To tell you about my experiences with NHS emergency today.

[LEMmingaround]

I went round to my mum's today to take her dog out as she wasn't feeling well yesterday. Got there to her laying in her own faeces and faeces all over the floor. She was not "with it" and barely responsive. She is prone to a life threatening condition called Addisons syndrome.

I called 999 and the lady asked me whole list of questions, not all of them relevant, but they have to rule everything out. All the while im on the phone im trying to make sure shes ok and clear up the worst of the mess with one hand. The lady said she was going to send an ambulance but would stay on the phone until they arrived. Which it did, five minutes laster.

Three paramedics turned up, one was a student. They attended to my mum and listened while i explained my mum's condition (its qutie rare) and started treatment based on what i had told her. They made no mention of the mess she was in, just got on with it. They took her out to the ambulance to start treatment and said i could run home (next road) to let my DP know and grab my phone. Her temperature was 40.5! Got back, still in ambulance so i knocked on the door, they said they were still busy administering treatment and would come and get me - so i was able to get stuff cleaned up and look for my mum's nightclothes.

Bluelights all the way to the hospital, my mum not really with it, me in the pukey seat apparently as i felt sick as a dog, apparently lots of the paramedics get travel sick because of the movement of the ambulance and you can;t see where you are going. We chatted and i explained more about history etc.

Got the hospital and was ushered into the relatives room (bit odd as usually just go to the bit where you wait to see the doctor). My mum straight into emergency room - i could hear what was going on. She was seen by the doctor straight away and after about five minutes he came out to get more details from me. He then went off to look after her, popped back every now and then to update me and ask more questions. Turned out she probably not having addisons crisis but they were concerned re scepsis as her temp was so high and there were other indicators. So doctor stayed with us the whole time (about 2 hours in total) until she moved to CDU (inbetween ward). By this time she had had paracetemol to bring down temp (she can't have ibruprofen) a hydrocortisone drip, hartmans drip and potassium drip, IV antibiotics so was feeling better.

Diagnosed with chest infection, kept in on ABs and was due to go to main ward when i left. Dr kept popping back, came back with consultant who confirmed diagnosis. Oh, she had a chest Xray in this time too.

So that was that, no waiting for hours, my mother looked after the minute she got there, i was offered tea and somewhere comfortable to wait. Absolutely brilliant - i felt humbled really. Thats all, i just wanted to share a positive story about all the lovely people who helped me today.

Thank you for a bit of positivity, I too was waiting for the disaster punch line. I was very seriously ill when pregnant with my daughter & couldn't fault any aspect of the care I was given. Now I try to always stick up for our health service. It's not perfect but they pull out the stops when required!

Bloody good to hear this.

I too have had excellent experiences with regards to emergency care and my children and I simply couldnt fault any part. Quite the opposite. Every one of them involved was faultless.

Hope your mum recovers well and you both get the support you deserve.

The NHS is such an amazing thing. We are so lucky to have it. to everyone who works for the NHS.

I am an American transplant to the UK and I bloodthirsty LOVE the NHS.

Bloody (damn autocorrect)

And all the best to your mum.

My daughter has been in hospital recently and the NHS has been amazing.

Play specialists even at outpatient appointments, and amazing handovers between play specialists so that the medical care took into account her concerns and what worked etc. When she had surgery and a GA the
Play specialists were there to give me a hug.

The nurses are bloody amazing, and the student doctors, the other doctors were too important to converse with us

And hope your mum is ok, reassuring when you know a loved one is in the right hands

Another one who has had superb treatment from our brilliant NHS.
Keep this thread going so all the NHS staff can carry on reading what a great job they are doing!

LEM my granny also has Addisons and for years has been taking blood pressure medication with fludrocortisone, which is an absolute contraindication! Along with a cocktail of other medications which my brother and I were pulling our hair out over (we are pharmacists).

Anyway, she ended up passing out a couple of times due to postural hypotension and was treated in hospital for a fractured wrist due to the fall.

The hospital staff were fantastic. They didn't have to, but they did a full medication review and removed the pesky blood pressure meds AND insisted she stay in hospital in a private room for two weeks to rest her wrist.

The consultant also wrote a very curt letter to her GP dictating that, from now on, she should have bloods taken every six weeks and that he was to be made aware of any changes to her medication.

She is looking better than ever.

A fine example of how we shouldn't tar everyone with the same brush.

Well done NHS.

Its good to hear a good story. Hope your Dm is feeling better.

Is the postural hypotension due to the corticosteriods then? i am too, torn over the blood pressure meds, but to be honest, i think she needs them as before she was put on them she had a blood pressure of 268/150something - i thought the BP machine is broken, i honestly didnt think someone could have a blood pressure so high and not die/explode! She has been on these meds since 1958 but only lately been getting these problems, I try to tell her its because she is getting older. Her current GP is excellent, but tries to do things properly whereas her old GP was quite old school and used to prescribe her unlimited hydrocortisone so she could double up if she felt ill. Because her current GP will only give her enough for the month plus enough to double up my mum is obsessed about hoarding the tablets (she has 8 packets in her cupboard, they will go out of date before she uses them!). Because of this, she wont go to the GP at all. Its quite difficult.

Sorry nirishma, another question. Is there any blood pressure med that is better with the fluorinef? my mum takes 100mcg flourinef, 40mg hydrocortisone and amlodipine 5mg (?) she was supposed to be on 100mg losartan but said it made her dizzy so stopped taking it against medical advice? She goes very dizzy and often nearly falls, but whenever they test for postural hypotension there is no drop in BP and she says it never happens when she gets up quickly or anything like that?

I do think her meds are all over the place, as i say, her current GP is fantastic, her old GP i had no time for as nothing got followed up. Her specialist is very patronising and dismissive and has never really addressed my Q's. He doesn't know i have a PhD in developmental neurobiology and 1st degree in biochemistry - i might have to tell him!

I've lost the village.

It's disappeared off my map (aka TIO)

I neglected it and now it doesn't love me any more it got up and walked away with the cosy fireplace...

that is so much better than i expected when i read your post title

I've lost the village.

It's disappeared off my map (aka TIO)

I neglected it and now it doesn't love me any more it got up and walked away with the cosy fireplace...

Ah, you can come back ed....fires lovely. Its called banishing the winter blues come and warm yourself in our village. Something like that.

LEM - I would certainly tell the consultant about your knowledge. And it does sound like a great chance to get a mental health assessment for your Mum & get her meds sorted. I suspect you will be heavily involved in the plans for her discharge & on going care, so I really think this is your chance to get something done.

Best of luck & hope things go as smoothly as possible.

I don't think anyone would deny that the NHS, most of the time, is a fabulous organisation which we are lucky to have the use of. I'm an avid fan of 24 hrs in A&E and am constantly in awe of how they handle things there.

The problem is that there is always a flip side (not just to the NHS, I would imagine every large organisation has this), and when it does go wrong it really does. Reports of bad experiences are the ones that stay in the mind - I had an accident and was dismissed with "it's not broken, take 2 paracetamol & go home", it took a year of constant badgering from me for them to realise that in fact I needed two operations. The delay meant that the operations are only a temporary fix and I will need joint replacement surgery....it sadly colours how I feel about the NHS.

I'm glad your mum's emergency was so well handled, we need to hear more of these to try and balance out the negative.

Hope you're OK OP. Finding anyone in as much distress as this, let alone it being your DM is horrible.

I'm so glad they were brilliant. for your DM and a for you.

Oh brilliant lovely story and nice to see the positives of which I am sure there are many every day that go unreported!

Do hope your mum is full of fettle soon.

Good old NHS! My DH had a mini-stroke last October and they were absolutely brilliant then too.

Just a little thing, if you want to say thank you to the paramedics don't assume the message gets through if you email the hospital, I've lost count of the times the thank you letters on the notice board in A&E are addressed to the staff of A&E and the paramedics but the paramedics never get a copy (not blaming anyone for this it's just the way it is). I know we don't do the job to get thank you letters but we LOVE getting them and we can put a copy in our portfolios which have to be submitted if we want a new job.
Hope your Mum continues on the right track.