Red flags that indicate an urgent assessment should be sought include:

• Persistent raised temperature (39°C and above) for longer than three days
• Severe headache with vomiting or severe earache
• Coughing up blood or blood-stained mucus on more than one occasion
• Chest pain
• Difficulty in breathing or swallowing
• Unusual skin rash
• Confusion, slurred speech, drowsiness.

If a child under the age of five has any of the following symptoms, parents should be advised to go to A&E or call 999 immediately:

• Skin is very cold to the touch or has strange colour or an unusual rash develops
• Confusion, slurred speech or very drowsy
• Difficulty breathing, the signs of which can include: 
• Breathing quickly
• Turning blue around the lips and the skin below the mouth
• Skin between or above the ribs getting sucked or pulled in with every breath.