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.

Jovialnickname
Rtft!
Ops dh has pneumonia!
The ambulance was sent by 111.
He had a raging temp and was confused a huge red flag that he was seriously ill.
The Pms attitude was awful and highly unprofessional. If she cant recognise glaringly obvious signs like that then she shouldn't be doing that job. She also falsified records putting ops dh at potential risk.
If op hadnt been there he would have been left alone and confused to deteriorate and possibly worse.

Which part of any of that is not serious or ops fault?

Go through Pals and write a factual account of what happened.

This doesn't mean the paramedic/tech will get sacked. It means they can review what happened and also add it to the bigger picture.

This is a pandemic, the likes of which we haven't dealt with in modern times. Any feedback must be given in order for the services to improve (be the focus on 111 sending exhausted crews to countless colds, or how to support the exhausted crews better so they don't snap under the pressure)

Hope your husband gets better soon x

Ordinarily maybe but these are extraordinary times. I would let it go.

Lulufufu
Ops dh could have died if left without treatment and she should let it go?
Wrong information, a serious, potentially deadly illness missed, bare faced derogatory remarks and disregard for op or her dh are not acceptable at all. 20 years in nursing and never once heard a patient spoken to or treated like that.

Yes, complain. Stress may be an excuse for being short with people but it is not an excuse for the incompetence or deliberate misrecording of writing false information on an official form.

The current climate is exactly why op should complain.
How many other sick, vulnerable patients could this paramedic dismiss in the coming months?

Op if you haven’t already write everything down so it’s fresh in your mind.
Hope your DH feels better soon.

Complain. Substandard care, incorrect vital information, failed to recognise you DH was very ill. I would also like to know how she/Dr were able to confirm not COVID-19 at the time.
DH is lucky to have had you there. Stressed or not, end of her tether or not, stretched or not, the call out was appalling.

JovialNickname did you not read the OP? Her DH had a fever and was confused, 111 sent an ambulance (rightly). Struggling to see what part of that is a 'piss take'as you delightfully describe it. Many people die from pneumonia - my mother did, and a friend came very close. As for the blue lights, how do you know they used them?

As every person who has identified themselves on this thread as an HCP says, this failure of care does need feeding back. It's a way of improving care for others and flagging the need for additional training for the paramedic involved.

Don't ignore it. Take it to PALS

www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/nhs-services-and-treatments/what-is-pals-patient-advice-and-liaison-service/

At the very least it will help work through the series of events that led to a paramedic acting in that manner - to be honest, apart from missing your DHs condition, the misinformation about allergies etc is probably the most perturbing.

Get on to them now, don't leave it or think there is no point. There is... and it needs addressing as soon as possible!

Nurse here, you need to raise this.
When you go to diagnose symptoms the first thing you think is what could this be? That gives you a list of things that might be the cause of the symptoms. Then you do what you can to whittle that list down - history, tests, examination, all that kind of stuff. Hopefully you should be left with one diagnosis to treat. If you can't get down to one, you manage the symptoms, you pick the most serious/ life threatening and you mitigate against those while arranging for further tests to work out what is happening.
Something happened in your case that meant someone who has training and experience in the above couldn't do it when she was with your DH. That needs looked at so that proper support for staff is put in place before it goes horribly wrong.

This is how people wind up dead. Health crisis or not falsifying informs on medical documents is not ok.

Also, as some one up thread said, there's no end in sight. We've got many long, stressful weeks ahead of us and if your complaint helps identify something that stops us accidentally harming our patients right at the very start I, and the rest of the monstrous regiment, will love you forevermore.

Thankyou for all your advice it is very much appreciated. I will be giving feedback, I understand she is under pressure and stretched very thinly. But in my opinion in this situation she should be even more alert and on the ball.

I believe has been tested when he arrived at the hospital, but as said above the doctor seemed confident it isn't pneumonia, time will tell!

We waited for 7 hours for an ambulance yesterday. The tech told me to go to a chiropractor. It turns out I've got suspected menegitis or a brain lesion. My gp was also dismissive but overall, I'm glad I asked to come to a&e.

I would complain that the form had been filled out correctly and mention that the paramedic that turned up wasn't listening and minimising what turned out to be a very serious illness and that maybe they want to ensure they're (staff) being taken care of.

But definitely raise the concerns - if this medic is making silly mistakes like this it might end badly for someone else.

I would report in a low key, factual way as PP have said. The NHS needs to know about theses incidents from a patient safety perspective. You would not necessarily be placing blame on the paramedic - if she is stressed to the extent that she is making incorrect diagnoses then she is not being treated well either and the government should be better supporting the NHS. Brushing these incidents under the carpet does no one any favours.

We are very lucky in this country to have free health care, why is it that instead of feeling grateful for a service we rely on, we feel they owe us the upmost respect while a lot of them work very hard and get abuse.

They are under a lot of pressure trying to do their best for people's health why do they need to massage your ego too because you feel entitled to it because you're a service user and their providing a service which you need.

If it was just the rudeness, I would leave it. False records I would complain about.

Hope your husband is doing okay, @KungFuPandaWorksOut20.

The rudeness is the least of the problems.

False records is mindblowingly stupid and dangerous and absolutely needs following up.

Yes, I would complain. I understand all NHS staff are under a lot of strain atm and I imagine they’re even more frustrated than usual by nuisance time wasters who indeed do just have a cold. But your DH has pneumonia which can be incredibly serious, the paramedic just completely dismissed him without even fully checking him over.

Complain. Your husband has pneumonia, that's a killer in its own right. Medical team were in attendance, they might as well do the job they're paid to do.

Yes, health services are stretched but, if some medical staff think that they are helping by being obnoxious then they're in the wrong job. I've not come across somebody like that before but I wouldn't hesitate to report back.

why is it that instead of feeling grateful for a service we rely on, we feel they owe us the upmost respect while a lot of them work very hard and get abuse.

So by you logic because some people abuse front line medical staff the op should accept that her husband might have died instead of righlty expecting the staff to be professional enough to fill in forms accurately and listen to the patient?

I'd hardly say she felt they owed her or that she needed them to massage her ego ffs she just wanted them to do their job and for her hudband not to die.

West I don't believe I was asking for much, my husband was ill. I contacted 111 they sent an ambulance she had poor manners and wrote down incorrect information about him. The state he was in he wouldn't have gone OOH if it wasn't for me. I could have ended up with a dead husband, because of how she acted.

Let it go , can you imagine how many stupid fuckers with bad colds are calling them right now
Hope
He’s OK
Xx

As a former hcp I would advise you to complain. This level of care is completely unacceptable no matter how pissed off or stressed she was. This could of had serious implications for your husband but luckily it didn't! I hope he's recovering well now.