"Very lucky to have had such excellent care"

The following feedback was received by South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust via an online Have Your Say feedback form:

We called 111 as our 3 week old daughter was not well.

The lady who took our call heard her breathing and immediately called an ambulance to us, much to our surprise as we had thought she just had a cold or similar!

The air ambulance ground support vehicle arrived minutes later, followed by a fast response vehicle and finally an ambulance.

We were taken to hospital, where after various tests she was diagnosed with meningitis (GBS) and started on IV antibiotics.

It had been caught very early and although she had a very high fever for a few days, within a week she was back to her normal self, and after 3 weeks in hospital we went home.

She is now 6 months old, very happy, healthy and showing no lasting effects from her illness.

We feel very lucky to have had such excellent care.

If;

- the person who took our call had not called an ambulance

- the first responders had not been concerned and red flagged her to go to hospital

- the paediatric doctor in A and E had not ordered a lumbar puncture & blood test Then the result could have been very different. Even waiting until the next morning could have meant she got a lot more poorly and left her with lasting problems.

So we would like to thank very much the 3 crews that came out to us that night, as well as the person who answered the 111 call. Between them, they probably saved our daughter's life that night, and we cannot express how grateful we are to them.