Hi everyone, I thought I would let you know about my recent problems when travelling on holiday with my husband. We were travelling by car from our home in Dundee to Devon and were spending the night in an hotel in Leyland, Preston to break the journey. At around midnight, my husband, Stuart, took ill with chest pains, ambulance was called and he ended up at the A & E at Preston Royal Hospital with a suspected heart attack. On arrival, Stuart was put onto a trolley in a cubicle and attached to a heart monitor etc. The first blood test to check for Troponin level was taken. The nurse also took his details and previous health history which included a heart attack and triple bypass surgery in 1999. I was with Stuart all the time in the cubicle and the time was around 1a.m. On the Monday morning. The nurse went off and as we hadn't seen anyone by 3a.m., I went to find out when Stuart would be seen by a doctor as he was in a lot of pain and his pulse reading on the monitor was very low (40), also no-one had been in to check on him. The nurse told me that folk brought in at 10p.m. the previous night had not yet been seen by a doctor and Stuart would probably not see the doctor till about 6.30a.m. I told her I was not happy about this as he was not very well but she just shrugged her shoulders. I asked her if, at least, a nurse could come and do "obs" and a nurse duly came and did this. A little bit later they moved us to another little room as they needed our cubicle for another patient and the monitor was taken off Stuart but not replaced in the other room. By this time, it was around 4a.m. We were still in this room when the fire alarm went off. We weren't sure what to do but a nurse put her head round the frosted glass door and said she would have to close it for "safety" reasons. During the next 15 minutes, we could see through the frosted glass , people passing by. This was all very worrying so as I decided to go and see what was going on, the nurse came back and said someone had been smoking in the toilets in the A & E and that's what had set the alarm off. The alarm continued to ring for more than an hour. Long story short, after Stuart's next blood test, the doctor confirmed that he had indeed suffered a heart attack and at last gave him Morphine for the pain and blood thinning injection. He was to be admitted to CCU. There was no bed for him until 3.30 p.m and by this time, he had been on a trolley in A & E for nearly 14 hours. All this was a nightmare for both of us but our son who lives in Hampshire, four hours away, came straightaway to Preston to help us. Stuart's care in CCU was very good and he was in there for five days. He had an angiogram but they decided against inserting any stents and he is being treated with medication. My brother came down with a driver to drive our car back to Scotland and took us in his Range Rover. This was on the Friday.
Sorry for the long rant but I just wanted to let you know about this experience which, of course, has not done my condition any good. I have had to increase my Pred back up to 17.5mg but hoping to reduce again soon.
I have written a letter of complaint to the CEO at Preston a Royal Hospital outlining all of the above and more and had a phonecall this week to say they are looking I to it. I told the lady that I was not looking for compensation but would like them to improve their A & E for patients in the future. I felt sorry for the staff as they were run off their feet and doing the best they could. I have never seen anything like this in any hospital I have been associated with and feel that we seem to get much better care here in Dundee at Ninewells Hospital. I hope you all read this with interest.
Regards, Pat
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PatB1948
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That sounds like an horrendous experience for you both, you always imagine if you go in an Ambulance with a suspected heart attack you’d been seen ASAP & hopefully given clot busters.
I’m glad you’ve written into the hospital as you say to improve their service & treatment in a timely manner.
I do hope your husband improves & pleased to hear about the good care at your local hospital.
Take Care of You during this stressful time & don’t even consider reducing!
What appalling treatment, good for you to make this clear to the management. An absolute nightmare. When you are in severe pain with a life threatening condition you expect better than this. On the good side you have lovely family who rallied round during what must have been a very stressful time for you. All good wishes.
Sorry to hear your bad experience unfortunately it’s all to do with funding and the staff shortage as you say it’s not about compensation but about awareness.
Do hope you will back on the road to reducing soon and hope your husband continues to improve. Thinking of you.
As a warning - apparently Scarbrough hospital also works on a "first arrived, first seen" basis which leaves paramedics sitting outside with query heart attack or stroke patients for up to hours. Which also, of course. means that they are not freed up to go to another potential MI or stroke.
I can feel your stress I too have spent hours in a cubicle with my husband not knowing what's happening, but the fire alarm too! Unbelievable! On occasions like this I always tell my son I knew if I kept him long enough he'd prove useful. Take care of yourselves .
What a trauma! Sounds like a nightmare. Heavens knows what our hospitals will like in years to come. 11 years ago the land our old hospital was on was sold to developers and a new one built nearby (Queens in Romford, Essex). The new one has less beds than the old one! The population of Romford has shot up with flats everywhere. It’s very worrying.
I hope your husband makes a good recovery and that you start to feel better soon.
It was the same in Durham with their PFI monstrosity (not just the buildings but all other services were handed over to PFI companies) - fewer beds for patients as they were all going to be day surgery and fewer parking spaces of any sort as all were to use public transport to get to the hospital. Minimum of 2 buses and the park and rise was only open 7am-7pm. No use to doctors and nurses who start/finish work outside those hours.
I think that the state of the NHS is worse in parts of England. Although people up here moan about waiting times, I think the average at Ninewells is much less than down south. Heart attack and stroke patients get taken into resus on arrival and see a doctor straight away.
Thanks to everyone who commented and for your good wishes.
I agree with you about Ninewells, PatB1948. My mum ( lives near St Andrews)was admitted there pretty sharpish last October with a stroke and her care was excellent. Hope your husband makes a full recovery. Best wishes.
I'm glad you were there to advocate for your husband. I think we always need to do that for ourselves and loved ones (anyone really). Insist and demand until we get the care needed. Investigate, do research and in an emergency, keep demanding to be seen. I'm proud of your persistence!
Thank you, art fingers, I so agree with you but in retrospect, perhaps I should have said more at the time and asked to see whoever was in charge that night. Pat
OH MY GOODNESS! Appalling!!!! I am gobsmacked! I would have LOVED to have written that letter for you! Totally unacceptable. I wish you husband a speedy recovery... and pray that he will be ok.
This is appalling, one hears more and more reports like this where care is lacking. All this after a week of being told the NHS is the envy of the world and set for another 70 years. I personally think it needs radical reform to be fit for purpose. Wishing you both a speedy recovery.
It isn't the NHS per se - it is politicians who think you can cut costs and still have the same level of care.
If you want an insider view get Rachel Clarke's book "Your life in my hands". She was very active during the stand-off with Mr Hunt - and believe me, her book tells it like it is. As she so rightly says, if there were not enough pilots and cabin crew to fly a plane it wouldn't take off but they don't close a ward because there is only 2/3 of a doctor and 1 nurse to care for 30 patients. And "hospital at night" is something you don't want to even think about - often 2 doctors to cover a whole hospital. It isn't staff refusing to work without more pay - they work probably a third of the hours they work free. They are all leaving to work more normal hours.
So sorry that you have both been through so much stress, l hope that your husband makes a good recovery.My local hospital Luton and Dunstable is well managed but like all of them is very busy and l do not know how they will cope when hundreds of new houses are built ,there are no plans for a new hospital to be built to cater for all the extra people.This seems to be happening a lot in other areas,l hope that you will eventually manage to have your holiday when your husband is better,Kindest regards to you both.
Shocking! At the hospitals in Canada, or at least in Ontario, if you show up to Emerg with a suspected heart attack you go to the head of the line and are seen to by a doctor immediately. I know because I took my dad in once and the attention was unbelievable.
Shocking story Pat. Poor you and your poor husband. I am glad he’s ok. I expect you are in the throes of a reaction now. A couple of mgs of Pred may help. Bless you both. Some holiday!
Thanks, Jane, things have calmed down now and husband is making a good recovery. He was given an appointment last week for cardiac rehab classes and will start soon. Also next week, he has an appt to see the cardiac nurse who will assess him and arrange for him to see the consultant if necessary. I have managed to get back down to 15mg Pred and feeling okay, so far, so good.
Wow.. absolutely unacceptable! I am praying for your husbands speedy recovery and your continued rest if that’s possible with all that is going on. Here in the US we do have our problems.. but nothing as you have stated. Will you get a response or some thing to validate the poor quality of care at the start..regarding “the Golden Hour”. Best wishes to you both!
Hi Leilagirl, thanks for taking the time reply to my post. See above what I have said to Sheffield Jane.
I have had a letter from Preston Hospital to say they have appointed a
"Case worker" to act on my behalf and enquiries are ongoing. It will take a few weeks to gather all the information but I should hear from her by the end of August. I'll let everyone know what the outcome is and if I am not satisfied, I shall take it further.
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PMR; holidays should be on prescription...
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