3 Trips to A&E in one year = Social Services?

[supertabby]

Today Isobel had her third trip to A&E since she's been born. I've heard rumours that 3 trips in 12 months triggers social services to investigate but I don't know if this is true - does anyone know? And would it be immediately/unannounced on the doorstep type of situation?

The first trip was 11.5 months ago, it wasn't an accident, we thought she was having a seizure and rang 999, it turned out it was rising acid due to reflux causing her to have a kind of panic attack (after weeks of me thinking she had reflux and gp and hv telling me it wasn't!)

The second trip was a couple of months ago, she bumped her head on the tv stand while running around and was sick afterwards so I took her into a&e but they were happy she was fine.

Today she took a bite out of a dishwasher tablet! I was standing right there too, I had my back turned for a second putting washing power into the washing machine (which is why the cupboard was open with dishwasher tablets in) and she grabbed it and put it to her mouth. I got it off her straight away but she'd broken the seal and had powder in her mouth. It was only a bit but I got her checked out anyway. They were happy from my description that she probably swallowed nothing, and that the chemicals concerned would only cause stomachache, maybe vomiting if she had eaten it - unpleasant but not dangerous. I'm hugely relieved that she's ok but worried that I now look like a bad mum. The triage nurse and doctor both questioned me on if we use safety locks etc.

 

[fidget]

You don't look like a bad mother at all, these things happen! Different hospitals have different policies on ss referrals but at my work we look at what sort of things people have been in with, if the kid has been in with multiple head injuries and fractures etc, but I can't see your los attendances triggering any concern. Sometimes we do refer to health visitor though to check your house is safe etc

 

[Aunty E]

After Teddy's second trip to a and e, the health visitors made us take him in to the clinic to be weighed (and presumably checked in case I was beating him). He had fallen off his changing table the first time, and the second time he'd had a crazy rash and temperature, which turned out to be viral, but I mentioned that the cat had bitten him (only just broke the skin) so it was classed as an accident again. So I went along to their stupid appointment, where they weighed him etc, and that was all I heard. He went back to a and e about a month later because he had an ear infection over the weekend, and I didn't hear anything from them. Although they did bitch that he'd fallen from the 85th centile to the 75th. Which is one of the reasons I don't go to the clinic to get him weighed more often, the pointless comments.

 

[muddles]

I haven't heard that. Your trips sound like bad luck rather than something to notify social services about. I would say they are more likely to notify them depending on the type of injury or bruises in funny places etc rather than things that come across as bad luck rather than bad parenting.

 

[Mindy_mini]

I think there are procedures in place - a friend is a polce officer and sh has made a comment previously about having to attend as back up etc. BUT they are more concerned about injuries than illnesses/fits/eating things etc.

Try not to worrry

 

[dizzy65]

i dont think that social services will be called or anything

 

[leoniebabey]

ususally well where i live at least every a&e or walk in centre visit is recorded and passed onto health visitors who will sometimes give you a ring to ask if all are ok. Maybe if it was a serious accident they would arrange a home visit to check safety in the home.

 

[Babushka99]

The staff would only contact social services if your child has been flagged on their system. IE something like unexplained broken bones or stories not adding up. Also, ss wouldn't just turn up on your doorstep they would arrange to visit you.

 

[Kians_Mummy]

ususally well where i live at least every a&e or walk in centre visit is recorded and passed onto health visitors who will sometimes give you a ring to ask if all are ok. Maybe if it was a serious accident they would arrange a home visit to check safety in the home.

This... "Its not how many times you take them in a period of time, its how many times you take them in general" quoted from my HV... I took Kian to the walking in centre a few times since he was born so the HV came out to check to see if there was anyway she could help us prevent these trips although out of the 8 times he's been only 1 was because he was hurt so nothing she really could do about it

 

[whoops]

You actually sound quite conscientous because each incident was relatively minor and she turned out fine each time. I'm sure that came across to the A&E staff.

 

[mumj18]

I remember being in high school and my sister and I being taken into a room and asked if everything was ok at home because we'd been to A&E so much. I think to myself surely if our parents were beating us they wouldn't be taking us to A&E afterwards!

 

[Lu28]

I think it totally depends on why you've taken them. Your three trips don't sound like anything that would trigger alarm bells. Social services talked to my parents when I was a kid because I was brought to A&E twice in 6 months with broken arms - I broke one running in the playground, that had just about healed when I broke the other falling off my bike! That's the sort of thing I'd expect to trigger questions but they just spoke to them at the hospital separately, presumably spoke to me too although I can't remember, it all added up and that was that

 

[Cattia]

When we took Abigail in because she got hold of and drank from a bottle of calpol, I was told that because of the nature of the incident it would be flagged as a cause for concern. I was fully expecting a call from SS but all that happened was I got a call from the HV, a little 'chat' about storing medicines and a leaflet sent out in the post about keeping my house safe. I thought it was fair enough since it was pretty stupid of me to have left the calpol within reach, but their tone about the whole thing was quite supportive really.

 

[leoniebabey]

I remember being in high school and my sister and I being taken into a room and asked if everything was ok at home because we'd been to A&E so much. I think to myself surely if our parents were beating us they wouldn't be taking us to A&E afterwards!

They did this to me, i was always in a & e lol!
mainly they did it though because i'd injured my cheek ..
(i was at a christening and was the same height as some of the higher bar tables and ran into it :dohh)
few raised eyebrows there though!

 

[kristy87]

I work In a children's accident and emergency, there is a symbol that appears on the screen if the child has been 3 times or more in the last 12 months but that's pretty common and no it defo doesn't mean social services will be called like the other girls say there would have to be alarm bells ringing and things maybe not quite adding up x

 

[lozzy21]

I think it depends what with more than how many times.

 

[flower01]

ive never heard of this at all!

we had to take Willow to A&E twice in 1 week!! Both times for head injuries!!
i was mortified, and said to the triage nurse about social services being on my door step and she said its the injuries you cant see that they get worried about!
They know when its just generally accidents and when its not, i really wouldnt worry about it
It would be more worrying if you didnt take her to A&E
x

 

[storm4mozza]

Im not sure if thats true or not, but if its a rumour its a horrible one to be spreading scaring people like that. There is no way you look like a bad mother, at least you have got her checked out, better to be safe than sorry. Glad LO is ok, and ive heard of kids eatin raw bacon, coins, paint (rowan did this the other weak) even with safety locks they somehow find ways to get hold of things they shouldnt and plus everything is food to them. I was scared when Rowan fell and hit his head off his toy box i guess these days people are too quick to accuse abuse and thats what makes things so scary. hope everything goes ok for u x

 

[Feltzy]

Alfie's only been to a&e once when he fell into some furniture and knocked his front tooth up into his gums. I got a surprise visit from his HV a couple of days later. She told me it wasn't anything to worry about but that it was standard when a child visits a&e, according to a lot of you guys its not though? It was ok though, she just asked me what happened and she could see we'd put up some padded edging on the furniture the day after it happened so it wasn't a problem.

I think for them to get social services involved they'd have to be quite concerned though, I don't think its standard practice to inform them after 3 visits.

 

[summer rain]

My second youngest was in A&E three times within a year, once for drinking peppermint oil, once for bending down when I was getting cakes out of the oven and burning his head on the oven shelf, and once for catching his head on the corner of the coffee table. A&E didn't tell social services but they did tell the HV team and make his injuries sound a lot worse than they actually were, for example he got a slight burn on his forehead that didn't require any kind of dressing (according to A&E) but A&E doctors in their report made it sound a lot more major. HV team just called to see what was going on, when I explained how the burn was they said 'ooh is that all?', asked if we had a safety gate on the kitchen and that was that. They did find out through that, that their records about the children weren't as up to date as they should have been and so they sent a HV around as a routine thing at a later date, that particular HV was a cow and caused us some problems but that is a long story and nothing really to do with the A&E visits anyway. I was really wary as when I was a child I fell down the stairs and knocked myself out and the way I fell and the severity of it they thought my parents had threw me down them and social services were called by the HV, I remember them asking me in the A&E if I was sure it wasn't my parents that did this to me and I still remember to this day I was playing at the top of the stairs even though my mum had repeatedly told me not to, I think things have improved in the past 20 odd years though xx