As backstory, I had a TIA the month before and the day before this was referred to the ACU by my GP for chest pains. I have poor family history in regard to blood, heart conditions and strokes, too.
I had stroke symptoms at ~11pm. I called 111 as I was unsure of what to do or whether they were genuine stroke symptoms (disoriented, couldn't think properly, eyes couldn't focus properly, left side weakness and pain), and they advised me to go to A&E immediately. They asked if I needed an ambulance or if I had anyone to take me there ASAP. In order to potentially save someone in crisis, I made my own way there so the ambulance would be free for someone else.
Once I got to reception, I was received into A&E quite quickly and seen by nurses within the first 30 minutes where I described my concerns and stroke-like symptoms. At this point the visit was going well, I described my symptoms and the nurses took bloods, blood pressure etc. as usual and all seemed good. I was then told to wait. This wait ended up lasting *8-9 hours* in A&E before being transferred to the ACU and after a further *1-2 hour* wait we finally got to see the doctor. At this point I was incredibly sleep deprived and was struggling to think so my responses to questions were slow and I found critical thinking quite difficult. The doctor I saw told me that it's likely my chest pains were just a pulled muscle or in my head and caused by worrying and never even addressed the stroke symptoms. It felt like they just wanted to get me out of the hospital as soon as possible, standing near the curtains to leave and hurridly going through the few questions me and my mum could think to bring up. Due to my extreme tiredness (since it was now around 9-10am and I had been in hospital since before midnight, requiring frequent calls from nurses for bloods, blood sugar, ECG and blood pressure checks), I found it difficult to protest or express that the A&E visit was for the stroke symptoms and not chest pains and by the time it fully registered that they hadn't addressed these symptoms he was already gone and I was out of the hospital. I feel dismissed and like my potentially serious symptoms have been almost entirely ignored and the resources taken up by my lengthy stay along with the nurse's and my own time wasted. While the nurses and other staff were friendly and helpful, the doctor was not.
"A&E visit regarding stroke symptoms"
About: Stepping Hill Hospital / Emergency Department Stepping Hill Hospital Emergency Department Stockport SK2 7JE
Posted by Skulle33 (as ),
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Update posted by Skulle33 (the patient) 3 years ago