4 ms·
While away from home, my son (5 yo) cut his finger and was in need of disinfectant and a bandage (steri strips). Pharmacy was useless, no medical skills or kno
by mgaunard 7mo ago
While away from home, my son (5 yo) cut his finger and was in need of disinfectant and a bandage (steri strips).
Pharmacy was useless, no medical skills or knowledge of their own products. Asked me to figure out myself what I needed and put it on my son myself.
Local GP surgery sent us away: no registration, no visit. Me saying this was an emergency just made them suggest A&E.
A&E is where we ended up, and while that definitely works, going to the emergency services of a large hospital for every little thing is not only a waste of my time but also of resources. It seems however to be the NHS way: whenever the littlest of troubles arise, just go to the hospital, or even call an ambulance.
- 0xffff2 7mo agoSorry for being too American to understand, but why would you need to talk to any medical professional to put a bandaid on your kid? Is this about NHS being paying for the bandaid? About medical expertise to apply a bandaid?
- mgaunard 7mo agoNot all disinfectants are child safe, and the wound was serious enough to require steri-strips (an alternative to sutures) -- it was not a matter of a bandaid.
- harvey9 7mo agoYou would have been best served by a Minor Injury Unit but not every town has one, so A&e is not excessive. The great majority of people going there do not need the full capabilities of it (resuscitation etc).
- bookofjoe 7mo ago1. Water is child safe 2. Steri-strips are available over the counter at any supermarket or pharmacy (in the U.S.)
- stuaxo 7mo agoThe chemist can sell you the right stuff for that.
- phatfish 7mo agoYou call 111 if you don't want to bother the 999 guys. 111 will tell you what you need to do, including "go to A&E". What is wrong with going to A&E for an (as you said yourself) emergency? A pharmacist dispenses medications and should know about their safe usage. They won't tell you how to bandage a wound.
- chrisjj 7mo agoPharmacy. Not pharmacist. Pharmacies provide much more than just medicine.
- mgaunard 7mo agoGetting a minor wound bandaged up is not what A&E is meant for, it's for life-threatening injuries. Going to A&E and waiting there also means you're losing 4 to 6 hours. 111 you just get some robot asking you a never-ending list of inane questions before someone tells you to either self-care at home or go to A&E. A pharmacist should be able to administer the supplies they sell, particularly wound dressing and care. It's a requirement in some other European countries like France (where pharmacists are doctors), but in the UK the reality is that most are unable to do so.
- happymellon 7mo ago111 do a lot more than that, they will get you a GP visit even if the GP claims to not have slots, and they will get medical professionals to come to you. If it was in hours, I'm surprised they didn't get a nurse appointment for the cut.
- lambdas 7mo agoA pharmacist is someone who is a chemical practitioner though? “Man, these cryptographers didn’t know a thing about tailwind. Useless!”
- happymellon 7mo agoAnd 111 was unable to help, even the GP they assigned to you turned you away?