Table 2.

Categories and original data from the theme ‘From noticing to sanctioning (seeking medical help)’

Category	Data
Carers role in seeking medical help	Interviewer: What made you first go to your doctors two and a half years ago?
	Participant: [My wife] heard me coughing and took me there. (P9)
	… my son he said I’m fed up of this, I’m going to take you to the walk-in centre in [town]. (P16)
	My two daughters were here at the time, had come to help the wife and they saw the state I was in and I was in and out of bed and making a mess all over the place. They came and they took me to hospital. (P7)
Reluctance of participants to follow carer’s advice to seek medical help	I felt poorly, my sons came on the Saturday, and they said, “We should have an ambulance and go down to the hospital.”…[Patient declined]…I must admit I’m pretty strong willed…on Sunday I felt worse and my granddaughter rang…I said, “I'm going to the doctor’s in the morning” but she rang at seven in the night and she said that I was incoherent…they all suddenly descended here and apparently I was slumped in the chair. (P5)