Not a good start to 2012

[CMOTDibbler]

My dad phoned earlier to say that he'd called an ambulance as mum had gone grey and was then slipping in and out of responsiveness (you could eventually get her to respond and then she'd drift off again). All he got was a community first responder who checked her over and said normally they'd get an ambulance to take her to A&E, but no ambulances and a 4 hour wait currently there, so he'd ask the OOH GP to come. Who rang, asked some questions and said there was no point in coming out

This happened 9 months ago, and as today, she eventually came round again. But I feel so worried about them, and so guilty that I don't live close enough to just pop round when this sort of thing happens

Am beyond shocked by response from ambulance service and OOH GP .

What is a community first responder ?

Of course I know nothing of your parents cicumstances ( presume they must live in a remote area ? ) so hard to help .
if this happened 9 months ago ,was the cause discovered ?

Could they visit GP soon and ask for cause to be investigated ?

Try not to feel guilty ,we can't all live close to our parents and your dad obviously knows he can phone you .
Try and encourage them to go to GP .
Good luck .

They'll be at the GP on Tuesday morning anyway, but last time the GP said there was nothing they could look at by the time she'd got over it.
They are both very frail and suffer from a number of things and mum is drugged up to the eyeballs, so it could be that, rather than anything new, but I suspect a mini stroke
OOh in their area is run by a private company, so it seems like they try and avoid seeing anyone if possible

Community first responders are volunteers with first aid training in rural areas where ambulance response times could be too long.

And on Saturday, it happened again. This time dad phoned OOH first, and they came out and organised for mum to be admitted. I arrived at the hospital just before them, and when mum came in she could barely be roused and her respiration rate was very low (about 8 breaths a minute). She very slowly got more awake.
They kept her in overnight and did bloods, spine xray and a head CT, and the CT showed parts of her brain are very atrophied. So finally she will be going into the memory clinic system to get a proper diagnosis and support.

So sorry to hear this CMOT. Hope she is on her way to getting some useful treatment now.

Shes very sleepy again today - dad took her to the GP and she fell asleep in the waiting room and they were wisked straight in and she fell asleep in the surgery too. Lovely GP (not their usual) booked her a home visit for tomorrow once he has rung the neuro professor. He says she is also very anaemic

That is so sad CMOT - I hope that she gets on well with the home visit tomorrow.