One Way Ticket to A&E

By Karen Legge

You know your child best. And you know when they ’ re not right. You can bet your bottom dollar it will be on a weekend or a bank holiday.

For me it was a refusal of a gingerbread man and the desire to head home rather than bomb around the skate-park. It’ s plain miserable to see your little love out of sorts.

Home we went to snuggle on the sofa. Home we went to take his temperature and watch it steadily increase. Home we went to try and cajole him to take calpol and overcome his fear of syringes (a result of some particularly nasty medicine we ’d had to hold him down to take – poor little man has not recovered).

Then the million-dollar question: to phone 111 or not to phone 111.

In your heart of hearts you know they ’ re OK. But what if… What about that small chance that they ’ re not.

If there were a flow chart it would go something like this: Call 111 -> Wait for a call-back from an advisor -> Be directed straight to Accident & Emergency -> Do not pass GO, do not collect £200.

Because much like you, the medical professional on the other end of the line is just not willing to take the chance when it comes to little people either.

You ’ll go through the obligatory assessment with the myriad of questions that ‘ may not seem relevant. ’ Yes, he is conscious. No, he is not fighting for every breath. No, he has not bled profusely in the last few hours.

But yes, he ’ s been up all night with belly-ache and none of us have had a jot of sleep. Yes he has a temperature of 38.9. Yes, he ’ s got ongoing issues with constipation and yes, I’ m now convinced he has a compacted bowel or some horrific, related condition that a Google search will only further compound.

Profound relief described my feelings when I was informed that Harry should see an out-of-hours GP rather than a trip to our local emergency room.

"TO PHONE 111 OR NOT TO PHONE 111. "

We bundled our teary, little poorly parcel into the car.

However, there ’ s no ignoring the oneway-111-ticket to A&E already had been issued the moment we had called for advice. Would he sit to have his ears poked, his belly prodded, his heart-rate monitored? Not likely!

The vital statistics she did garner as he writhed and wailed like a rabid beast on my lap made her opt to err on the side of caution. “I want you to take him in to A&E. ”

In my heart of hearts, I knew it was coming. So why hadn ’t I prepared for it? If you ’ ve been blessed not to have visited the emergency room with your child, please let me share with you the lessons I have learnt in my four long visits in his short lifetime. I give you:

Top Tips for Children’s A&E

Change of clothes. Bodily fluids are abundant in such a location – be it your child’ s or quite possibly someone else ’ s projectile. Make sure you ’ ve got a change of PJs, nappies or pants, a zippy hoody, something to keep you cozy and conversely a bikini as it will either veer from polar to equatorial in temperature (bikini optional obviously) Water. Adult A&E = coffee machine, cokes, all the liquid sustenance. Children ’ s A&E = a barren wasteland with not a vending machine in sight. Take plenty of water to keep you both hydrated. I’d recommend those tins of Starbucks Double Espresso too – in abundance Snacks. You ’ re going to miss one meal or another. Make sure you have goodies to keep your energy levels up. Fruit. Cereal bars. And all the chocolate. All of it.

Buggy. So Harry is a bit too big to opt for his buggy these days but believe me, to pop his buggy, put the seat back and let him like down there rather than sprawled across me and two plastic seats was a god send. Plus you then have a plastic donkey to ferry around the worldly belongings you have packed when you ’ re called after three hours Phone charger. I know no numbers off by heart. Whilst Harry drained my phone watching ‘Blaze and the Monster Machines ’ , I was frantically trying to locate a pen to scribble down Daddy ’ s number for when we needed picking up Pen. See above! Thanks to Covid, only one parent was allowed so believe me – husband was told to be on high alert for when the ‘ pick me up as soon as humanly possible ’ call came through. Change for a payphone is also advisable Grit. Let’ s face it – you ’ll be there for the long haul. Keep your patience! Triage will mean some littles will be seen before yours and it will be for good reason.

It’ s never nice. It’ s often precautionary. But the feeling of getting home with the all-clear and the knowledge that you did the right thing is the best. It’ s never a waste of anyone ’ s time. If ever unsure, pick up that phone and book yourself on the 111 A&E express is my advice.