"Delays due to ambulance booking system"

Dad is being cared for at home by mum and the carers who come in 4 times a day along with the District Nurse team. He took unwell last week due to an infection, my mum called the GP surgery at 8.30am to request a home visit from the GP as dad is housebound. She explained his symptoms and the reason that she felt he needed a GP to see him but was told that the GP would not be out until the afternoon. The District Nurses were due in late morning so the receptionist advised that they would be told.

When they arrived just after 11am, dad’s symptoms were worse and they had not been told, they advised my mum that if they had known they would have come in earlier. The GP arrived around 11.45 and confirmed that it was an infection and prescribed antibiotics. The district nurses told mum that they would pick up the prescription and come back in the afternoon to check up on dad, when they returned they were very concerned about the deterioration in dad and phoned the GP again to advise they felt he needed to come into the hospital.

The GP initially said it would be difficult to get a 2 person ambulance crew before midnight so she suggested leaving him overnight to see how he was in the morning. The District Nurses said no to this and emphasised how unwell dad had become. Dad was admitted into our local community hospital (The Davidson in Girvan) at around 4.30 that afternoon and by 5pm we were told that he had sepsis. If it had not been for the District Nurses, it is unlikely that dad would have made it. Dad remained very unwell and we were told the next day that his kidneys were failing and that he was unlikely to make it.  

The staff at the Davidson Hospital in Girvan provided 1st class care to my dad and to all of us whilst we sat with dad, we cannot thank them enough for the care and compassion that was shown by every member of staff working in the hospital and to the District Nurses and the paramedics who all came in to visit dad, their dedication and compassion brought us a lot of comfort. Dad somehow managed to recover enough to be brought back home which was his wish.

The one thing that was disappointing for us was that the ambulance transfer to bring dad home was booked on Monday morning first thing for Tuesday afternoon, the nursing staff made sure that everything was arranged. We sat waiting with dad all day Tuesday and at 4pm the hospital received a call from the ambulance service to say that the booking had been cancelled due to delays earlier in the day.  The impact that this had on both my mum & dad was awful, we understand that things do happen but I feel that the process needs to be looked at to prevent families being in this position. My dad is very unwell and wanted to home for however long he has, to be surrounded by our family. We were initially told that Thursday was going to be the earliest but thanks to the persistence of the the nursing staff, dad managed to get home earlier.

I want to express my thanks to all staff in the Davidson Hospital who are dedicated to their patients and families, to the District Nurses and the Paramedics, we could not have asked for better care. Please do look at the ambulance booking system though as this is not the first time that we have experienced delays in getting dad home due to the current system.