Thanks to the NHS I’m still here!

SJ Leatherdale, Partner, Healthcare and Life Sciences, works with NHS clients every day. When a serious heart problem put her life at risk, the NHS showed its brilliance in emergency situations.

In my job, I’m privileged to meet brilliant people all the time. Problem solvers, strategic heavyweights, deliverers of change. Some work in the NHS. Others in independent healthcare, life sciences and associated fields. I see talent aplenty.

Despite the numerous, well-documented challenges it faces, the NHS for me is a national treasure. But when you find yourself caught up in an emergency, that’s when you truly see the organisation in a wonderful light. That’s when you get to experience outstanding, well-coordinated clinical care delivered at speed.

This is what happened to me. In April 2023, I underwent a planned procedure in the independent space of healthcare, i.e. privately. Although the procedure was absolutely successful, I was unwell afterwards. Concerns began to snowball as I continued to deteriorate.

Frankly, I was in an awful state. My body was fighting what appeared to be an infection. It was ghastly. I couldn’t keep any food or drink down. My body reacted terribly. I can only deduce I was resisting the medication I was prescribed as there has been no explanation to date for the cause of what followed days later.

Immediately after being discharged, my strength appeared to be building up again. But a few days later, my condition suddenly worsened. To the point where, in late April, I was experiencing continual random episodes of unconsciousness. I was rushed by ambulance, under flashing blue lights, to East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust – ESNEFT. My heart was going into orbit, pumping frantically at an unsustainable and unimaginable number of beats per minute.

It’s interesting what one remembers. There were confusing moments of activity around me. I was taken to an isolated area within the hospital and shocked with a defibrillator, basically to re-set me. The experience was every bit as frightening as it sounds. I can’t even begin to imagine how the loved ones around me felt.

Quickly, I was put on an amiodarone drip designed to treat life-threatening heart rhythm problems. The clinical team at ESNEFT were amazing, providing attentive care and answering my questions. Of course, as someone who works in the sector, I had plenty.

Once my condition stabilised, after what felt like around 24-48 hours, I was given a series of diagnostic tests, including MRI and angiogram. These showed there seemed to be nothing wrong with my heart, apart from the misfiring electrics. However, the clinical team feared that without a permanent solution I would go into cardiac arrest.

The cardiologist sought a second opinion from other heart medics. It was agreed that I needed another procedure. Urgently. An implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) was connected to my heart. In essence, an ICD is a small, battery-powered device put into your chest to monitor and treat abnormal heart rhythms – meaning should my heart start heading north again it will send an electric shock pulling me back to a normal rhythm. Thankfully, since implantation it has sat quietly.

 

I was awake during the procedure. While more than a little surreal, I was pleased with the local sedation approach as I didn’t want another general anaesthetic. I couldn’t feel the device being connected but I was very aware of the cardiologist applying likely his full upper body weight to get the job done: my ICD was fitted behind my chest muscles to disguise its presence, yet another example of the amazing care I received. Precise, thorough and reassuring throughout.

Why share my story now, almost two years on? For a start, it’s Heart Month and we in Odgers are proud to be a British Heart Foundation corporate partner. Earlier this month, I spoke on a panel internally about my ICD experience. Some of my colleagues had no idea of what I’d gone through, which is itself a compliment to how well the NHS went about fixing me up. I was encouraged to share my story more widely and it felt good to talk – trust me, there was a lot of apprehension! I was unsure whether anyone would want to hear my story. Yet people really did.

So, here we are. I survived thanks to the expertise and outstanding care of a great team of NHS clinicians, paramedics, nurses & HCA’s. All too often we see headlines about the enormous budgetary and resourcing challenges facing the NHS. Stories about waiting lists and medical failings. It’s more vital than ever that we acknowledge and celebrate the towering achievements of the NHS and its people. Countless lives saved, daily. Countless conditions improved, again daily. Immeasurable quantities of care. Round the clock. 

I can’t thank the clinicians and everyone on the front line enough. You were there for me during those early hours in the still of night. A time of panic, of fear. Those moments when I was baffled by ‘what on earth happened and am I going to make it?’ You were all wonderful!

Without the NHS and its ability to spring into action, there’s a high chance I would never have been able to write this piece. It deserves all the praise it gets, and more. Much more.

Thank you, ESNEFT. Thank you, NHS.