Woman with type 1 diabetes urges 999 call-outs to prioritise diabetes emergencies

[DCUK NewsBot]

A woman with type 1 diabetes who fell into a diabetic coma after waiting for an ambulance has called for urgent changes to the way 999 calls are prioritized. Lynn Hurford, from Gower in South Wales, was "really confused" and breathing "very rapidly", according to her GP, who rang 999 on her behalf last year after it became clear she was very unwell. It took the ambulance two hours to reach Ms Hurford, during which time she fell into a coma due to the onset of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), a dangerous short-term complication that occurs when blood sugar levels rise too high. She reached Morriston Hospital two hours later, where she spent four days in intensive care and a further four days on a ward. Ms Hurford told Wales Online: "Had an ambulance got to me just after the GP's phone call, even within 30 minutes, I would not have gone into a coma. Time was critical." Ms Hurford's GP had told the emergency call operator that the 46-year-old had not taken her medication the day before and could be experiencing DKA. When asked whether Ms Hurford's condition was an immediate threat to her life the GP said "yes". However, the call was categorised as amber which is given a lower priority than red call-outs. Red call-outs are reserved for situations where someone has stopped breathing or their pulse has stopped. At the time, the Welsh Ambulance Service (WAS) did not have an ambulance available and so Ms Hurford had to wait a long time until one was. WAS director of operations Richard Lee said: "I am sorry that Ms Hurford is not satisfied with our initial response to her concerns. Our investigation showed that her call was appropriately categorised but that pressures across the health system led to a delay in our response. "We have apologised to Ms Hurford for the delay and we continue to be in contact with her in order to ensure we successfully resolve her concerns." Ms Hurford has since set up a petition to campaign for life-threatening diabetes emergencies to be handled with greater priority.

Continue reading...

 

[Indy51]

Ms Hurford's GP had told the emergency call operator that the 46-year-old had not taken her medication the day before and could be experiencing DKA

Why hadn't she taken her insulin???

 

[Robinredbreast]

I am pleased the lady in question survived and is out of hospital. But, why didn't she take her insulin ( which is essential) and why didn't she call 999 her self, as she must of contacted her GP, who then dialed 999 himself on her behalf.

 

[Brunneria]

I agree about the insulin comments.

I would also say that if red alerts are for people without a pulse or without breath, then the call was correctly categorised, since she had both a pulse and breath.

Glad she survived though. It must have been a horrible and frightening experience, so i feel for her distress.

 

[azure]

I am pleased the lady in question survived and is out of hospital. But, why didn't she take her insulin ( which is essential) and why didn't she call 999 her self, as she must of contacted her GP, who then dialed 999 himself on her behalf.

I don't know about the insulin, but elsewhere on the internet it says she was feeling very ill and confused and so might have assumed she had a virus rather than recognising she was heading for DKA.

From what I can understand, her campaign is for that area to include diabetes in their assessment of whether a situation is an emergency. It would be interesting to hear more details.

 

[Robinredbreast]

I don't know about the insulin, but elsewhere on the internet it says she was feeling very ill and confused and so might have assumed she had a virus rather than recognising she was heading for DKA.

From what I can understand, her campaign is for that area to include diabetes in their assessment of whether a situation is an emergency. It would be interesting to hear more details.

I just commented on the post from DCUK Newsbot and of course diabetes related incidences should be monitored very closely. It just seems a little odd her gp was involved, when the lady could of rang 111 herself ( or the equivalent) instead of a gp, which is hard enough to get in touch with one, especially straight away ! If the article is incorrect, then that is down to DCUK Newsbot who posted it here.

 

[azure]

Yes, I agree we've only got the basic facts here @Robinredbreast

I was interested enough to,Google but there could have been more info here (I wasn't criticising you - just adding a bit of extra information I found ).

 

[zand]

I don't know about the insulin, but elsewhere on the internet it says she was feeling very ill and confused and so might have assumed she had a virus rather than recognising she was heading for DKA.

From what I can understand, her campaign is for that area to include diabetes in their assessment of whether a situation is an emergency. It would be interesting to hear more details.

Thanks for googling. Now this is altogether more reasonable than what was stated in the OP. Of course diabetes should be included in the assessment, that's a no brainer, but the OP made it sound like the woman was saying that diabetics should be prioritised over other groups, say, asthmatics or people having heart attacks.

Seems we can't even trust our own Newsbot to give us straightforward non-sensationalist stories. No hope for the media as a whole then lol.

 

[paramedic]

As a T1D Paramedic I'm horrified this wasn't recognised as DKA & "RED2" prioritised.