are often a different ball game in A&E to treating adults.
That's essentially what 111 is for, except very few people obviously use it.
GF rang up 111 a few months ago on a Saturday. They booked her into a minor injuries clinic and she was soon as she got there.
Caporegime
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111 is under used (especially by people with limited English) and as its largely non clinical people doing the triage will send more people to ED. Better off binning it and plowing the money into a one stop shop setup.
It's the wrong way of doing things. Many moons ago I was tutored by a wonderfully gifted chap who explained something rather simple that you do have to get into your head: "You don't fit patients into protocols and algorithms you fit protocols and algorithms around patients."
It seems rather obvious but how often is it done.
Don't know what would possess someone to do something like that. I guess she hated her job perhaps? At least she was shown the door.
Soldato
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I have never managed to call 111 and not be told to go to A&E. As you point out it is non clinical staff you speak to who work from a checklist.
Call up them and say you have some sort of chest infection for example and they naturally ask if you are having trouble breathing. As you have some sort of cough then naturally the answer is yes which means on their check list you need to go to A&E.
Getting an appointment with a GP is also a nightmare. Call up and get told the earliest appointment is in two weeks and when you say you are feeling too ill to wait two weeks they suggest you go to A&E.