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Heart attack and response

Posted By tripitakachris

"Heart attack and response"

About: City Hospital / Accident and emergency West Midlands Ambulance Service University NHS Foundation Trust / Emergency ambulance

(as the patient),

My wife was compelled to call emergency services as we felt I was having a heart attack. The first responder confirmed this.

We live of a boat and when the ambulance arrived we had 3 people from the ambulance service plus my wife and I with two excited dogs on the boat! The ambulance service team were nothing but superb! An interesting extraction from the boat enabled me to be rushed to City hospital and straight in to the cardiac suite. The care and attention I received there was nothing short of amazing.

Within 90 minutes of dialling 999 I was on the cardiac ward having had PCI and a stent fitted. The ward staff were amazing, caring and concerned at all times. I feel that in this age of complaint it is essential that amazing service from all levels of staff should be recognised and applauded. I wish to make my appreciation very clear. Simply the best.

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Responses

Response from City Hospital 8 years ago
City Hospital

Submitted on 31/03/2016 at 10:48
Published on nhs.uk on 01/04/2016 at 02:30

Thank you for sharing your story and your appreciation for the staff at City Hospital. Last August we centralised our emergency cardiac services with two new cath labs at City Hospital. I am very pleased to hear about your experience that demonstrates the benefits of being able to offer fast, specialist with the latest equipment to patients with urgent heart problems. I wish you all the best in your recovery, Toby Lewis, Chief Executive

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Response from Regional Head of Patient Experience, West Midlands Ambulance Service 7 years ago
West Midlands Ambulance Service

Submitted on 10/05/2016 at 09:35
Published on Care Opinion at 11:16

Dear tripitakachris,

Thank you for sharing your feedback and I hope you are making a good recovery, where possible we try to share feedback with our staff. If you would like me to share your feedback with the attending ambulance crew, I would be grateful if you would consider contacting the Patient Experience Team at email pals@wmas.nhs.uk or telephone number 01384 26366.

kindest regards

Marie

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Update posted by tripitakachris (the patient)

I would like you to pass on our kindest regards and thanks to your team members who attended my 999 call recently. The First Responder was there in a matter of minutes, with the ambulance crew close behind. All three were confronted by an unusual situation, (we live on a narrowboat) and were quick to sum up the problems our living accommodation presented them.

When I designed the boat I created a double door entrance the correct size for an ambulance Service stretcher. However, I didn't take into account my considerable increase in body weight over the years nor the steep steps leading up to the deck or even the gang plank onto the shore. I opted to walk off the boat under my own steam as being the best option from a very limited other options! One would have involved lifting me out through an escape hatch in the roof. I didn't even mention this to the team, see comment about my weight!!!

Because of fairly loose made up ground I advised the team that bringing the ambulance across our grass area would have left the ambulance stranded, sunken up to the axles in the soft earth. Instead the First Responders car was used to ferry me across the grass to the waiting ambulance. Throughout all of this excitement the whole WMAS crew were amazing, making sure my wife was informed of everything happening and doing it in a comfortable and very often, a humorous fashion. Something we both appreciated.

The service,humanity and downright amazing comfort offered to both of us was nothing less than astounding. I do not suffer fools lightly nor do I hand out praise at the drop of a hat. This first class service went way beyond our expectations and past experience both with regard to your very special people and also to the team at City hospital. I reckon I was in the cardiac suite and having things rammed up and into my body before your ambulance even left the premises!

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