Paramedic Saves Life of a Mother after Identifying Early Signs of Sepsis
A mother of three has thanked the paramedic who helped to save her life after spotting the signs of sepsis.
Rhian Doyle from Llanfairfechan was celebrating her daughter Afiya’s fifth birthday with her family in February, when she started feeling feverish and experiencing abdominal pain following a recent operation.
The 31-year-old’s symptoms gradually grew worse as the day continued and by nighttime decided to call the GP Out of Hours service, where she was advised by a nurse that she had a possible infection and to dial 9-1-1.
At first she was reluctant, however after being encouraged by her concerned husband Chris she decided to call the Welsh Ambulance Service.
Paramedic Berwyn Jones was first on scene in his rapid response car and found she had a high temperature and a fast pulse rate.
Rhian, who also has two sons Aidan, aged seven, and Christopher, 10, said: “I was just sat there during the party and I couldn’t stand up because I was in so much pain that I couldn’t even watch her blow out her candles.
“I felt sick, hot and dizzy. I still hesitated to call 9-1-1 as I said to my husband that I wanted to go to bed and didn’t want to call an ambulance out because I wasn’t having a heart attack or anything, but he decided to call them and that’s when Berwyn turned up.
“I remember him arriving and telling me that I didn’t look well and he asked me a few questions about what had happened previously with my surgery. Berwyn told me that my temperature was very high and my heart rate was 140.
“He asked me about my pain and I said it was really bad, so he instantly gave me pain relief. The pain came from nowhere, it was uncontrollable and I can’t remember much after that.”
Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening condition, triggered by an infection or injury, which causes the body’s immune system to go into overdrive as it tries to fight an infection.
It can reduce the blood supply to vital organs such as the brain, heart and kidneys and without quick treatment, can lead to multiple organ failure.
By using the NHS Early Warning Score (NEWS) tool which includes a trigger for sepsis, Berwyn was able to identify the symptoms and began administering a pain relieving medication, as well as calling for ambulance backup.
He said: “Initially Rhian was in discomfort and the pain got gradually worse and she was showing signs of sepsis, including a fast pulse rate.
“The NEWS score in itself was enough to have quite a high suspicion of an underlying infection.
“I gave her some pain relief and the crew came to take her in so I wished her all the best and said I hoped everything worked out. The sooner you treat it the less likely it is to damage your organs.”
He was supported by ambulance crew members, who took Rhian by ambulance to Ysbyty Gwynedd.
After being admitted to the Emergency Department on Sunday, February 19, Rhian was taken to the resuscitation area where she was given antibiotics and fluids before having an operation the next morning to deal with the infection.
She spent six days in the hospital and is now back at home with her family recovering.
Rhian has expressed her gratitude to the ambulance team for helping to save her life.
“It came as such a shock. I’d never heard of anything to do with it before I just assumed I was run-down from the operation,” she said.
“The first thing my husband said to me when he came to see me was we need to find the paramedic because he was so fantastic and as soon as he realized there was something wrong he instantly thought, ‘We need to deal with this.’
“It was his manner. He kept his calm, he kept me calm and he kept my husband calm. He sensed I was in pain before I even told him.
“I’m just so grateful for what he did that night as we’ve got three young children.”
Berwyn added: “It’s very rare that we find out what’s happened to patients so to hear there was a positive outcome and knowing that Rhian is on the road to recovery is fantastic news.”
Under the Welsh Ambulance Service’s new Clinical Response Model, which was made permanent in February, a range of Ambulance Quality Indicators have been created to measure the clinical outcomes being delivered for patients like Rhian.
They include the number and percentage of suspected sepsis patients who have had a documented NEWS score, which between October and December 2016 was 122 out of 127 (96.1 per cent) patients across Wales.
Richard Lee, the Welsh Ambulance Service’s Director of Operations, said: “Sepsis is a potentially life threatening condition which can affect people of any age, but sometimes the early symptoms can be difficult to spot.
“That’s why the actions Berwyn and the Out of Hours nurse took in identifying the warning signs and providing a quick intervention for Rhian were vitally important, along with the hard work of our ambulance crew and staff at Ysbyty Gwynedd.”
