A day out!

Since Mum was no better this morning, I tried to arrange for her to be assessed. If I could have transported her myself, we could have gone to Urgent Care.

Instead I had to call 111. This is quite an experience. There is a lot to listen to before you press 1 or 2 on your phone. It must be hard to follow if you are anxious or confused at all.

I spoke to a helpful young man. He had to ask loads of irrelevant questions. My favourite is whether the skin on the patient’s chest is hot. Last time I did this, I was rescuing an injured walker and stripping off the walking gear did not seem appropriate.

I lied my way through, politely. He made the correct decision; to send a crew to transport Mum to hospital.

A nurse rang back later and upgraded us to urgent. This was the wrong decision because it resulted in a paramedic arriving in a car.

He was lovely - and funnily enough remembered me from the walking incident I mentioned - but it took over 30 minutes for him to persuade someone that we needed an ambulance.

Later, the ambulance came, with more lovely people. They were brilliant with Mum.

We went to Hexham Urgent Care. Hooray. That was far enough.

After assessment, she was x-rayed. No fractures were seen.

We still don’t know the cause if the pain, but we do know there is no bony damage.

The crew to bring us home consisted of two young lasses from Gateshead, employed by St John’s Ambulance. They were so cheery, but also efficient.

We are back home and hoping that the pain will disappear.

Not much else to report!