Would you make a complaint about these paramedics?

[WatermelonWaveclub]

I went to my GP the other day as I kept fainting when coughing. The GP said my HR was sky high. Then I coughed and fainted in front of the GP. Afterwards I couldn't move my legs properly. She phoned the hospital who said I need an ambulance. The GP got someone to get me in a wheelchair and take me to the nurse's room where I was put on a bed in a cubicle.

Anyway a few minutes later the ambulance crew turn up (3 of them). They did an ECG - ok but tachycardic. I said my legs were feeling ok by then. They did a lying and standing BP and checked I could feel both sides of my face, could hold both arms up, checked pupils etc. So they say they need to take me to hospital. They start heading off and so I follow them on foot. They're all walking ahead of me, chatting away, not one seeing if I'm ok. So consequently we get into the car park - I have a coughing fit and next thing I know I'm waking up on the car park floor.

I can't stop thinking about it. Were they at fault? Should they have used a wheelchair or at least someone walked with me? At the hospital they wouldn't even let me go to my scans etc in a wheelchair, I had to be taken in my bed. So if GP and nurse wouldn't let me walk was it right that the paramedics did?

Exactly!!

I mean there are a lot of judgement calls you make on the moment as a HCP. In view of the fact you had a transient LOC then maybe they could have walked next to you or pushed you, but if time had elapsed and you were fine it's understandable that you walked. Did you injure yourself and come to harm?? If not I think just relax and don't ruminate over it

She doesn't sound so sure of that

There's a huge difference between a complaint highlighting a training issue, and sueing.

I was not fully conscious nor fully aware of my symptoms. I didn't refuse and insist on a wheelchair because having a bleed on my brain at the time, I wasn't really thinking straight.

Oh my fucking god, can people not even read any more?

Op has said she was in a wheelchair at one point in the GP surgery!!!

Ffs. 🤦‍♀️

Op, if you bothered to read her posts, said she got a taxi. Already.

Thank you I will do that. It is hard to piece it all together. It's true that I don't really know exactly what happened when I fell. They could have been on their way over to me or whatever.

I expect some of the nurses may have seen me leave but they weren't to know my condition.

I wasn't fine. It may have been a transient LOC but it was easily predicted that it would happen again if I had to walk to the ambulance.

Yes, I bumped my head. I had a brain bleed & this may have affected it. So is it ok not to relax, then?

No, I clearly remember them holding the door open from the nurses clinic into the nurses waiting room.

Omg here we go again.

They are responsible for safely getting their patient to the ambulance outside. They did not walk with her, despite being told her history of fainting. She fainted and hit her head. They are at fault.

Is it really that hard to follow OP posts?

Sorry I misread! If they definitely knew you were with them and how unwell you were then they either should have either left someone with you if they intended to get a trolley, or asked if you wanted to use the wheelchair.

just to check - you have had a brain bleed (very sorry to hear that). Are the hospital very sure that it wasn’t the bang on the head that caused the bleed?

(from your posts is sounds like you had a heamorragic (bleeding) stroke and that gave you the neurological symptoms the GP noted and so the bleed was not the sort that is caused by head trauma and had happened some time before the band to the head)

if it’s not a stroke or similar that happened before the head injury and the bleed it’s due or is worsened by the head trauma then you should not just complain you should sue, you really really should.

Hoping it’s not the cause that the fall caused the bleed. Even if not for all the posters (some who seem to work for the ambulance service and think GPs can’t tell unwell patients from the well ) this is a patient who has a bleed in her brain and is losing consciousness recurrently from it - pretty darn serious. The GP called the ambulance because of the abnormal neurology so they must have been thinking stroke/bleed was a possibility. Assuming (and this is an assumption) the ambulance team knew the Reason for admission was a possible stroke/bleed they still let the patient walk unaided and unmonitored. They have a patient they are Concerned enough about a -acute brain injury to take them to hospital it they let them walk to the ambulance…:.

Sure, okay.

And, if her fainting and hitting a hard floor caused her brain bleed to worsen, and she died, THEN she could complain. Amirite?

FFS! Does ANYONE have common sense any more or did it get too costly?

Well, I am sure that if you had died, MOST of these posters would let you file a little, itty-bitty complaint.

Or perhaps not. They would probably tell you to be grateful you died and didn't dirty the floor or use the A&E resources. facepalm

I truly admire you, OP. You are reading these asinine replies to you and haven't fainted from laughter. Or shaken your head so hard that your brain bleed begins, again.

And having gone back to your original post it looks like the GP called the hospital to arrange the admission who then advised 999 - was this via the stroke team do you know? If this was the case the ambulance team must have known that you had a suspected stroke or brain injury making it even stranger that they let you walk unaccompanied.

OP, what Trust was it? (Third time asking…..maybe third time lucky and I’ll get an answer)

This poster clearly states it was inevitable that I would faint again but thinks the ambulance crew are completely powerless to do anything about this...despite the wheelchair sitting there in my cubicle. 🤯

YABVUUU when I broke all the bones in both of my legs, I walked to hospital instead of calling an ambulance. You could have done the same to save NHS resources! Did I mention it was 35 miles and part of it was a motorway and there was a mountain at the end?! Anyway you’re massively overreacting and ungrateful, at least an ambulance turned up! My daughter’s ex boyfriend’s best friend’s dog sitter has a hairdresser who lived next door to her brother’s old school teacher and he would have LOVED to have an ambulance turn up. Sadly, he’s still waiting for an ambulance ad it has been 89 days! If you complain, he’ll just end up waiting longe directly due to YOUR complaint / feedback.

Back in the real world, of course YANBU to give constructive feed back or complain. I have done this a few times and started off this “this is not a complaint but I wanted to give feedback on X”. Perhaps they did a risk assessment and misjudged your ability. If so, learning from their mistakes is part and parcel of life. You’re not out for blood or money, you just want them to know this was likely avoidable and you don’t want it to happen to someone else. I hope you’re feeling better and are on your way to feeling more like your usual self. 💐

It is believed to be a stroke, yes. So not caused by the head injury. I don't think the knock to the head can have helped though?!

And yes, it is crazy, the more you think about it.

I know, it's like noone should say anything until someone dies or something. The point of raising issues in advance is to stop people dying.

Or maybe it has...hope the new ambulance crew on their way are better! 😂

You'd think....

I feel many posters here need to sharpen their pencils because they are totally missing the point. smdh

I don't know about that.

No, no, luck. I don't want to give out my location.