"Disappointing"

What could be improved

My daughter attended the A&E having been referred there by her GP with a request for a scan of head and neck. It was a Monday afternoon around 1600hrs. She was discharged at 2000hrs with co-codamol but had not had a scan.

Obviously clinicians are autonomous in their decision making however the GP was following NICE guidelines on persistent headache (4 days) that had not responded to a pain management regime (2hourly combonation of paracetamol and ibrufen). My daughter gave a history of peripheral sensory changes to her hands and feet including parasthesia. Her muscular tone in neck was high (oxford scale 6).

But, with no blood results and no cranial nerve testing for minimum requirements of CN's I, III, V, VII for raised ICP, she was told ot go home and that she didn't require a scan.

The decision may turn out to be correct but seems like off hand guess work and fingers crossed to me. However, this morning my daughter rang me with slurred speech ..................

Let's hope the clinical standards of the A&E department yesterday were followed to the letter.