Sorry, but that is utter crap.
No stroke victim would ever be admitted to the wrong ward on the NHS. Stroke victims are top priority and the idea that they would be palmed off into the wrong ward is simply a nonsense.
I know this as I am a—the son of a stroke victim and b—a former NHS worker. My father got the best care imaginable, the proper care, and his thankfully was in fact a TIA. I am also been an admin worker for the NHS and dealt with the paperwork for patients. At three hospitals, none of whom strangely ever put a stroke victim in the wrong place.
You are either making the story up or you are passing on a second hand or third hand ‘story’. Sorry to be blunt and rude, sorry if you are offended, but I am tired of hearing supposedly true stories about ‘British friends’ and the NHS.
No stroke victim would ever be admitted to the wrong ward on the NHS. Stroke victims are top priority and the idea that they would be palmed off into the wrong ward is simply a nonsense.
I know this as I am a—the son of a stroke victim and b—a former NHS worker. My father got the best care imaginable, the proper care, and his thankfully was in fact a TIA. I am also been an admin worker for the NHS and dealt with the paperwork for patients. At three hospitals, none of whom strangely ever put a stroke victim in the wrong place.
You are either making the story up or you are passing on a second hand or third hand ‘story’. Sorry to be blunt and rude, sorry if you are offended, but I am tired of hearing supposedly true stories about ‘British friends’ and the NHS.
Sorry, but I am only repeating what my friend said about the treatment her father received. He was admitted to the wrong ward, and subsequently died.
As far as the details go, I find my friend's account plausible. She was my friend--we were both PhD students in the same laboratory. Considering that we are highly trained, and understand medical language, I think the chances of her misunderstanding the situation are fairly low. Furthermore, I can see how overworked medical personnel in an understaffed system can easily make such a mistake. A stroke victim--but he was recovered enough to fly for several hours, probably with a flight transfer or two along the way--and the staff at the receiving end simply did not have the time to read through his entire accompanying medical record where the releasing physician recorded the commentary on the patient's care, supporting the recommendation that the patient be admitted to the critical care ward. So, with their main criterion being the observation that he was well enough to fly, they put him on the general care ward.
If you want to pass that off as a second hand story, so be it. From my point of view, I don't exactly trust the story told by NHS insiders, who have too much vested in keeping the system the way it is. And, since I do have experience working in a hospital, and know that medical mistakes are a huge concern even in an overstaffed, underutilized American hospital--I can only surmise that the situation is FAR worse in the NHS.
"Never" is an impossibility, sir. In fact in a system the size of NHS there it's a statistical certainty that exactly such a thing will happen eventually.