A PENSIONER is demanding answers after his wife suffered a stroke and waited ten hours before being admitted to a specialist ward.
Vivian Bowden says his wife Mary, 65, was "extremely lucky" to pull through, but is furious at how her case was dealt with by paramedics and hospital staff.
He says Mrs Bowden stumbled at her Lane End home at about 9.30pm on April 6, which was Good Friday, and he noticed her eyelids had dropped.
He called 999 and explained what had happened, but there is a dispute as to whether he mentioned the word ‘stroke’.
Mr Bowden, a retired upholsterer, maintains he said "I think my wife has had a stroke", but South Central Ambulance Service said "the call came through as an eye injury".
Mrs Bowden, a retired secretary, was categorised as a ‘non-urgent response’ and paramedics reached her home in Widdenton View within an hour.
When the crew arrived on the scene they telephoned their clinical support desk, who advised they should take the patient to Stoke Mandeville, where there is a specialist eye unit and A&E ward.
When patients arrive at A&E by ambulance they are ‘triaged’, or prioritised, and Mr Bowden said staff again classed his wife’s case as ‘non-urgent’ at about 11.30pm.
This decision is likely to have been affected by the information given by the ambulance crew.
It was then at least two hours until a doctor saw Mrs Bowden, when her husband said it was "immediately recognised" that she had suffered a stroke.
But Mrs Bowden was again classed as a ‘non-urgent’ patient, to be transferred to the Hyper-Acute Stroke Unit at Wycombe Hospital.
This may have been because the four-and-a-half-hour window had passed for the clot-busting thrombolysis drug to be administered.
She was transferred at about 8am, and suffered a second stroke that afternoon when Mr Bowden, 68, was by her side.
He said he alerted staff and a doctor arrived ten minutes later, before effective treatment was given.
But he told the Bucks Free Press: "About two hours later a consultant took me and my son to one side...
"He said that she should have had treatment ideally within one hour, or at least within three hours max, of the first stroke and did not understand why she was not taken to High Wycombe Hospital in the first instance....
"Had the facilities all been at Wycombe the paramedic would have immediately taken her there. We might not have had these problems.....My wife is home now and improving dramatically, but I think she’s extremely lucky."
After looking at the log of the 999 call James Keating-Wilkes, spokesman for South Central Ambulance Service [SCAS], said: "The call came in as an eye injury with her eye stuck in position.
"The call was listened to by the clinical support desk who recorded it from the information provided by the caller as a Catagory C, non-urgent response within one hour.
"When the crew arrived at the scene one of the clinicians on the ground rang the clinical support desk and was advised to take the patient to the eye clinic at Stoke Mandeville.
"The paramedic on the ground did not think she’d had a stroke. We did everything right I think. I imagine it was difficult to diagnose."
SCAS said it would check the call tapes last week, but has yet to send over further information.
Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, which controls Stoke Mandeville and Wycombe Hospitals, said it could not comment on a specific complaint, to protect patient confidentiality.
Spokesman Sarah Hills added: "We understand Mr Bowden has contacted the trust and we are looking into his complaint.
"Patients who arrive at Stoke Mandeville Hospital with signs of a stroke would be urgently transferred to Wycombe Hospital if they are within this four-and-a-half hour window.
"If a patient is seen after the initial four-and-a-half hours, they will be treated with aspirin which helps in preventing a further stroke."
She said it was important that an ambulance is called as quickly as possible so thrombolysis can be given within four-and-a-half hours.
WYCOMBE Hospital would like to stress the importance of seeking urgent medical assistance for anyone displaying the early signs of a possible stroke which can be identified using the FAST test.
FACE - has the face fallen one side?
ARMS - can both arms be raised and held in position?
SPEECH - has the speech become slurred?
TIME - it is vital to seek medical help immediately so call 999.
