After studying this chapter, you should be able to:

Someone who has been poisoned should always be seen by a doctor as quickly as possible. After you have given first aid the best course of action is to get the patient to hospital without delay. However, if it is likely to take many hours to get to hospital, it may be better to try to get medical help more quickly somewhere else before you make the journey to hospital.

If you can get to a hospital in less than two hours

Take the patient to hospital without delay as soon as you have given first aid.

Do not move an unconscious patient until he or she can breathe without help. Keep an unconscious or drowsy patient in the recovery position.

If you are a long way from a hospital

If there is a health centre or doctor nearby, send the patient there. Treatment given by a doctor outside hospital may be life-saving if the journey to hospital takes a long time. If it is difficult to move the patient, send someone to ask the doctor to come to the patient.

If there is no doctor nearby, telephone a poisons centre. The more you are able to tell the doctor in the poisons centre about how the poisoning happened and about the patient's signs and symptoms, the more help the doctor will be able to give. Before you go to the telephone examine the patient quickly but carefully (see Chapter 7), and look for any medicines, pesticides or other chemical products, plants or animals that might have caused the poisoning (see Chapter 8).

If you think you know what might have caused the poisoning, take it to the telephone if you can, so that you will be able to describe it accurately and read the label on the container. (If poisoning has been caused by an animal, try to catch it and keep it, if you can do this without putting yourself or others at risk. Handle dead animals carefully; they may still be dangerous.)

The doctor will be able to tell you if there is anything more you can do to help the patient before you take him or her to hospital. In some cases the doctor may be able to tell you that the chemical, plant or animal involved is not poisonous, and that the patient does not need to go to hospital.

If you cannot telephone a poisons centre, telephone a hospital.

If you cannot get medical help quickly

Use this book to help you decide what to do next. Make a more thorough examination of the patient (see Chapter 7) and find out more about what happened (see Chapter 8). If you know what substance the patient was exposed to, look in Part 2 for more specific information about what to do.

Chapter 9 describes how to look after the patient until he or she can get to a hospital. In some cases you may be able to prevent serious poisoning by making the patient vomit, or by giving activated charcoal, a laxative, or an antidote.

Taking the patient to hospital

Some poisons centres or hospitals may be able to arrange transport to hospital. If there is no ambulance ask someone with a car, lorry, truck, or cart to take the patient to hospital.

If you have to carry the patient on a stretcher, make sure he or she is as comfortable as possible and cannot fall off. If the sun is very strong, fix a sheet above the stretcher to provide shade and let fresh air pass underneath.

Someone should look after the patient during the journey to hospital. If you cannot go yourself, send someone who knows how to look after the patient.

Send with the patient any chemical products, medicines, pesticides, plants or animals that might have caused the poisoning, and the notes you have made about the patient's condition and about what happened.

What to do after you have read this chapter

Make sure that you know the quickest way to the nearest hospital, and that you can explain it to someone else. Estimate how long it should take to get there.

Make a list of telephone numbers and addresses of places such as the nearest hospital and poisons centre, where you might be able to get help if there is a case of poisoning. Write them in the back of this book.