OK so last night, well 2.30 this morning Steven had a pretty bad seizure, if it goes on over 5 minutes we have to sedate him with a medication called Bucal Midazolam, which we had to do on this occasions, the seizure still did not stop and after a further 5+ minutes we had to call for an ambulance.
Rather unusually we had quite a wait for the ambulance, it took 20 minutes from calling them to their arrival.
Anyhow, he had stopped fitting by the time the ambulance arrived, this is not unusual at all as it happens all the time, often the paramedics still want to take him in but on this occasion they were happy with us keeping him at home as we felt this was the best, he was now stable and there seemed no problem.
Steven did have a further 2 seizures in the night but these were both self limiting!
Anyhow, back to the paramedics, whilst they were with us they said that whilst they were on their way to us they got a message to say we had told the control that he had stopped fitting so it was being downgraded from a red call to a green call (the control usually keep us on the phone until the paramedics arrive these days) the green call means that they had up to 2 hours to attend, this had caused an argument between them and control as they were saying it was unfair on us as parents to be messed about like that, what would they do if it was their own child? I think the general thing was that control wanted to re-route them to another call to some drunks in the town centre.
Now I have no problems with people having a good time and going out clubbing etc but should a drunk party goer be given priority over a child who is having a seizure?
Usually if you go down to A&E on a Friday or Saturday night the place is full and overflowing of people who are there simply because they have had too much to drink, it may not be the drink that has directly lead to them being there but it certainly contributed in one way or another, I know because we have been there, sitting around at A&E waiting for Steven to be treated whilst the staff are busy patching up the drunks and partygoers!
On the whole the staff at A&E do a fantastic job and I have nothing but the highest admiration for them and the work they do, I definitely could not do their job, and that’s without the abuse and aggressive behaviour they have to put up with.
I am aware in writing this that I have to be very careful how far I push it as people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, those of you closest to me know what I am talking about but the question then is:
Where should the priorities lie at A&E, how should they decided who gets treated and in what order?
Should they tolerate drunken behaviour from patients/friends? Because some of the behaviour at times is appalling.
Do the staff have a right to refuse treatment?
Should people have to pay for treatment in some circumstances? If so, who decides on the criteria for charging and what circumstances should impose a charge?
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