"Huge concerns regarding decision making left in…"

My partner suffers from atrial fibrillation which sadly resulted in a serious stroke on 07/01/24. A large clot on the brain was mostly removed by thrombilectomy. The discharge letter from the hospital on 11/01 and, susbsequent review by the hospital on 18/01, advised that he should be “reviewed by the GP”. On attending the surgery the receptionist looked at the discharge form and told him that a face to face appointment wasn’t specified. She said that it wasn’t an emergency, all GP appointments had been allocated and that the nurse could monitor his BP . He was given an appointment with the nurse on 31/01. He was told he could ring on 01/02 when a new round of GP appointments would be available. I duly did, was informed by the answering service that I was 4th in the queue, only to be told when I was connected, that there were no GP appointments available as they had all been allocated. I explained to the senior receptionist that the cause of J’s stroke was likely the result of untreated AF that the surgery knew about 2 years prior. Her reply “I don’t know why you’re telling this, that’s history” left me staggered. I needed to explain to her the link between AF and stroke and that left untreated he was at risk of a further one. Under pressure he eventually arranged a telephone review on 06/02. At this review the doctor asked my partner to attend a face to face appointment later the same afternoon. After examining him the doctor rang for an ambulance and he was blue lighted to hospital. He was suffering from accelerated AF and was at serious risk of heart failure. He remains as an outpatient under the care of the cardiology department awaiting further procedures.

I’m not medically trained so I’m unqualified to judge if the above situation could have been avoided, but to leave serious decision making in the hands of medically untrained staff is in my view, at best irresponsible, at worst downright dangerous