Table 2.

Data to illustrate ‘ability to recognize changes in clinical condition’

‘He took one look at it, and because it was all covered up, the whole of the foot, I had no way of knowing or seeing that these toes were all red and swollen, because being diabetic there's no feeling at all. Um … so he said, “Oh, I don't like the look of that,”’ Patient 10

‘I wouldn't have noticed it, because I would have just thought I was coughing for the … for the sake of it, sort of thing, you know. It was just one of them days when my cough decided to play up. That's what I would have thought.’ Patient 5

‘My son, because I've still got a son at home, he found me unconscious in the bathroom, thinking that I'd just fallen asleep or I'd fallen out of my wheelchair in the bathroom, so he put me up and put me to bed, that was on the Saturday night. And up until Sunday afternoon nobody could wake me.’ Patient 12

‘Anyway, this night she fell out of bed. So I was ringing the buzzer for the nurse and shouting out, ‘Nurse,’ at the top of my voice, all the hospital must have heard me, but they didn't seem to. Anyway, they come running, ‘What's the matter?’ I said, “Look, she's fallen out of bed.”’ Patient 5

‘Well I thought, oh, I'd best call the ambulance because they told me before I had to. And my doctor said, “If you're not too good and I'm not, you know, or it's late at night, call the ambulance.” She said, “But if it's during the day call me and then I'll … call the, do the ambulance for you and tell them, explain everything.” But she said, “If it's at night call, you know, try and call it yourself,” which I did. Like I did before. And they said, “It's a good job you called us, if you'd left it a bit longer …” you know. So I said, “Well,” I said, “I couldn't,” I said, “I thought I was going to … get bet‐, you know, work it off me.” So one of them said, “Well we all think like that,”’ Patient 14