“UNTIL you have ill health, you won’t realise how broken the system is.”
That’s the message from a Fermanagh patient who, after suffering a suspected stroke, was sent home in the middle of the night without receiving a scan or a test following an 11-hour wait to be seen in the SWAH emergency department.
Two days later the patient collapsed again, requiring another ambulance trip to the hospital, and spent a further 14 hours waiting before finally being treated. They feel the initial delay in being tested and treated has significantly set back their recovery.
The patient was speaking to the Herald in the hope their story may help prevent other patients from suffering the same experience in future.
A number of months back the patient was cooking at home when they took a sharp pain that extended up their neck from their shoulder blade to their head.
“It was like a bolt of lightning,” they said. “I didn’t know what was happening, I couldn’t comprehend it.”
The next thing, they began to feel dizzy and the room started spinning.
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