Regular Asda Ramsgate customer Rose Doyle says pharmacy staff member Claire Twyman may have saved her life by spotting a blood clot on her leg and insisting that she went straight to A&E.
Rose, 75, spent five days in Margate’s QEQM Hospital and, as soon as she was well enough, called in at the store to thank Claire for her quick-thinking actions.
She handed her a thank-you note which read: “Thank you for making me go to A&E. You may have saved my life, so thank you once again I am really grateful.”
Claire, 46, has worked at the store for nine years. She said: “Rose is well known in the store and I used to talk to her a lot when I was on checkouts. She’s a lovely lady and everyone knows her in here.
“I was just happy that I was able to help her and give her that advice, which made a difference. It could have been a lot worse if she’d left it. I’m so glad she’s okay.
“Rose came over to the pharmacy for advice on her leg. I looked down and told her it was really swollen, and then asked to look at her foot. I thought straightaway that it was a thrombosis, a blood clot. Her toes were very white, but I didn’t want to alarm her.
“I said that she really needed to get it checked out straight away and she kept saying ‘It’ll be alright’, but I made her promise me that she would go which, thankfully, she did.
“It was a very severe blood clot and they kept her in for five days while she received treatment.”
Rose, who lives in Ramsgate, said: “I can’t thank Claire enough for recognising what it was. She said that if I didn’t go to A&E myself she would have taken me.
“The hospital gave me medication and injections for the thrombosis. If I hadn’t gone when I did I could have had a stroke or worse.”
The store’s deputy manager Bob Ellender, who nominated Claire for an Asda customer service award, said all the staff were proud of her.
He said: “If Rose hadn’t attended the hospital when she did she could have died. Well done Claire, you are a true superstar.”
Wonderful example of a good pharmacist and someone who actually cares enough to do something for her customer. Well done and you deserve an award rightly so.
Pharmacists are a wealth of knowledge and always have time to answer questions and show empathy. They deserve acknowledgement and praise. Wish I could say the same about Thanet Doctors. Thank you Pharmacists.
What an amazing woman Claire is!! Well done
A thanet gp wouldn’t spot this because they wouldn’t see the patient in the first place as they are mostly on holiday or in a restaurant (receptionist knows this) shhhh
Well they probably would, but the issue is she would have to have SKYPE or suchlike to be able to get an appointment & how many pensioners are au fait with computer technology to any real degree, if they are even online?
Very well done who needs doctor’s when the pharmacist have been open throughout the pandemic helping patients.
I hope this lady gets an award for in- effect saving the lady’s life.
The doctors at QEQM were the ones who actually saved Rose’s life, something they were able to do in a timely manner by the attention of the pharmacist.
Well done to Claire and thankfully Rose took her advice on board. This is what happens when we can’t get hold of our doctors, which is getting increasingly difficult to do, so we are lucky to have people like Claire
Excellent-but wouldn’t you go to A&E or dial 999 rather than ASDA if your leg had swollen up & your foot had changed colour?
Steve I did exactly the same as Rose did I had one back in 1998 and went to pharmacy which was 50 yards along the road as I was just asking for something to take swelling away and cool my leg down to me it was an insects bite pharmacist said please go to hospital I think it’s a blood clot he knew I would go as my sister died of a clot 3 years previously. I was lucky so is Rose a pharmacist is as knowledgeable as Doctors not just your medication as they can ask a doctor to check your medication if they may have put down one that is possible to affect the working of other medicines your on, Claire has done a great service to help Rose I only know to well. People are worried about seeing their doctor as not many appointments or you can’t get through on the phone give your pharmacy a chance if you don’t think it’s serious to go to hospital I’m sure they’ll put your mind at rest and give you the best information they can. We’ll done QEQM for treating and especially Claire for her diagnosis and not making Rose worried about going to the hospital but firmly advising Rose to get it checked out.