"I didn’t feel fully listened to"

Having called NHS 24 for assessment, both members of staff were compassionate and genuinely listened to my concerns. The call handler was polite and professional, and the nurse was very thorough and reassuring throughout, and referred me onto out of hours service.

At Out of Hours, the HCSW I saw was kind and attentive — they noticed I had a fever during my observations but despite this, their calm, reassuring manner really helped put me at ease.

However, my experience with another member of staff felt more challenging. From my perspective, I didn’t feel fully listened to, and the assessment seemed quite brief. I presented with a fever, cough, and difficulty breathing, and I had recently had a wheeze that my inhalers hadn’t relieved. It was disappointing to be refused steroid treatment solely because a wheeze wasn’t heard at that particular moment. I understand the possibility of a viral infection, but I felt my symptoms were consistent with a possible chest infection as I get multiple chest infections during the winter period. It was also made clear that because my oxygen levels were normal my concerns weren’t taken as seriously and the member of staff was more focused on the numbers rather than using correct clinical judgement, in my view. I have been advised by the respiratory team that oxygen levels take longer to drop in asthma patients. 

I also felt slightly uncomfortable being questioned about my own inhaler method in a way that came across as dismissive, especially as I am an adult and only weeks away from qualifying as a nurse myself. Overall, it left me feeling that the full picture of how unwell I felt may not have been fully taken into account.

Despite this, I am very grateful for the excellent care provided by other members of staff. Their professionalism, kindness, and compassion made a difficult experience much more manageable.

3 days since attending the OOH service, my own GP has seen me and assessed me. When listening to my chest he heard no entry at all and immediately put me on a nebuliser, confirming that this was a prolonged asthma attack and if the nebuliser provided no relief, I would have to be admitted to hospital. Thankfully the nebuliser did the job and opened up my airways so that he could hear air entry, even if there was also crackles, however this was a scary position to be on put in which could have been avoided had my symptoms been listened to in the first place. At the end of the day, patients know their own bodies better than anyone.