How could I have done this differently?

My toddler found a full bottle of chlidren's cough syrup this weekend and drank it.  Since he's a toddler  it was difficult to ascertain how much he drank, if he poured any into the toilet, etc.  But I was in a panic of course and scared.

I rang 999 and they told me to ring my local hospital as they would handle such emergencies.  Okay, rang the hospital.  Nope, they said that yet another unique phone call would need to be made.  But they couldn't find the number for enquiries of an overdose situation.

The bottle said 'do not exceed dosage' and the pamphlet told me to ring a pharmacist in the case of overdose. 

I didn't know if that meant ring Boots or the Tesco pharmacist.  I felt lost and scared for the time factor as my toddler might be in a very bad way and I felt like I was scrambling to get him help.  I didn't know if he needed to barf or eat activated charcoal or drink milk or what!

So I called Poison Control in the States.  That's the only thing I could think to do when I was beside myself with fear.  They were incredibly, totally, wonderfully helpful.  They were able to search the cough syrup type even though it is a UK only product.  They talked me through the whole situation and to my relief, my toddler wasn't at risk at all.  Thankfully, the cough syrup had nothing in it that would hurt him.  Maybe a laxative effect from too much sorbitol but that's it.

Poison Control told me that I can always contact my local hospital in the case of a suspected overdose/poisoning.  But I had tried that and I didn't get the help I needed.  Poison Control told me twice that I can call them anytime and they will help which was very kind!

Has anyone else dealt with such a situation?  Who did you call in the UK?

I haven't been in a similar situation, but I can say I'm not surprised and I'm constatnly appalled at the level of care and service here.

Most surgeries offer an out-of-hours emergency number.  You could get that from your GP.

 Also there's a phone number for NHS direct, 0845 4647. (http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/innerpage.asp?Area=52&Topic=312&Title=What%20is%20the%20Telephone%20Service?) 

You'll get put through to nurses and sometimes you have to wait to be called back (I've waited as much as three hours!).

In a true emergency, I'd never use any of the above options; I'd call 999.

My recent experiences with the NHS have been posted elsewhere.

I had a sort of similar situation to yours about four years ago.
Following a call from a customer with a problem, I needed to get some drawings from my office. It was mid evening, getting a bit dark, but I decided to cycle there. I had to go down a little track, which was previously very rough , but had been recently paved and was smooth as a billiard table, so very fast. What I didn't know was that there were speed humps. Being a bit dark I didn't see the first one until I was on it. I came off the bike at speed, cracked my head, broke various bones and was knocked unconcious.

Someone probably spotted me and sent for an ambulance. I do remember a crowd, the ambulance, and the blood running down the road.
No biggie I thought. I can make it to the office. So I told the ambulance crew I was fine, got back on my bike, and went to the office. Yes, stupid of me.

Later, after I had resolved the problem with the customer, I began to realise that my injuries were more than superficial. My head was still bleeding like a stuck pig, and my left arm wouldn't function at all. So I called 999. Explained that I needed to get to casualty. Soon.
Take a cab they said.
So I called for a cab. It was now 11 pm on a busy Saturday night and I would have had a 40 minute wait.
The local hospital is just 2 miles away, so I decided to walk there.
Bleeding, hurting like hell, and a bit annoyed at having been let down.

Here is a number for NHS Direct 0845 4647 (www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk).  I've used them in the past and they have always been brilliant.

That's a truly amazing story, Cascode!   

My first call would be to NHS direct too.  I've called several times with "should I go to the doctor" questions and they've been really helpful. 

There are also listings in the yellow pages for on-call doctors that you can pay a fee to and they'll come around as quick as they can.  (We had a very sick man at a meeting at my office once and had to call someone 'round to look at him.  Cost us about £150, but the doctor did come around within about half an hour and was very good.)

I'm glad your little one is okay!  Sounds like a scary experience indeed.  I'm glad the US poison control was able to help. 

I had a similar situation to yours...

I was at a party, where they were serving some punch.  As the party really got going, one girl decided it would be "funny" to put window cleaner in the punch.  She was that out of it that she forgot she had done this a few minutes later, but her group of friends just watched and laughed.  Meanwhile, a couple other people, including my boyfriend, had glasses of punch (with nobody in this group of friends saying anything), and made comments about how it tasted "funny" (but as they had already had more than a few to drink, they just kept drinking it).  To make a long story short, the incident came to light, and I completely freaked out (I was sober).   

I rang 999 in hysterics, and asked for 'poison control', not realising there isn't such a thing here in the UK.  The 999 guy kept repeating that he could only put me through to the police, fire department or an ambulance (I didn't think I needed an ambulance, as everybody who had drunk the punch insisted they were 'fine', but didn't have the number for a hospital or GP's office in my phone in order to speak to a doctor).  The 999 guy eventually put me through to the ambulance, where I explained the situation - they gave me the option of either sending an ambulance around, or calling NHS Direct (I was incredibly frustrated by this point, as I just needed someone to tell me that the window cleaner wasn't lethal!!!).  I called the NHS Direct,  who were incredibly helpful.  They attempted toto look up the active ingredient in the cleaner, gave me a list of symptoms to look for, and told me which symptoms meant I needed to call an ambulance straight away.  Basically, they put me at ease!

So moral of the story is - in ever in any situation of this sort, the NHS Direct is a good starting point (and it's a handy number to put in your phone!).  I'm surprised that there isn't a poison control centre in the UK, like there is in the States.  I was also surprised by the impression I got using 999 - that it is just a call centre that routes calls to the relevent departments.  Maybe I used to watch too many Emergency, 911-type TV shows back home, but I thought the 999 operators would be trained to offer some basic medical advice and assistance, as well as forwarding the call!

Oh yeah... everybody who drank the punch was fine (albeit drunk)... thank god the cleaner didn't have any bleach in it!!!

muse - your decision to call PC back in the states was briliant!

Wow, Cascode. Wow.  Incredible story and wtf with 999?  I was floored when I read that.

And hello, window cleaner in the punch?

Thank you everyone for the help.  I didn't know about the NHS direct number and that will come in handy.  Hopefully we don't need it.

I dunno if calling PC was 'brilliant', but thanks!  It was more desperation and falling back on familiar knowledge.  Good thing they said to ring them anytime, even though they knew we live in England!