TIA and Minor Stroke
Messages for health professionals
Brian felt that everyone he had come into contact with during his treatment had done a wonderful job
Brian felt that everyone he had come into contact with during his treatment had done a wonderful job
When Roger phoned the surgery asking to see the GP the receptionist didn't offer him a same day appointment and he was left trying to deal with things himself
When Roger phoned the surgery asking to see the GP the receptionist didn't offer him a same day appointment and he was left trying to deal with things himself
I think, try and recognise if someone contacts you what you can do to help and if you’re a receptionist perhaps you can definitely refer to a GP or a boss or whatever, a supervis… superior. But I feel there needs to be more, stroke particularly needs to be taken more seriously probably by the professionals in this, and obviously it would be good if you could have a GP service which was more round the clock, as it used to be, and I understand they may be bringing that back at some stage.
And you also had to initiate those things yourself?
You’ve got to initiate everything. You’ve got to go and see the triage nurse, haven’t you, and say well I’ve got, they say it’s a stroke, and of course they’re very good and they go through the process. But you feel all the time, you’re very much of a number and…
It sounds as though you didn’t feel, you felt a bit abandoned really by your GP practice?
That’s right, yes, certainly, yes, yes, yes abandoned by them.
So I mean going back to, we’re talking about messages to different people, the messages to the health professional would be … to take things seriously it sounds like?
[laughs] yes, yes, get it together. Or get, go for it or something. But get on the job, and yes, take it a bit more. I also think receptionists in particular, are very much, they seem to be there to put people off and to act as a sort of defence, which they sort of are really. But they don’t encourage people to go in. And all the time you’re thinking I want to do this job, I want to go to the GP or the dentist but I’ve got to go through this, these receptionists, and you don’t like… that’s another thing which I don’t want really.
Which makes it more difficult?
Yes, yes, it’s awful yes, yes.
So really as you’re saying when you’re feeling vulnerable and ill…
Yes, and ill.
You really want things to be made easier for you rather than to be?
That’s right. Yes. Because stroke causes, is also cause by stress you don’t want that stress initially to come in because something hasn’t gone well, when you’re not happy with the situation.
Rich wonders why GP's don't give their patients a regular health check or 'MOT' so that risk factors can be picked up and monitored
Rich wonders why GP's don't give their patients a regular health check or 'MOT' so that risk factors can be picked up and monitored
There doesn’t seem, as a run of the mill, they say, go, you’d go and see your doctor or something, there doesn’t appear, and I’m surprised because there’s such a focus on strokes now, you know, in the media, you know, you’ve got this, this new thing FAST that they put out. The, if you go to the doctor and you’ve not been there for a while, I’m surprised the doctor isn’t kind of prompted, “Oh, when did you last have your blood pressure? Have you had your cholesterol checked?” Because I believe those are two of the, the factors for strokes.
Gilly feels it's important that health professionals are clear about things, and that they treat patients with respect and kindness
Gilly feels it's important that health professionals are clear about things, and that they treat patients with respect and kindness
If something happens to our brains or even if we’re just upset and end up in A&E surely we’re not going to process communication clearly so possibly things need to be said very simply and possibly in writing or on a card as well. And I think, I just think that would have been really helpful, for me to have something in my hands to take away. I know people who’ve had TIAs who’ve been given numbers of Stroke Association or Different Strokes or something like that and nothing, nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing, not even a leaflet saying we think you may have had a TIA, please come back if you have a headache. Nothing.
Yvonne was told she had a small area of brain damage 'as if it were a very minor thing'
Yvonne was told she had a small area of brain damage 'as if it were a very minor thing'
It felt as if he was almost dismissive as if it was a very minor thing and, you know, kind of, “I don’t know why you’re really bothering us with it.” It felt, and I said to my husband afterwards, I said, “That’s actually quite a major thing in my life now, you know, going with everything else that’s happened over the last, you know, 18 months,” I said, “and to tell me as if he telling me as if I had a, a cold…” I mean, obviously he comes across it all the time and he comes across far more serious cases, and I understand that, but I just feel that he could have been a little bit more subtle in the way that he told me.
Clare says consultants need to show empathy and sensitivity when they give patients a diagnosis
Clare says consultants need to show empathy and sensitivity when they give patients a diagnosis
Jennifer found it upsetting when she was admitted to a geriatric ward after her TIA and her message to health professionals is to think what you'd want if it was your own family
Jennifer found it upsetting when she was admitted to a geriatric ward after her TIA and her message to health professionals is to think what you'd want if it was your own family
The health professionals should think would they like their mother, their father, their sister, their brother treated in this manner.
Brian says health professionals shouldn't assume that a stroke or TIA is an inevitable part of ageing
Brian says health professionals shouldn't assume that a stroke or TIA is an inevitable part of ageing
I think they will have to get out of the way of thinking, “Well, he was 84,” you know, “You must expect these sorts of things.” I don’t think you should treat it that way. You should wonder exactly what caused it. I don’t know what caused it. But I don’t think it was my age.
Michelle says health professionals need to look at the symptoms, not the person's age
Michelle says health professionals need to look at the symptoms, not the person's age
(See also ‘Communication with health professionals’.)
Last reviewed June 2017.
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