We forget how lucky we are

So my 50 something year old cousin collapsed going through security at the airport yesterday, symptoms of a suspected stroke.
24 hours later he is only just being moved to a stroke unit from A&E, having previously been removed from his bed in A&E and given a chair to sit in as they needed the bed and was only prioritised when he collapsed again.
I, on the other hand, went to A&E on Saturday afternoon for an allergic reaction and was in and out in under two hours…

4 Likes

Oh NO here in France? Your cousin I mean - ça craint :persevere:
Better for you, I hope the reaction has gone.

Its very easy to forget, I think we all get a bit complacent. Hope your cousin is ok (and you of course - epipen?)
I’m not feeling lucky, bloody gas has just run out grrrrr

Very hard to say on that snippet of info but sounds like potentially bad management unless he had completely recovered on arrival at A&E (so diagnosis of TIA made) or there were clear contraindications to “clot busting” drugs he should have been in and out of a CT scanner within an hour.

3 Likes

Yes sorry, posting in great haste - no he is in the UK and I went to Dax!

And he didn’t get a CT scan for hours :frowning: etc etc etc

(I’m fine and leg no longer looks like an extremely large sausage!)

yup, there abouts in my case at Angoulême but the IRM in my case then up to the ward soins intensiv.

The patient version of the national guideline is here

and if you have the patientce for a long read aimed at medical professionals the full fersion of the guidelines is here

The crucial bit is:

and

“ischaemic” stroke is the sort caused by a blocked blood vessel and “alteplase” is the “clot busting” drug.

Yes, MRI is considered gold standard for detecting ischaemic damage (i.e lack of blood flow/oxygen) due to a clot but one might argue that all you really need to know in the acute setting is “is this a bleed” - since treating haemorrhagic strokes with clot dissolving drugs tends to kill people.

Sounds like it might  be worth Cat’s cousin’s family asking the hospital to provide a description of the management timeline compared with the guidelines and explain any discrepancies.

I do hope that you cousin makes a full recovery Cat - 50 is way too young to be having a stroke. I have a vague feeling that haemorrhagic strokes tend to occur in younger patients and ischaemic strokes in older patients but can’t find data to back that up.

1 Like

I still “hear” the noise from the IRM 5 years later! Being confined in such a small space with the racket from the machine going on does nothing for your nerves.
It wasn’t just so much the immediacy of care on the day as such but the follow up which came after. I was then subjected to the roll out of the French Health machine in all its expertise and glory.

3 Likes

I hope you are OK now.
I had to go to Urgence two weeks ago at 11.30pm.
It took four hours, including an hour travel , after being rehydrated, blood and urine tests and a scan.
Unfortunately, the antiobiotics I was given were not up to the job and I had to have a second round of a different one.
I am now well, hooray!
A nurse did say if I came in at 7.00am I would have had to wait for four hours.

5 Likes

Hooray indeed!:hugs:

2 Likes

They should ask for an incident form to be completed and a full investigation by the hospital.

This happened to my father three years ago, after waiting over 4 hours for an ambulance to arrive he was eventually taken to hospital, where they didn’t Clark him in until midnight. He was then left on a bed, no further observations made or CT scan and by the time he was seen by a doctor in the morning he was left paralyzed from the chest down due to a clot in the spinal column!
He died a few months later,again, by negligence at the same hospital. It’s taken three years but we’re on the final part of a negligence claim. It won’t bring my father back but recommendations made at the inquest has ensured those that come into A&E during the night with a suspected bleed can have access to an out of hour scanner.

3 Likes

Depends…. I’ve been trying to get my sick 23-month old daughter seen for 8 days without success. She’s been refusing to eat, terrible cough and vomiting evry night after bedtime, losing weight now.

Waited all day Sunday in over-crowded (no seating space left), overheated waiting room at Pontoise hospital, 70km round trip before leaving without being seen… just were getting so surrounded by even sicker people, Sam feeling unwell too and my back having seized up completely.

Got refused an appointment with another peadiatrician who had space but wouldn’t see her because she’s not an existing patient.

Then went to local hospital and begged at ER there but refused because they said she’s too young and they’re not qualified to look at her.

Drove straight to GPs at beginning of the afternoon but he refused to see her also even for 2 mins, saying he had a full afternoon even though there was only one person waiting. Left in tears.

Finally treating her with a combo of advice from friends in the UK with kids, the pharmacist and a call to my mutuelle hotline doctor (who could not be sure of a diagnosis without examining her if course…)

So frustrating to see her suffering, looking eveywhere for help and being turned away all over the place… it’s ok if you’re an adult but kids doctors appear to be like a needle in a haystack round these parts.

That’s a dangerously inadequate level of care - can mutuelle not at least advise where you could get her seen.

Yep! Pontoise hospital where we’d already waited hours and risked coming home with something much worse than she’s already got

Danielle - Has your own Doctor refused to see your daughter from Day 1 of her illness ??

Having already “waited hours” the best plan probably would have been to hang on until seen, bit off of GP to not see a sick child though - especially as children can go from “a bit peaky” to “seriously ill” very quickly.

Next bookable appointment from last week was 7th November and walk in clinic is same deal as the hospital but starting after 8pm when we’re all knackered, baby should be asleep and its standing room only in a room full of coughing, sneezing people waiting until (we’re told) often 11pm to be seen, cos he’s the only doctor for kilometres around who does evening clinic. But Sam has been too sick to drive safely at night, he’s barely safe to drive during the day. I’m still trying to get over my bout of illness from 3 weeks ago and my husband for 2 weeks. Clearly we would wait it out if Lulu appeared to be in real danger but under those conditions, its impossible to bear. I have 5 herniated discs, 2 completely flat and spinal arthritis. 3 or more hours stood against a wall trying to hold a coughing 15kg baby for all that time is just not possible.

If she hasn’t eaten for 8 days and is losing weight I would be tempted to call an ambulance. They would take you to an appropriate hospital and I can’t imagine they would refuse to treat a child who arrives on blue lights.

4 Likes

Just thinking exactly the same, call 15 or 18

3 Likes

Yes I totally agree

1 Like