OP, if you are able to leave the house, several hospitals in Melbourne have an after hours GP clinic within the hospital itself. There are several locum services in Melbourne if you weren't happy with the response from the one you called.
Even when it's been a loooong wait its still been worth it for us over a hospital trip, because you can wait hours there anyway - and catch something! Being at home, in bed, with privacy and a tepid bath and tea and ABC 2 is much better than being around people who are one or more of: sick, injured, scared, upset, angry, vomiting, contagious, substance affected, sick of uncomfortable chairs, etc.
The only downside is one time we had a rubbish Dr so we had to go to our normal GP the next day anyway.
No worries The locum will not have AB's but he will be able to give you a script to fill in the morning. Not sure which part of Melbourne you are in, but there are a few late night chemists around if you need to fill a script tonight. I think the latest ones close at midnight. The locum may be able to give IM AB's (an injection), but if the patient is sick enough to require IM the locum will probably suggest you head to A&E instead. Is the patient your DS??
ETA, Just saw it's for your DS2 - he's very young to be requiring a locum so late at night! I mean that if he is sick enough that you need a doctor tonight and can't wait until morning, perhaps he does need to go to A&E? Is he ok?
The times we've needed ABs seriously they've given us one dose, with a script for the rest.
Times we haven't been so bad, they've just given a script to fill in the morning.
One time with DS1 they put us onto a triage Dr on the phone to go through in detail what was going on to assess whether we really needed to go in, rather than waiting. We'd already called Nurse On Call by then and were happy with our choice, but they still did their due diligence.
Nickle thanks for your concern GP has been, it's just a virus... I feel a bit silly... But he basically has either cried, screamed or slept all day... And the sleeping bit was only 2x 20mins... He went down (I thought ) at 6.30, by 7.15 he was awake again and inconsolable. 9pm I rang nurse on call, they put me thru to the Dr, who said give him another dose of nurofen and if he still won't settle, ring the after hours GP or go into A&E.
He didn't settle, so we called the GP. By not settle, I mean screaming, unhappy, pulling his ear, trying to drink water but crying, clearly in pain, even booby not working its magic.
Well we had a horrible night. He didn't sleep longer than 40 mins at a time, would wake and scream and scream and scream, then eventually fall back to sleep and repeat repeat repeat til 7am. Round 3am he was so tired and delirious he was screaming at me sitting up and ended up falling over and whacking his forehead right on my mouth... Split my lip open. So I'm I'm tears, he's crying, all fun and games.
Fortunately DH is home today so he's been dealing with the big kids... DS2 is still miserable and clingy and sad today.
And then this morning, in the light of day, I notice he has blisters on his hands and fingers. Spoke to my friend the Dr and he says it sounds like hand foot and mouth.
That definitely sounds like hand, foot and mouth. When DS1 had it, the day before he was just miserable, had a fever, couldn't see any other noticeable signs of virus etc until the next day when the blisters appeared.
Thanks guys. Jaycee I saw your post on a previous HFM thread that I just looked up and that sounds exactly like DS2. Sigh. DD has her first dance concert on Thursday... If she gets it...
Reply With Quote
Moderator
Home visiting GP service
for you and your little man.
Bookmarks