Stroke victim told it was ‘just a migraine’

 A paramedic was struck off after he said “what a load of b------s, it’s only a migraine” to a patient who had suffered a stroke, a tribunal heard.

Kristian Williams dismissed the concerns of ambulance colleagues who said the woman was in so much pain she was rocking back and forth and retching, a disciplinary hearing was told.

Despite her complaining of suffering a “thunderclap headache”, he refused to give her painkillers even though she was later discovered to have experienced a bleed on the brain.

Colleagues told a Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service hearing that when Williams arrived on the scene in Feb 2016 he made a string of mistakes, which meant the patient was left in considerable pain until she was taken to hospital.

The ambulance crew member who was first on the scene described telling Williams that she had given the patient pain relief but this had been vomited up.

The ambulance practitioner said she repeatedly asked Williams to give the patient relief, which he did not.

Williams, who joined the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust in 2004, has been struck off for the allegation, along with five other claims of misconduct.