Glasgow doctor turned patient warns public not to ignore urgent health concerns

Dr Paul Trafford underwent life-saving surgery after being persuaded to go to A&E by his wife Dr Julie Doughty.

An NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde patient has highlighted the crucial need for people to continue accessing the health service as normal to ensure they receive any appropriate urgent care requirements as early as possible.

Paul Trafford (63) is an anaesthetist who works out of Nuffield Hospital in Glasgow. Last week Paul returned home and began to feel unwell, registering abnormally high blood pressure on his home testing kit.

However, not wanting to “burden” the NHS, it was only after persuasion from his wife Julie Doughty, who works as a breast cancer surgeon, that Paul made the decision to go to A&E at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

It was lucky he did. After being checked for COVID-19 symptoms at the door, Paul swiftly received an electrocardiogram (ECG) from the A&E staff at QEUH which revealed a potentially life threatening abnormality in his heart.

Paul was then blue-lighted to the Golden Jubilee where he immediately underwent life-saving surgery to have a stent inserted to widen one of his arteries, which had narrowed.

The whole process from arriving at A&E at 6.30pm to being discharged to the ward was all over in three hours, and potentially saved Paul’s life.

Paul said: “NHSGGC is definitely open for business. I was anxious about placing any additional pressure on the emergency department during this time, but I didn’t quite realise just how well prepared the board is when it comes to urgent treatment for non-COVID-19 patients.

“I was fully ready to go to bed and rest before my wife intervened, and with hindsight I realise how much a bad decision that could have been.