Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham
Part of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
June 2018
Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham
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Team’s action saves mum and new baby A mum has praised University Hospitals Birmingham doctors after they saved her life – and that of her baby – when she had a major stroke. Rose Douglas, 26, from Hollywood in Birmingham, was 32 weeks pregnant and eating out with her friend Charlotte when she felt ill. One minute she was chatting away and the next, she was unable to talk or move the right side of her body. At first Rose believed it was a bad migraine but Charlotte realised something was wrong and dialled 999. Rose said: “When the paramedics arrived, they were asking me questions and in my head I was answering them but my mouth wasn’t responding. “When I was in the ambulance, I was hooked up to a drip and I noticed that my right arm wasn’t moving. At that point, I did think that everyone was making a big fuss as surely I was just having a bad migraine. I was worrying about NHS resources being ‘wasted’ on me.” At Heartlands Hospital she was seen by stroke nurse, Pete Carr and stroke consultant, Dr Rajendra Yadava and went for an MRI. Staff outlined the options. Thrombolysis treatment can disperse a clot that is preventing blood from reaching the brain but can put both mum and baby at risk. Rose consented to treatment but the effects didn’t last and she was transferred to Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham for a thrombectomy which involves passing a device through a catheter to remove the clot. Rose was allowed home after nine days and Grace Elizabeth, named after the hospital, was born at 36 weeks. Nearly seven months later Grace is healthy and the long-term effects for Rose include some loss of vision but she is still able to drive and her vision may return. She also has some short-term memory loss, lack of co-ordination and will need to take aspirin for the rest of her life. She said: “I know that we are really lucky to be alive. If it had happened when I was at home, I would have assumed it was a migraine and gone to bed to rest. A delay in treatment would have meant a very different outcome for us both. The teams looking after me were so reassuring. “I’ve also been told that because I am young, some of the blood vessels around my brain were
Building healthier lives news@UHB_June_2018.indd 1
Do you know someone who deserves to be recognised? Celebrating achievement, commitment, ingenuity and determination has been an important part of Trust life for many years. Now it is time to shine a spotlight on those providing excellent care across all of our services on all of our sites, with the new Building Healthier Lives Awards. The award categories will celebrate the exceptional achievements, dedication and compassion of so many who, every day, go ‘above and beyond’ to provide the best care for patients and their families or go that ‘extra mile’ to support colleagues in this aim. Site Finals At each of our hospital sites*, bronze, silver and gold awards will be presented to the judging panel’s top three nominees in each award category. The site finals will be held at each of our four hospitals in November 2018. *Our sites are: Good Hope Hospital, Heartlands Hospital including Birmingham Chest Clinic, Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham and Solihull Hospital including Solihull Community Services.
Rose, her sister Chloe and mum Cheryl. Inset: Rose with her partner Darren, Grace and Amelia
able to bypass the clot, limiting the damage to my brain to the size of a two pence coin. It just goes to show that stroke can affect anyone – I was only 26 when I had mine. I am one of the lucky ones.” Stroke nurse Pete Carr said: “It was one of the scariest and equally most rewarding moments of my very long career. We were able to pull our teams at Heartlands and Queen Elizabeth together very quickly, giving Rose and her baby the best chance.” The procedure was carried out by our neuroradiology team. Dr Don Sims, Consultant Stroke Physician, said: “We would like to emphasise how important Rose’s story is, because it highlights some crucial often unrecognised facts about stroke. Firstly, that it can happen to anyone, at any age, and that
the sooner someone recognises their symptoms as that of stroke, the more that can be done. And also that this new treatment of mechanical thrombectomy, when performed early enough (usually within a few hours), can dramatically reverse the stroke that someone is having to allow them to maintain an independent and healthy life.” Consultant Dr Yadava said: “Rose was an unusual case and as a team, we had to make a difficult decision and balance the risks to Rose and her baby. Quick clinical assessment and intervention is the most important factor in stroke outcomes and indeed it would have been different if she had arrived at the hospital later.” Rose’s story was featured on Channel 4’s One Born Every Minute programme.
Grand Final The gold award winners from each site go forward to the Grand Final to decide the overall Trust-wide winner for each award category. The winner for each category will be presented with the Diamond Award at a glittering ceremony in March 2019. The awards are: ■ Best in Care Clinical Award ■ Supporting Our Services Award ■ Behind the Scenes Award ■ Chief Executive’s Innovation Award ■ Governors’ Volunteer of the Year ■ Team of the Year Award ■ Charity Supporter of the Year Award ■ Colleague of the Year Award ■ Training, Education and Wellbeing Award ■ Chair’s Award ■ Excellence in Patient Care Award ■ Brighter Futures Award ■ Research and Development ■ Building Healthier Lives Award Anyone can nominate a member of staff (or team), charity supporter or a volunteer working anywhere within the Trust. Nominate online or fill in a paper nomination form available from our main reception desks. Visit our awards website for further details: www.buildinghealthierlives. co.uk. Nominations close 31 August 2018.
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