"ED response to my teenager with concussion"

My teenager sustained a concussion playing football recently after a hard tackle from height and landed on their head with a hard impact. Couldn't walk, severe head and neck pain with double and blurred vision. Trainers asked me to take my teenager to ED fairly quickly due to the type of impact.

Attended ED mid-afternoon, where my teenager said they had a slightly runny nose, so we were put in what I felt was the dirty room. After a while, we were verbally triaged from the other side of the plastic - lots of others around and no privacy - and then waited to be seen.

We were taken by the doctor to the temporary building, and my teenager went through their symptoms. They hadn't vomited, so that seemed to be a deal-breaker to assessing further. Pupils were checked with mobile phone torch, no other assessment. I asked for my teenager's blood pressure to be checked and was told if there was a problem, they wouldn't be sitting on the chair. Still had blurry and double vision and unstable on feet. BP was taken - careful not to contact skin - and reading was normal. Told we could go home. The doctor asked if we knew where to find information on concussion and my teenager said 'internet?' then they doctor printed off some information from RCH for us to read.

My teenager complaining that it was the worst headache they had ever had and their neck was really sore. The doctor got my teenager to turn their head from side to side, and it was restricted on one side. We asked about Xray and CT, and were told the radiation levels would be too high for a teenager. Would consider if they deteriorated, and we could come back. Doctor said we could stay for a bit longer 'if we wanted to'.

We stayed as we weren't comfortable leaving and my teenager was given panadol and nurofen.

We were left alone in the portable building, no nurses around, for another 30 minutes. My teenager was in a lot of pain, and was very uncomfortable. When the doctor came back, they said we could go home. We were still concerned about my teenager's symptoms, but they doctor told us to go home and let them sleep.

We left ED, and my teenager spent 3 days in bed, predominantly sleeping. Headache and neck pain persists and they feel like the back of their head is cramping. They are still unsteady on their feet at times and walking slowly.

We got in to see GP and have a neck x-ray booked.

My complaint is that my teenager wasn't triaged properly.

They didn't have basic observations taken.

No one physically touched my teenager and there was no physical or neurological assessment. They landed on their head, couldn't walk properly and had double and blurred vision, and head and neck pain.

They attended last year with a concussion, where we were told my teenager needed to stay for 4 hours for neuro observations.

I don't feel that my teenager was listened to, and I would have expected them to have an x-ray at a minimum, which would have been very reassuring, given they landed on their head, and radiology was already in the hospital.

They would also have appreciated being triaged privately, rather than in front of others.