This kind of thing happens more than we admit. Just a poor case of not listening. I would complain, not to get someone in trouble as such, just to let them know the frustration around substandard care. Around 10% of people who are admitted into first world hospitals will have a negative and often harmful event happen to them which has nothing to do with why they have presented. The majority of these events are due to poor communication and human error. The more they know the more they can effect change.
Every doctor should have heard of Addison's disease and they should all be aware of the dangers of an Addisonian crisis.
Impossible to comment on the case above as the details are unclear but as I say, every qualified doctor no matter how junior should be aware of Addison's disease and it's potential consequences.
The problems in A/E are well do***ented...high work load, unattractive career leading to a drift of less capable doctors into A/E, poor communication, lack of availability of senior doctors, over use of triage nurses who lack the skills to assess the less obvious serious cases, failure to employ GPs who could shift a lot of the work load much more efficiently and safely than junior inexperienced A/E doctors, ambulances collecting outside increasing risk due to delayed access to quick assessment, a concentration on meeting waiting targets when prioritising on clinical need should be the order of the day, inadequate numbers of doctors and nurses on shift, over use of agency staff who are expensive, don't know the procedures and are of unknown quality.....
High blood pressure is a major contributing factor, others being family history, smoking, high cholesterol, obesity, inactivity and irregular heart rate usually atrial fibrillation.
Stroke rate is falling but as said a recent study suggests a rise in working age groups.
To be accepted then these results need to be reproduced in further studies.
It's interesting that the main contributing factor ie smoking has dropped considerably in this group.
Possible reasons for an increase would be increased obesity numbers, increased alcohol consumption that can lead to atrial fibrillation, poor diet and better diagnosis that could create the appearance of an increase but actually due to better diagnosis in this particular age group.
It's interesting but it's early days to accept the conclusions as facts until larger studies are done.
The costs to the NHS and to the economy of a rise in this age group would be dramatic.
ulcerative colitis-bowel cancer-ileostomy add sickness/diarrhea/ Addison`s also rapid dehydration these are the things the junior doctor should have picked up on.My wife should have had an injection asap instead of having to wait three hours.
I wont criticize the NHS too much based on one incident as over the years Consultants/Doctors/Nursing Staff/and others have been outstanding. I fully understand the pressures they are under,short staffing etc.
-- Edited by tiger cub on Monday 18th of May 2015 02:24:19 PM
working in both sectors I would have to say that the NHS is the better in terms of patient care. I think often people feel safer or assume they might get a better service in the private sector but I dont think this stands up to the evidence. Ironically the better working conditions are often in the private sector.
Of course , you will get seen quicker if you have private insurance and certainly the more private beds and treatment is paid for by the NHS it will make it look and feel like its a win-win. Ideologically and with much concern for the future I would have to disagree.
ulcerative colitis-bowel cancer-ileostomy add sickness/diarrhea/ Addison`s also rapid dehydration these are the things the junior doctor should have picked up on.My wife should have had an injection asap instead of having to wait three hours.
I wont criticize the NHS too much based on one incident as over the years Consultants/Doctors/Nursing Staff/and others have been outstanding. I fully understand the pressures they are under,short staffing etc.
I don't disagree with any of that cub, urgent treatment is certainly needed for someone at risk of an Addisonian crisis.
Delays in treatment are all too common in emergency medicine due to a variety of factors and it should not be so....missing the window of opportunity can result in catastrophic consequences.
-- Edited by tiger cub on Monday 18th of May 2015 02:24:19 PM
-- Edited by Kempo on Monday 18th of May 2015 08:02:55 PM
I agree Ian, the working conditions are better in private but as a patient I would not have anything major there. If it goes wrong in a surgical sense many private hospitals do not have adequate ICU services and they end up simply ringing an ambulance. As an ex ICU nurse the last thing you want if you are critically ill is an ambulance ride. In the 90's I used to do 'retrievals' from private hospitals to public for ICU in the Sheffield area, not a lot of fun for the patients.
Fully agree with sickly...If you get complications after surgery then you want to be in an NHS hospital as very few private hospitals in this country if any are geared up to deal with serious complications.
Do all private hospitals have a resident doctor now?....Didnt used to be the case but Im not sure now.
