Strep A

Yaayuh! said:
When we were referred to A&E with our infant son this time last year, we saw some of these sorts of people come and go. It was amusing as much as it was frustrating.
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Yup, last time I was in A&E the woman in front of us was there because she'd "poked herself in the eye". Receptionist gave her a death stare and told her it was an 8 hour wait...

Buddy said:
There were 2.3 cases per 100,000 children aged 1 to 4 compared to an average of 0.5 in the pre-pandemic seasons (2017 to 2019) and 1.1 cases per 100,000 children aged 5 to 9 compared to the pre-pandemic average of 0.3 (2017 to 2019) at the same time of the year.
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Minusorange said:
www.gov.uk

UKHSA update on scarlet fever and invasive group A strep

Latest data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on scarlet fever and invasive group A streptococcus cases.
www.gov.uk www.gov.uk


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Problem with these stats is - are there more cases reported because there are more cases, or because people are more worried about it and so going to the GP where they would normally just treat it at home?
 
My two nephews (7 and 9) got Strep A last week. My sister ended up taking them to A&E because the older one was so ill and she couldn't get a doctors appointment and NHS Direct took over 8 hours to get back to her by which time she'd given up on them (and that was after being on hold for an hour when she called them). Then the pharmacist was out of the liquid antibiotic they were prescribed and said they couldn't get any more so they had to give him tablets instead which he could barely swallow because his throat was so swollen.

Both boys are better now, but my brother-in-law (who lost his spleen in a motorbike accident) has it now.

Haggisman said:
Problem with these stats is - are there more cases reported because there are more cases, or because people are more worried about it and so going to the GP where they would normally just treat it at home?
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These are diseases that a child is very likely to be taken to the doctor with so I think it's unlikely to be much of an effect.
 
The BMJ reported that the percentage of child deaths caused by Group A Strep (GAS) child heavily increased in 2013-15, becoming the leading cause of death amongst sick children and also becoming the highest infection rate for Group A Strep seen in 50 years (33 per 100k), and yet back then we didn't have this same level of media frenzy over this. We even had outbreaks which killed more (14 dead in Essex) in a shorter time but these were elderly folks so seemingly weren't able get such a continuous amount of sensationalist news stories compared to kids deaths (harsh but sadly true TBH).

PHE also reported that there seems to be a roughly 4 year cycle of the number of Scarlet Fever cases and the last peak of the cycle was in 2017-18 (as shown in the graph minusorange posted), which means we're due the the next peak of the cycle about now.

2013-15 - BMJ - Group A Strep becomes leading cause of death for sick kids - https://www.bmj.com/company/newsroo...1-in-5-childhood-deaths-in-england-and-wales/

2016 - PHE - Increase in Scarlet Fever across UK - https://www.gov.uk/government/news/increase-in-scarlet-fever-across-england

2019 - BMJ - 12 elderly dead in Strep A outbreak (deaths rose to 14 later) - https://www.bmj.com/content/365/bmj.l4456

2016 - Strep A/Scarlet Fever cases rising in England/Wales and we don't know why - https://www.theguardian.com/science...rt-why-scarlet-fever-spreading-across-britain
 
Buddy said:
You can't exactly decline an assessment even if you try your best to reassure them. These are worried parents. Appointments are ultimately booked via phone calls , website or app.
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Is it a case they are first in the queue in the morning to call up then or are these not same day appointments? Just generally interested in how it works.

You say you cant decline an appointment the GPs round here do their best to say if you think its urgent ring 111 (waste of funds) or go to A&E, so not outright decline an appointment but try to point you away.
 
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Vanquish-Storm said:
Is it a case they are first in the queue in the morning to call up then or are these not same day appointments? Just generally interested in how it works.

You say you cant decline an appointment the GPs round here do their best to say if you think its urgent ring 111 (waste of funds) or go to A&E, so not outright decline an appointment but try to point you away.
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Not including pre-booked appointments , chronic reviews , nurse/pharmacist/PA slots.

On any given day we have an average of 150-200 GP appts open up at 7-8am. These are booked either online or via telephone. So any patient or parent can book these. These are either telephone or face to face slots. Available to as late as 1820.

During winter all 200 will go within 30 minutes. Some days 10 minutes. The appointments need to be accessible to all so not all slots are bookable online- to allow for elderly pts to book via telephone.

After these slots are used up the duty doctor who covers all urgent queries, takes the overflows and those patients that insist on being seen or feel their issue is urgent and cannot wait another day.

I imagine your GP likely redirects when they hit capacity. There is only so much room and time practices have to safely manage the load. We have been desk surfing here for 2 years now. Sometimes two doctors will share one clinical room to see bring downs.
 
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