My traumatic experience of the NHS
Discussion
I have only ever had good things to say about my local hospitals, they have served me well via A&E when I have had broken bones etc, and they delivered my little boy.
Last week however I felt let down.
On Tuesday I went home from work early, thinking I had food poisoning. I had stomach pain, fever and was throwing up. This got worse through the night, and at 0300 I rang 111 for advice, as I was doubled over in pain and clearly going downhill. At 0345 I rang again as the promised call from a doctor never came. At 0400 the doctor rang saying they had made an appointment for me at an out of hours GP 10 miles away... In 15 minutes.
Nevertheless the Mrs packed the little one and I in the car and rushed me over there. The GP said he suspected appendicitis, however didn't think I was bad enough to go to A+E, and send me home with a box of codiene.
At 1000 Wednesday I could no longer stand up, so went to A+E. I went straight through (crying with pain at this point) and was seen by a Doctor, who said yes, appendicitis, gave me pain relief, put me in a gown and I was sent to a ward to basically waiting for an operation.
At about 2000 I was informed the op probably wouldn't take place until the next day. By this time I was on 3 drips, fluids, antibiotics and pain relief, as well as being given morphine orally.
At about 0300 I honestly thought I was going to die. The pain was unbelievable, I was screaming and thrashing around begging the night nursing staff for help. Sweat was dripping off me and I couldn't breath. I asked for oxygen to help my breathing but this was refused by the nurse. I asked for stronger pain relief, to which the reply was that the Doctor just putting a cannula in another patient but would come afterwards. I don't know how long it took for her to come, but certainly longer than it takes to walk from one side of the hospital to the other. The doctor came, took a quick look at me and walked off. I then passed out.
At 0600 Thursday I woke up to the nurse from earlier changing my fluid bags and asked what happened, thinking the doctor had given me an injection of something to sort me out, but she said she didn't know. There was no reference in my notes to the events of the preceding night either.
I'm not sure about the rest of Thursday morning as they must have upped my drugs, but I had the op later where they removed my appendix, which had by then turned to gangrene.
I appreciate that other operations will have taken priority over me, as they should, but surely plans should be in place for action to be taken should my condition significantly deteriorate whilst waiting - even if it's just stronger pain relief
My main gripe is that through the day I felt like I was getting the best care in the world, but once the lights went out I felt like I was abandoned, and that the staff in charge of my care were not empowered to make decisions they needed to make.
Just a rant really, but thanks for reading if you have got this far!
Last week however I felt let down.
On Tuesday I went home from work early, thinking I had food poisoning. I had stomach pain, fever and was throwing up. This got worse through the night, and at 0300 I rang 111 for advice, as I was doubled over in pain and clearly going downhill. At 0345 I rang again as the promised call from a doctor never came. At 0400 the doctor rang saying they had made an appointment for me at an out of hours GP 10 miles away... In 15 minutes.
Nevertheless the Mrs packed the little one and I in the car and rushed me over there. The GP said he suspected appendicitis, however didn't think I was bad enough to go to A+E, and send me home with a box of codiene.
At 1000 Wednesday I could no longer stand up, so went to A+E. I went straight through (crying with pain at this point) and was seen by a Doctor, who said yes, appendicitis, gave me pain relief, put me in a gown and I was sent to a ward to basically waiting for an operation.
At about 2000 I was informed the op probably wouldn't take place until the next day. By this time I was on 3 drips, fluids, antibiotics and pain relief, as well as being given morphine orally.
At about 0300 I honestly thought I was going to die. The pain was unbelievable, I was screaming and thrashing around begging the night nursing staff for help. Sweat was dripping off me and I couldn't breath. I asked for oxygen to help my breathing but this was refused by the nurse. I asked for stronger pain relief, to which the reply was that the Doctor just putting a cannula in another patient but would come afterwards. I don't know how long it took for her to come, but certainly longer than it takes to walk from one side of the hospital to the other. The doctor came, took a quick look at me and walked off. I then passed out.
At 0600 Thursday I woke up to the nurse from earlier changing my fluid bags and asked what happened, thinking the doctor had given me an injection of something to sort me out, but she said she didn't know. There was no reference in my notes to the events of the preceding night either.
I'm not sure about the rest of Thursday morning as they must have upped my drugs, but I had the op later where they removed my appendix, which had by then turned to gangrene.
I appreciate that other operations will have taken priority over me, as they should, but surely plans should be in place for action to be taken should my condition significantly deteriorate whilst waiting - even if it's just stronger pain relief
My main gripe is that through the day I felt like I was getting the best care in the world, but once the lights went out I felt like I was abandoned, and that the staff in charge of my care were not empowered to make decisions they needed to make.
Just a rant really, but thanks for reading if you have got this far!
That's quite shocking, are you intending to make a complaint? I would so that procedures, staffing levels etc. are reviewed and lessons learnt. I made a complaint in the past when my O/H's notes didn't accompany her from ward to ward and essential medication wasn't given. As a result, procedures were examined and changes made. Though you won't benefit, others might.
A month ago ,I was at Torquay ,lads wkend ,I fell and what I thought at the time broke my elbow,went to hospital in a taxi despite being pissed was almost passing out in pain ,xrayed ,cat scan on head as I hit that also,they put a cast on told me I'd need an operation and contact my hospital or Dr when I get home ,nurse showed me to phone for taxi and that was it,goodbye,after a totureous night ,my wife came and got me first thing bless her on the road at 5 am,got home to my own a&e ,more X-rays ,dislocated elbow and smashed radial head,cue cocktail of drugs ,entinox and 2 Drs putting my arm back in,that hurt,admitted to ward for radial head replacement op,thank you Cwm Taf NhS ,don't know what region Torbay hospital comes under but I had several calls through day making sure I was ok and if I needed any images sent through,somebody from the night shift must've had a b
king for sending me away with no treatment.
king for sending me away with no treatment.Riley Blue said:
That's quite shocking, are you intending to make a complaint? I would so that procedures, staffing levels etc. are reviewed and lessons learnt. I made a complaint in the past when my O/H's notes didn't accompany her from ward to ward and essential medication wasn't given. As a result, procedures were examined and changes made. Though you won't benefit, others might.
I intend to speak to someone yes, is it PALs you go through? eskidavies said:
A month ago ,I was at Torquay ,lads wkend ,I fell and what I thought at the time broke my elbow,went to hospital in a taxi despite being pissed was almost passing out in pain ,xrayed ,cat scan on head as I hit that also,they put a cast on told me I'd need an operation and contact my hospital or Dr when I get home ,nurse showed me to phone for taxi and that was it,goodbye,after a totureous night ,my wife came and got me first thing bless her on the road at 5 am,got home to my own a&e ,more X-rays ,dislocated elbow and smashed radial head,cue cocktail of drugs ,entinox and 2 Drs putting my arm back in,that hurt,admitted to ward for radial head replacement op,thank you Cwm Taf NhS ,don't know what region Torbay hospital comes under but I had several calls through day making sure I was ok and if I needed any images sent through,somebody from the night shift must've had a bking for sending me away with no treatment.
king for sending me away with no treatment.
Zod said:
eskidavies said:
A month ago ,I was at Torquay ,lads wkend ,I fell and what I thought at the time broke my elbow,went to hospital in a taxi despite being pissed was almost passing out in pain ,xrayed ,cat scan on head as I hit that also,they put a cast on told me I'd need an operation and contact my hospital or Dr when I get home ,nurse showed me to phone for taxi and that was it,goodbye,after a totureous night ,my wife came and got me first thing bless her on the road at 5 am,got home to my own a&e ,more X-rays ,dislocated elbow and smashed radial head,cue cocktail of drugs ,entinox and 2 Drs putting my arm back in,that hurt,admitted to ward for radial head replacement op,thank you Cwm Taf NhS ,don't know what region Torbay hospital comes under but I had several calls through day making sure I was ok and if I needed any images sent through,somebody from the night shift must've had a bking for sending me away with no treatment.
king for sending me away with no treatment.mph1977 said:
Zod said:
eskidavies said:
A month ago ,I was at Torquay ,lads wkend ,I fell and what I thought at the time broke my elbow,went to hospital in a taxi despite being pissed was almost passing out in pain ,xrayed ,cat scan on head as I hit that also,they put a cast on told me I'd need an operation and contact my hospital or Dr when I get home ,nurse showed me to phone for taxi and that was it,goodbye,after a totureous night ,my wife came and got me first thing bless her on the road at 5 am,got home to my own a&e ,more X-rays ,dislocated elbow and smashed radial head,cue cocktail of drugs ,entinox and 2 Drs putting my arm back in,that hurt,admitted to ward for radial head replacement op,thank you Cwm Taf NhS ,don't know what region Torbay hospital comes under but I had several calls through day making sure I was ok and if I needed any images sent through,somebody from the night shift must've had a bking for sending me away with no treatment.
king for sending me away with no treatment.anonymous said:
[redacted]
They had no problem finding us when they wanted to discharge an elderly lady we used to keep an eye on.We clearly said she wasn't to be sent home in her current condition. So they sent her home in an ambulance after leaving a message on our home 'phone - we both work and they had our mobile numbers. When the ambulance driver got to her house and realised nothing had been done to prepare he took her straight back.
We made a formal complaint and got 5 pages of blah blah blah back.
Defcon5 said:
Riley Blue said:
That's quite shocking, are you intending to make a complaint? I would so that procedures, staffing levels etc. are reviewed and lessons learnt. I made a complaint in the past when my O/H's notes didn't accompany her from ward to ward and essential medication wasn't given. As a result, procedures were examined and changes made. Though you won't benefit, others might.
I intend to speak to someone yes, is it PALs you go through? I made a formal complaint via PALS, had a further meeting with the matron a week or so later and was shown a report that was going to the monthly matrons' meeting. After that meeting I received a letter of apology and explanation of what was being done to prevent it happening again. Fortunately O/H didn't suffer but I was seething as she'd had a rough time getting used to changes in medication and for it to be missed, in a hospital, was totally unacceptable.
xjay1337 said:
Reading your story bud, I felt bad for you, probably a horrible sense of dread for you .
I would complain to the head of the hospital and maybe an area manager, as well as your MP?
Go from there. Although I'm not entirely sure what can be done.
That's a tad extreme. Going via PALS will mean the relevant manager will be required to investigate the complaint, find out where the problems are, and demonstrate steps are being taken to prevent similar things happening again. Unfortunately there is no 'undo' button. There is no such thing as an 'area manager' and MPs don't have a bloody clue. There are inhouse systems equipped to deal with complaints already - you just need to know how to access them.I would complain to the head of the hospital and maybe an area manager, as well as your MP?
Go from there. Although I'm not entirely sure what can be done.
zeDuffMan said:
xjay1337 said:
Reading your story bud, I felt bad for you, probably a horrible sense of dread for you .
I would complain to the head of the hospital and maybe an area manager, as well as your MP?
Go from there. Although I'm not entirely sure what can be done.
That's a tad extreme. Going via PALS will mean the relevant manager will be required to investigate the complaint, find out where the problems are, and demonstrate steps are being taken to prevent similar things happening again. Unfortunately there is no 'undo' button. There is no such thing as an 'area manager' and MPs don't have a bloody clue. There are inhouse systems equipped to deal with complaints already - you just need to know how to access them.I would complain to the head of the hospital and maybe an area manager, as well as your MP?
Go from there. Although I'm not entirely sure what can be done.
xjay1337 said:
Not quite, I just assumed that there were bosses of local hospitals but if there were multiple hospitals within a county that they may have the same managers
there are soem trusts who are spread across a number of counties, there are some trusts who operate a number of hospitals but there is no higher 'management' than the trust in that sense , just the commissioners and the strategic stuff that NHS england and HEE now does Gassing Station | Health Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff