Thread by @gllnkk

🧵 1. On Christmas Eve, I experienced first-hand what it feels like to require the urgent help of paramedics and A&E staff when my daughter suddenly collapsed and became unconscious on the kitchen floor!

2. I called 999, and despite my sheer panic, the controller talked me through how to check her breathing and roll her over into the recovery position. As she began to come around, she was sick and couldn’t see anything! Her body was burning up; causing her to become unconscious

3…again. The controller asked me to check her breathing. It was very shallow, and I struggled to find a pulse. He then asked me to locate her allergy Jext pen and inject her! In my panicked state, I couldn’t find it! Within 13 minutes, @SECAmbulance paramedics arrived.

4. My daughter's temperature peaked at 41.5 degrees and was still rising, and her heart rate was above 150 bpm, causing tachycardia. They managed to stabilise her long enough to be transported to the ambulance and taken to our nearest A&E department, 13 miles away in Ashford.

5. Whilst the doctors and nurses began stabilising my daughter. I was shocked to hear they weren’t going to test her for #covid, despite displaying similar symptoms to the infection. The consultant advised the decision to stop testing urgent care patients in A&E was made by the

6..head of the health department, and it was a decision made without consulting the frontline doctors and nurses. Under the new health departments guidelines, only patients who were admitted to a ward are tested for covid.

7. @SteveBarclay & @RishiSunak are covering up the true number of #covid positive infections.
ekhuft.nhs.uk/patients-and-v…

8. Instead, patients are put into special isolation units whilst they test for meningitis and other diseases. I raised these concerns with a young consultant, and after several calls, she managed to obtain a #covid test for my daughter, which was thankfully negative!

9. However, her blood tests confirmed she had been diagnosed with #influenza A,causing her temperature and heart rate to become dangerously high. Her body was struggling to fight the infection and was beginning to shut down. Following a repeated course of antiviral medication,

10..pain relief, and four bags of fluids, were provided over 48 hours, she started to make progress, and her temperature and heart rate began to fall slowly. My daughter is alive today, thanks to the remarkably quick response from the paramedics and the excellent care she

11…received from the nurses and doctors at the William Harvey Hospital. These selfless medical professionals are drowning while trying to manage an A&E department busting at the seams with seriously ill patients, queuing up on trollies in every available space!

12. There is no dignity for patients, and only a hard plastic chair for their relatives to sit on and sleep on overnight. What is abundantly clear is that there were not enough nurses and doctors to cover the huge volume of patients requiring urgent care.

13. And medical resources, including medication for patients to take home with them, were impossible to locate with the hospital pharmacy shut for the double bank holiday! The head of A&E was forced to recall the pharmacist to work on Christmas Day and dispense urgent medication;

14...before my daughter was allowed to be discharged. A huge oversight by NHS management and a dangerous and deliberate attempt by the government to cover up the antibiotic shortages across the country! @NHSKentMedway @NHSEngland @NHSSwaleCCG @DamianGreen

15. The #NHS is in a critical state. We need urgent action to protect patients and the medical staff looking after their care.

16. This crisis cannot be ignored any longer. @SteveBarclay @RishiSunak you must listen to the medical staff, who know what’s happening on the frontlines of our hospitals.

https://twitter.com/dhscgovuk/status/1608488104519663618?s=46&t=VD1-Mh1CgI-4zN2W-73DpQ

17. At some point, this government will finally understand that the public isn’t blaming NHS staff for the strikes. They will hold the @Conservatives responsible at the next #generalelection. In the meantime, countless lives are being unnecessarily lost and demoralised, and

18.. exhausted #NHS staff are at a breaking point both physically and mentally. #NHSStrikes #SaveTheNHS #NHSHeros @NHSMillion