GP and advice to call 999

[Shar28]

Has anyone been on the situation where they’ve spoken to their GP and been told to call 999 for an ambulance? Just wondering as my mum was in this situation recently. Then 999 told her a doctor would call her within an hour, even though her GP had said she needed paramedics.

Thanks.

[Shar28]

I hear what you say. The actual outcome was that before a 999 doctor could call her back my sister went round and found her collapsed on the floor and called 999. An ambulance was there in about 2 minutes closely followed by a second one. Both crews looked after my mum and did a fantastic job in getting her conscious and off to A&E. But I just wondered if the GP should have called 999 themselves knowing her situation so she didn’t have to explain everything again as she wasn’t really up to it. Thanks for your reply.

[Qualipop in reply to Shar28]

That's what I would have expected. GP should have called an ambulance

[Shar28]

Thank you.

[meadfoot]

Same thing happened to me a couple of years ago, GP told me to ring 999 myself as I would get an ambulance quicker if she wasn’t involved. She then rang me back to see if they were on their way.

Also once when I was in GP surgery the doctor rang for an ambulance for me, they took ages to arrive largely because I was with medics at the time. Hope your mum is ok now and on the road to recovery.

[Janma123]

Yes, because the 999 operator can stay on the phone line to you while the ambulance is on it’s way. The doctor has to come off the phone to either call an ambulance or drive to you.

Hope your mum makes a speedy recovery.

[Shar28]

Thank you everyone. Sadly, for reasons that are still unknown, mum arrested and passed away whilst A& E awaited scan results to try to find out what was going on. By asking about the GP calling 999 or not I’m not trying to apportion blame. We just need to understand what happened and whether there are lessons to be learned.

[Cruise1]

Yes we did that late November when my husband was having chest pain. It was over an hour before the ambulance arrived and a further 4 hours in A and E before he saw a doctor. He was sitting on a chair the whole time. Six hours later was given a cubicle only to be woken up at 2 a m for a Covid test and again at 4 am when he was transferred to another hospital in a cold sit up ambulance as the main hospital had no beds.