WITH PICS "COMPUTER SAYS FLU!"
A young woman who suffered a kidney infection agony has slammed NHS Direct for "rushing" to diagnose her as a swine flu victim.
Amelia Worral, 24, was told she had swine flu and prescribed Tamiflu only to discover she was actually suffering from a dangerous kidney infection.
Office worker Amelia, of Preston, Lancs, was shivering, vomiting, and running a fever and first rang Preston Royal Infirmary casualty department hoping to get treatment.
Hospital staff immediately suggested she had the symptoms swine flu. She was instructed not to attended the Infirmary and was instructed to ring NHS Direct.
Amelia explained to the NHS Direct operator that she felt extremely ill, but was not sneezing or coughing.
She gave the NHS Direct operator a detailed description of the symptoms and was told "You've got swine flu".
Amelia was told to contact her local doctor for a Tamiflu prescription as soon as possible and took a course of the tablets.
But within an hour of taking the Tamiflu, Amelia felt far worse and was soon repeatedly violently sick and complaining of stomach cramps.
Said Amelia: "I was in agony and I brought-up every last scrap of those Tamiflu tablets. The made me worst, not better and I was starting to get really worried by that stage."
Her boyfriend Stuart then rushed Amelia to an NHS walk-in unit at Euxton, near Chorley, where she was correctly diagnosed with a kidney infection.
She was antibiotics, anti-nausea tablets and painkillers are working and Amelia is now on the road to recovery.
But PR Manager Amelia is appalled at NHS Direct's speedy misdiagnosis and is worried other mistakes could prove fatal.
Angry Amelia says: "They are giving out swine flu prescriptions like sweets.
"Thankfully no real harm has come to me as a result, although vomiting up the Tamiflu was very unpleasant.
"But I could have had appendicitis or meningitis, or any other number of serious illnesses with induce a fever and vomiting.
"Yet the NHS direct helpline appear to be rushing to diagnose swine flu.
"It's certainly what it seemed like to me. I just want to warn people not to jump to the conclusion they have flu.
"While I understand swine flu is a very serious problem, I'm concerned about the haste in which NHS and their computers are diagnosing swine flu.
"I'm worried someone with a potentially fatal illness may be missed and, in the worst case scenario, end up dead as a result."
A spokeswoman for NHS Direct said: "NHS Direct's clinical processes and algorithms are designed to ensure the highest level of safety for our patients.
"They are developed by clinical experts and are regularly reviewed.
"If the patient was advised to speak to their GP then this would have been based on an assessment of the symptoms that were described to our nurse adviser.
"We take all expressions of concern about our service seriously and we will look into this further."
rosie , poole around 2 years, 6 months ago