Last week I had been suffering from severe vomiting and diarrhoea for over 18 hours and was very poorly with dehydration. By 8pm one evening I was so weak I was struggling to sit up in bed, I had not kept any fluids down for 18 hours and was getting muscle cramps and pins and needles due to the dehydration. I had abdominal and some chest pain and was very lethargic and cold to the touch. My husband decided to call an ambulance as he felt I was deteriorating rapidly and needed urgent medical attention that could not wait for a GP home visit which nhs24 told us could take hours.
When the ambulance service came they assessed me quickly and also discovered I had a fast heart rate and a high temperature. They were very quick to decide this was just gastroenteritis and said that they shouldn't really be taking me into a hospital environment because it is contagious. As much as I appreciate the risk of spreading infection in a hospital environment i was clearly past the stage of 'self care' at home and i was displaying signs of severe dehydration. They asked me what I wanted them to do and I had to ask them to take me to a+e.
On arrival to a+e I was triaged very quickly and staff started hurrying around. They told me they were concerned about sepsis and commenced treatment for it. My bloods showed severed dehydration, raised infection markers and I required over 2 litres of IV fluids to correct my bloods (I only weigh 54kg).
I was disappointed that the ambulance service did not recognise how unwell I was and did not consider a diagnosis of sepsis despite me showing potential indicators of it.
"Clinical decision making of ambulance service"
About: Scottish Ambulance Service / Emergency Ambulance Scottish Ambulance Service Emergency Ambulance EH12 9EB
Posted by Gemwad (as ),
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