‘I was forgotten and let down by health services’
A MADEIRAN man, who nearly died after suffering a brain aneurysm, believed he was poorly served by Guernsey’s health services due to his status as a temporary worker and has come forward to make sure it does not happen to anyone else.
Dinarte Capontes, 26, came to Guernsey in 2014 when he took up a job at a hotel. He later changed roles to work for a gardening firm.
He started feeling unwell in May, suffering from bad headaches.
His GP diagnosed sinus problems and prescribed antibiotics and pain relief using co-codamol.
He went back to work after two days off, but the headaches continued and in early June he started vomiting and experienced blurred vision and a lack of balance.
It was a couple of days after these symptoms began that he went to the Emergency Department.
His blood pressure and heart were checked, but he was sent home again with pills and a prescription. There were no scans or X-rays.
His father’s partner, Agata Ozolina, had gone with him.
‘When I bring him to the A&E he had that crazy headache, but he was able to walk normally and the doctor just see him, maybe for five minutes, give him some tablets and that’s it,’ she said.
A day later his speech was slurred so he went back to the surgery, where he saw a different doctor to his previous visit. He was told not to take the pills given to him at the PEH and was prescribed different medication, as well as being examined for possible meningitis.
He was sent home and told to get in touch the next day.
There was no improvement the following morning so the doctor told him to go to the Emergency Department again.
On that occasion, Mr Capontes’ father had to carry him to the car since by now he was paralysed down his left side.
After tests and scans, he was put on a plane to Southampton General Hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery for an aneurysm.
The surgery involved removing a section of his skull which, to preserve it before putting it back, was sewn into his abdomen.
He returned to the island after just over two weeks and was seen by a doctor from the Medical Specialist Group.
However, after seeing Mr Capontes twice, the doctor, who had been in the island on a six-month contract, left and Mr Capontes said it seemed that he was forgotten.
Medics in Southampton told him that he could have his skull bone replaced in eight weeks and he expected this to be organised by someone at the MSG.
But it was only after a friend got involved who took up his case and wrote to the MSG and HSC that Mr Capontes’ trip back to Southampton was arranged – some four months after the original operation.
Over this period it was not just Mr Capontes’ physical health that was suffering and he ended up on anti-depressants.
He said if he had not been able to move in with his father and Ms Ozolina he did not know how he would have survived and he wondered how anyone living alone in a flat would cope if they found themselves in a similar situation.
Ms Ozolina said she believed that Mr Capontes was ‘lost in translation’ due to his being a temporary worker and his nationality.
He said he had come forward to highlight his experience in the hope it would help others.
‘It’s not going to help me but in the future if somebody had the same problem, it could help that person.’
HSC and MSG respond to the claims
NEITHER Health & Social Care nor the Medical Specialist Group would comment directly on Mr Capontes’ case, but an HSC spokeswoman said it was extremely disappointed to hear that someone was unhappy with the treatment or services they had received.
‘However, the suggestion that HSC is discriminatory and a patient felt “fobbed off” because they weren’t local is surprising to hear bearing in mind the significant number of staff working at the hospital who are not local and for whom English is not their first language,’ she said.
‘As always, we would encourage anyone who is unhappy with the treatment they have received to contact the customer care team via the hospital switchboard, tel. 01481 220000, or by email, customercarehsc@gov.gg.’
MSG chief executive Jon Buckland said it wished Mr Capontes all the best for his recovery.
‘While we can’t comment directly on his case, we can confirm that we will always seek to provide the best possible care and experience for all Bailiwick patients regardless of their nationality or residential status.
‘The needs of our patients come first, always.’
