An elderly East Maitland husband and wife were left feeling like they had overreacted after they were questioned on the phone for 20 minutes when they called triple-0 for an ambulance this week.
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Eighty-year-old Mrs Smith* called an ambulance for her 88-year-old diabetic husband Mr Smith* on Monday evening after he had ignored severe cramps and pain in his left arm all day.
Mrs Smith said they thought he was having heart problems.
She told the Mercury that her husband had similar symptoms on October 27 last year and had to be revived after his pulse reached 160 beats per minute as he was being taken to Maitland Hospital.
After he was revived, he was transferred to Maitland Private Hospital where he spent five weeks recovering from a serious infection.
At the time, Mrs Smith said, a nurse and a doctor told the pair to immediately call an ambulance if Mr Smith displayed those symptoms again.
On Monday, the symptoms returned, so Mrs Smith called for help.
While they found out later that Mr Smith was suffering dehydration – not a heart attack – his symptoms and his age had made the couple fear for the worst when the cramps returned.
They called for an ambulance at 6.30pm.
“When I rang the ambulance, they put me through the third degree, then she put me on to a nurse and I talked to her for 15 to 20 minutes on the phone,” Mrs Smith said.
“I told them that this had happened before and that was why I was calling. So she put me on to a trained nurse. She queried me and queried me and queried me.”
They arrived at Maitland Hospital about 7.30pm and blood tests were taken, but the Smiths waited until about 2.30am to see a doctor.
Mr Smith was given magnesium tablets and discharged about 3.30am and hospital staff called a taxi to take the pair home.
Hunter New England Health called on the community this week not to use the Maitland Hospital emergency department as a free GP service.
But Mrs Smith said it was important that patients were taken seriously if they called for help.
She said she was a long-time private health insurance holder who had only ever written letters of thanks and praise to doctors and hospital staff, but she felt her experience needed to be highlighted.
Mrs Smith said the incident would make her think twice before calling an ambulance in future.
“It made me feel terrible,” she said.
“I was just doing what I was told. After having five weeks in hospital, it wasn’t a light thing last time.
“I know he wasn’t having a heart attack now, but you don’t know [at the time].
“If his pulse had have been racing like it was the last time, I’m sure they would have done something, but to leave an 88-year-old and an 80-year-old sitting there all night with no information was disgusting.”
* Smith is not the couple’s real name. They asked to remain anonymous.
