Make a formal complaint about an ambulance medic?

[KungFuPandaWorksOut20]

I want to say I understand with corona virus ambulance and NHS are stretched, that's why I'm asking for opinions.

Phoned 111 last night, my husband hasn't been well for nearly a week. But last night he wasn't himself. His temp was raging, and he was in a state of confusion. I went through his symptoms, they kept coming back to COVID-19, I explained he's not showing any of them but still answered their checklist.

They send an ambulance, which arrives within an hour. The woman enters wearing protective equipment, and straight away I found her quite rude. She greeted my husband with are you the one who is supposedly ill? She's asking him questions and not get much sense from him. She radio's someone and says I don't think it's COVID-19, more like a person with a cold feeling sorry for themselves.

I explained I never once rang it through as the corona virus, I was massively concerned about his temp he was struggling to manage and his confusion.

She exits and says she needs to phone someone. 10 minutes later she knocks on passes me paperwork and says he needs to go to an OOH and it isn't corona virus.

I read over the paperwork and honestly it is filled with so much rubbish it's like it's someone else's form. For instance she's put down allergies he doesn't have. Wrote down he refused too speak with them, the only reason they've revered him to an OOH because he insisted. (He refused to speak with them, yet insisted he gets referred )

The OOH doctor was a bit arsey when we first arrived, because it was clear the lady had made out like he was there over nothing.

Long story cut short, turns out he has pneumonia (nothing covid related) hence the reason for the delirium and temp. Once the doctor realised something was wrong she was absolutely amazing!

I get the ambulance service is extremley stretched given the current state of affairs, but WIBU in reporting the medic? I just feel massively let down on my husband's behalf.

Please just leave it. I don’t think any of us (who don’t work in healthcare) know the pressure they are under and the risks they are taking as part of their job in these unprecedented times.

@Shockers

Perfect. I agree 100%. Its not even always up to the complainant to decide what constitutes a 'formal complaint ' and what is considered as 'raising a concern' or 'negative feedback'.

YANBU. I wouldn’t complain, as such, but I would write and give honest feedback.

Also, I have absolutely no idea how the doctor knows your husband - who has classic COVID-19 symptoms - doesn't have the virus. Honestly, that’s appalling. I’d be really unhappy about that too! That’s appalling care and by going to OOH, many vulnerable people could have been put at risk. Not your fault, I know.

I wish your husband better.

Raise concerns. That is appalling and she needs to know that because of her attitude she left someone very unwell and dismissed a serious illness as a cold. She screwed up, and she was unkind. The stress is only going to get worse, and there's only going to be more people with pneumonia for her to dismiss. One of them might die.

I would complain, I couldn’t care how much pressure she is under, she chose this job and being polite And compassionate is all part and parcel of working with the public.

As you say she could be dealing with someone who didn’t have anyone there to support them.
Not very professional.

I'm a healthcare professional and I think you should complain. Her approach was wrong, to speak to your husband in that way, like you say what if its another patient with no advocate to speak up for them. She may well be stressed to the hilt but that is even more of reason to flag it to her superiors. She completed paperwork incorrectly, which could have lead to serious error for the patient and she was rude and abrupt. As pp said how would she know it wasnt covid without doing the tests. We put up with a lot in the NHS but no patient deserves be spoken to rudely especially as he did have serious illness.

Please just leave it. I don’t think any of us (who don’t work in healthcare) know the pressure they are under and the risks they are taking as part of their job in these unprecedented times.

They're looking after vulnerable, sick people.

Being under pressure doesn't give them the right to treat them like that I'm afraid.

They got several things wrong that could have had far reaching consequences for thier patient. The fact that they are busy is no excuse.

Wrong allergies and ignoring real allergies could have been life threatening ffs!

Surely to god an experienced para med should know when a patient is confused and unresponsive due to illness and a high fever and not make shit up to cover themselves? Her attitude was appaling "suppised to be ill" wtaf? From your description it was patently obvious he was ill.
As you say what if you hadnt been there he would have been left to deteriorate by himself. Its shocking.

I would also complain that the wrong info was passed from the phone call to the parameds. I have had this before betwern nhs 24 and ooh dr. It was ridiculous.

If they arent communicating propetly or taking peoples health seriously if it doesnt concern covid then why bother going out to anyone?

This is how people die.

I think you need to email a factual report so it can be dealt with.

Stress is no excuse for putting wrong information on his records.

I'd complain. My dad was admitted to hospital 18 months ago with pneumonia - he was behaving exactly as you have just described. He had pneumonia and sepsis. His sepsis score was so high they didnt expect him to recover. The doctor told him that if they'd delayed IV antibiotics by just 20 minutes, he'd have died. I get that the situation is shit, especially for front line services. But, I knew before I even got to the end of your post you were going to say he has pneumonia - once you have seen it, it is very recognisable. The paramedic was remiss in her care and it could have ended very differently. Hope your dh gets better soon.

That's not to say your husband didnt deserve the best care but maybe it was just the final straw for that day

What was the last straw, a man with pneumonia?

She sounds rubbish. How she managed to differentiate between the symptoms you describe (bog standard, obv query sepsis symptoms) and CV symptoms (again, mimic the above symptoms to a tee) is beyond me.

So yes, she sounds rubbish. And that’s before the made up allergies. Whether you complain is up to you. I do get the 111 hatred (from her). You truly wouldn’t believe it. It’s reached a whole new level with Covid-19. Everyone is 1 job away from cracking. But you can hate the situation, have no faith in the system, and want to quit (me) without behaving dangerously like she did.

Tricky one.. The NHS are stretched, even more so than usual at the moment, who knows what the medic had gone through before getting to you, and, wrongly, took her frustrations out with your DH, However, would you let someone who, let's say, works in retail, talk and act that way? I would definitely complain if it was a retail worker, bus driver etc The NHS do and are doing a fantastic job, and are stretched to their limit, no excuse to treat a patient this way though

Factual email. Someone could die with that attitude.

I've been a healthcare professional for most of my working life and I'd also complain. Many of us have worked long shifts, had to rush into work in the middle of the night and so on. That's never an excuse for writing down inaccurate medical information or being rude and dismissive.

I think you should complain, the understand the service is very stretched but she wrote statements that were completely untrue. Luckily your DH had you with him, if he was alone by her attitude and paperwork he may not have sought help and she could end up killing someone.

Ps, just for my interest, how are they able to say the pneumonia isn’t COVID related? It’s takes 48 hrs here to get swabs back, and he only went in yesterday. Around here now they only swab people who are admitted to hospital. So how has COVID been ruled out? As pneumonia is a common risk of it?

If she is so stressed that she's snapping at vulnerable, sick people and making serious, possibly life threatening errors, she needs to get herself signed off.

Complain. This can kill someone

If the NHS wasn't under so much pressure I would probably raise a complaint - but at the moment you would be taking away valuable time for them to investigate so I'd leave it. I know it was distressing for you and hubby but he's in the right place now and sounds like the doctor was fine once they realised it was serious. They are probably getting all sorts of panic calls etc at the moment.

If she's rude to you she'll be rude to others. It's worth raising it.

I understand that they are stressed, overworked and extremely underpaid. But - putting incorrect information, especially about allergies could have been fatal. And her attitude - again I get the stressed bit, but if this were someone vulnerable with nobody to advocate for them (a situation a friend of mine with MH problems was in a few weeks ago), they could have reacted very badly to the dismissive attitude, or not home to OOH as they had been made to feel like a time waster, again with potentially fatal results.

I wouldn’t complain but I would give some helpful and factual feedback.

It’s annoying but given things being what they are I wouldn’t omplain.

I've worked with paramedics and some of them are complete arseholes with no empathy for anyone and incredibly judgemental. I have had to complain several times about their attitude to vulnerable people - including my own father who an ambulance pulled over and a paramedic yelled at him about his driving for a good 5 minutes. My father had done nothing wrong as I was in the car with him so no idea what all of that was about. He was left in tears but as the blue lights were on I assume that they were attending an emergency and that delaying to shout at an 80 year old man for no reason could have led to the death of another 80 year old.

I'm frontline health care and no matter what there is no excuse for this behaviour. If you dont raise concerns this culture of I'm frontline health care , I'm stressed font question me will creep in. Shes employed to assess patients correctly and make an informed decision about care needed. Sepsis is a valid concern in cases like your husbands and smart comments like she made plus her errors regarding allergies are actually very serious. Let's not forget all the patient safety reports that seem to have faded away. This sort of behaviour is inexcusable