A slightly worrying discovery on the way A&E departments work

I have a band around my right wrist. It has on it the words 'Medical ALERT! See Medical Identity Card'. In the case of my mobile phone I have a medical card, and it records a couple of important things about me that I believe any medical practitioner should know before treating me. One of these things is an allergy, and if I were to be given medication containing the substance to which I am allergic, the consequences could be unpleasant, to say the least.

+ + +

Viv also has such a band on her wrist, and has a similar card. Not so long ago she had a minor operation, and, a couple of days later had what could be described as a 'funny turn' that we believe was probably related to the stress and/or anaesthesia of the operation. I called an ambulance - she'd also had the AZ Covid jab a couple of weeks earlier and the stories about that and blood clots were among my thoughts - and the ambulance team did a great job of settling her, but agreed that she should be checked at a local hospital.

Viv has a complicated medical history; in the past I've always been able to accompany her to A&E and I believe the teams there have found my presence helpful. This time the ambulance team told me that I would not be able to go with her because of Covid, and suggested I pack a small bag. In went toothpaste and toothbrush and spare clothes: I also made a point of putting in her mobile phone, a small amount of money, and her medical card, which, I told the ambulance team, was in a side zip pocket in the bag where, I thought, the A&E team would find it easily.

A couple of hours later I phoned A&E, spoke to someone I took to be a doctor, and was told that Viv was having a CT scan. 'You do know she has a VP shunt?', I asked, referring to a device Viv has inside her head to, basically, keep her well. He didn't, he told me, but would make a note of it.

A couple of hours later I got a call saying Viv was ok and I could collect her. I arrived at A&E to find her fully dressed, looking well, and chatting away as if nothing had happened. We went home and got some rest - it was a long time since we'd been in a taxi going up the A1 before five in the morning.

+ + +

Later that day I asked Viv about her medical id card. 'Yes', she said, 'the doctor did notice the band on my wrist, and asked me about it'. I puzzled over why the doctor I had spoken to had not been aware of her shunt - I've been told it's quite important that any doctor treating her is aware of it, because magnetic fields (such as in MRI scanners), or sustained pressure on the outside of her head, can cause it to malfunction. She didn't know whether anyone at A&E had looked for her medical card, or read any of the details on it (which also include details of Power of Attorney).

Wondering how key medical information is meant to be made available to doctors in such circumstances in the current climate of social distancing etc., I made an enquiry at the hospital as to whether such cards are checked as part of their initial assessment process, and received what to me was quite a surprising answer:

'Staff members will not look through peoples personal belongings as is against hospital policy unless no patient identification.'

I've since located an old lanyard to use should the situation recur, so that her medical card can be carried and seen without staff having to 'look through peoples personal belongings'. I'd suggest that anyone in a similar position to me make similar plans and arrangements, but I am left with a few rather unexpected thoughts: 

• Many people who are taken to hospital may be confused, whether through shock or illness. How are they, or their carers, to make sure that the hospital team know what might be important information (such as allergies, or, indeed, shunts) if no attempt is made to look for a patient's medical card when it is clear they may have one? 
• What is the point of buying wearing a wrist band saying you have a medical card, and buying that card, if, when you're taken to A&E, no attempt is made to find it?
• The wording on my (and Viv's) wrist band reads, to me, as an instruction to medical staff to read that card. I could take the view that anyone attempting to treat me, who has seen the wrist band but not checked the card or asked in detail about the information that might be on it, does not have my consent to treat me.....
• How many errors might be being made in A&E, especially in the current emergency climate, through adherence to that hospital policy... and how many lives have been impacted as a result?

Oddly, both my osteopath and dentist have noticed my wristband, both asking quite detailed questions about my health as a result  - my dentist wanted to see the card before should she would go ahead with an extraction..