Gaywood: Out-of-hours doctor 'refused to see me'
A WOMAN who suffered a bad asthma attack needed intensive care at hospital after an out-of-hours service doctor turned down her request for a home call.
Susan Smith (54), who also suffers from a heart condition, said the doctor told her to take "ten puffs on your inhaler" and declined to visit her as she was not sounding "too chesty".
She said he told her that the inhaler should settle her down and if her asthma flared up again she should get a taxi to Lynn's Queen Elizabeth Hospital as she was "nearer to the hospital than I am".
Mrs Smith, of 9 Somersby Close, Gaywood, did as she was instructed and went to bed. But early the next morning she could barely breathe and arranged a taxi to take her to accident and emergency at the Lynn hospital.
She was quickly put on oxygen and within half-an-hour was being seen by members of the critical care team. "They put needles and drips in my arms and then I was taken to critical care, where there's a nurse to each patient and you are put under constant care," she said.
She was in that unit for a day-and-a-half before being taken to Marham Ward, where she stayed for three days until she was discharged.
Mrs Smith, who still has extensive bruising on both arms where needles and drips were inserted, said the medical staff at the hospital were annoyed that the out-of-hours doctor had told her to take ten puffs on her inhaler instead of checking her personally.
She said: "The hospital have warned me now not to go through the out-of-hours service but instead to dial 999 for an ambulance straight away as it could flare up again."
Her husband Dennis (64), who works for timber firm Travis Perkins at Lynn, said: "It did go through my mind when I saw her in intensive care, 'Am I going to lose her?'."
The couple lost their 27-year-old son Neil to a brain tumour on October 12, 2005, while he was in Addenbrooke's Hospital at Cambridge. He had collapsed while at work at Costcutter's in Columbia Way, North Lynn, in July that year.
When Mrs Smith phoned the out-of-hours service on February 27 and told the doctor they did not have a car, the doctor suggested they get a taxi to take her to the hospital if her condition did not improve.
But Mr Smith pointed out: "This was on a Saturday night and it's almost impossible to get a taxi on a Saturday night in Lynn because they are all booked up by people going to and from the nightclubs."
Mrs Smith, a former midday supervisor at Springwood High School, Gaywood, said: "I was really out of breath that night. The doctor should have come out to see me and then he could have assessed me properly.
"I told him that I had a heart problem as well and was being assessed for that at the hospital every 12 months."
She wants the out-of-hours service doctor to send her a letter of apology for not coming out to her that night."I did everything right and went through the proper channels - and my husband doesn't want to lose me," she said.
East of England Ambulance Service runs the GP out-of-hours service in Norfolk and Waveney between 6.30pm and 8am Monday to Friday and round-the-clock at weekends and public holidays.
Yesterday, a spokesman for the out-of-hours service said: "We endeavour to ensure that patients receive the most appropriate care and we are sorry Mrs Smith felt this was not the case in this instance.
"However it is clearly difficult for us to comment specifically about the claims because of issues surrounding patient confidentiality. We do take complaints about the out-of-hours service seriously and this will be looked into.
"If Mrs Smith were to lodge a complaint to us we would of course carry out a thorough investigation, and respond to her accordingly."
People contacting the out-of-hours service speak to a doctor, a nurse or an emergency care practitioner who assesses them and then does one of the following:
Give them advice over the phone on how to treat themselves at home or to visit a chemist;
Ask them to attend a local primary care centre where, depending on their clinical need, they may be treated by a doctor, a nurse or an emergency care practitioner;
Arrange for them to have a home visit from a mobile doctor, a nurse or an emergency care practitioner.
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Weather for King's Lynn
Sunday 12 February 2012
Today
Light sleet showers
Temperature: -0 C to 4 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Cloudy
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