To put in a complaint against NHS

[Vanillaisboring666]

My beautiful 14 year old dd attended hospital Tuesday last week to have her ACE stoma reversed . It was a simple 20 min procedure that was class's as day case surgery. We arrived at 8am and she went down to theatre at 12pm , arrived back onward at 1pm . At 230 pm she was discharged . She was un comfortable but managed to walk to car . Upon getting in car began to cry saying she was in a bit of pain . I got her home and into bed and gave paracetomol as per hospital instruction. At 4pm she was in agony and sweating. Took her to A&E as day case unit advised on phone they would be closing at 8pm . Anyways 2 hrs in a&e she was sweating , breathing fast and writhing in agony. After 2 hrs a paed doc came and gave oromorph and placed her on paediatric ward. She stayed overnight and was given regular oromorph but she was still In agony . The sister the next morning said it was post op pain and told me to take her home amd have a duvet day and give paracetomol. By this point she could not walk and looked gravely I'll with sweat running down her face. I took her home and once again tucked her up in bed. At 4pm wednesday (day after her stoma reversal ) she was in absolute agony so I called gp and he prescribed oromorp and we gave it her overnight. Thursday mornine she was unable to lift her head and gp advised over the phone i ring an ambulance . Ambulance arrived (after 1.5hrs) and she was once again took to a&e . A gastronsurgeon came immediately and she was then rushed to theatre . I was signing consent forms running along corridor. It was terrifying. Anyways she ended up having a full blown laparotomy after the attempt at doing surgery laparoscopically failed. She has 4 laparoscopically incisions and a huge vertical cut down her tummy from laparotomy and also a cut on right side of tummy from her ace reversal surgery and initial ace surgery. She has been through hell. She was on itu for two days and is now on ward but is still critically ill as having temps and heart rate fast. The surgeon who did the ace reversal was never informed dd was readmitted by the ward and has profusely apologised as he said this should never have happened. He is going to be looking into why he was not told dd was back in hospital with pain 4 hrs after his surgery and why the bloody hell she was discharged in such a terrible state the next day when she was very obviously seriously ill. She is so so so poorly now and is still critically ill amd at risk of sepsis . She will be getting ct scan tomorrow as nothing is bringing down her temps . I am furious she was made to suffer such pain for 48 hrs and has ended up needing full blown laparotomy. If her surgeon had of been informed on the Tuesday he said he could have managed to do surgery laparoscopically. Instead he said her abdomen was so full of puss and poo he had to open her tummy from top to bottom. I am heart broken and not coping well with seeing how much pain she is in. I am strong in front of dd but have to go to toilet amd cry every now and then. We have a huge long road ahead to get her better but I am now starting to realise just how appallingly she has been treat by the ward who initially discharged her. No doctor even examined her before discharge and the sister said it was post op pain amd to have a duvet day and paracetomol ? I can tell the hospital is shitting themselves as they rolling over me and dh now . Even my dds consultant has admitted this should not have happened amd has apologised . He came to see dd twice a day Saturday Sunday despite it being his day off. I pray to god she recovers as docs say she is still critical and may need more surgery amd to go back to picu if her temps don't drop. Sorry it's so long and I hope it makes sense. I'm in bits and can't believe our wonderful nhs could have gotten something so wrong. A routine simple procedure has ended up with 8 hrs of surgery ,paed intensive care for two days,severely in pain child that is bed bound ,catheterised and has no clue just how serious this situation is. Her whole abdomen was filled with puss and poo and her bowel had ruptured . According to ward sister though it was post op pain and all she needed was paracetomol and a duvet day. My dd is so lovely and never complains so I knew something bad was wrong but the sister said she knew best and discharged her ??? AIBU in going to pals ????

This is exactly what pals is for. Real mistakes that must not be allowed to happen again. Please don't feel bad about setting it all out to them. They are there for a reason and it's people who misuse them that should be upset with themselves not people in situations like you are.

If no one reports the bad stuff how can they be expected to prevent it reoccurring?

So sorry your dd is going through this.

You do need to get proper advice on the complaint as this is now a lifelong medical issue.
I get there must have been problems before (I work with 2 children with an ACE) but this operation was to improve her future and it sounds like complications came about from poor policies rather than the reversal.

Totally agree with above advice about keeping a diary about who you spoke to and getting notes etc.

Have you tried sulpadine Max for headache? They work wonders when I have a migraine. Also make sure you keep very well hydrated and get fresh air.

So sorry to hear about your DD.

Yes you must complain. It's likely your daughter's case will be discussed at safety meetings but you should be told what went wrong and steps to ensure this doesn't happen again.

All patients (esp pads) should be seen by a consultant within 24 hours of admission. I'm not sure that happened here.

Post op patients should go back to their original team.

At a minimum the department and trust need to address these and demonstrate to you and the trust that they have a mechanism to stop this happening again.

I wish you all the best.

Ps. "Complaining" is a bad term by the way as it suggests something negative on your behalf. In fact, you should be encouraged to "complain" as part of safety standards, care improvement and to get some answers.

Lawyer up.
1 bloody abdominal x ray was all it needed to show fluid levels and gaseous distension.Of course someone who's competent would have to read said x ray.
Your poor child,and poor you.
I truly hope that she gets through this and her poor little body is not too disfigured,but,and I'm the last person usually to advocate litigation, please get legal advice. This sort of thing should never happen.

I hope she feels much better soon. Take care of yourself.

I hope she is on the mend very soon. That is awful and you and most especially her should never have been treated this way.

I love the NHS but I am also very angry at the just now.

Our situation is nowhere near as serious but my daughter is now facing complex surgery this week to repair a missed elbow dislocation when she fractured forearm near the elbow.
It was visible on the 1st X-ray it seems and the type of injury she had means there was a chance this could have happened.
It was also visible on the X-ray 2 weeks later but was only picked up by the consultant (we had seen 2 different Drs before) after 4 weeks when the cast was removed.
I am grateful that he picked it up by also felt he was not truthful when he explained what happened. He managed to rush us out and send us home as add was I'll so surgery could not be done that day. But he implied it couldn't be seen 2 weeks ago which completely contradicts what we were told today.
So yes we will be contacting PALS in the future.
Our main concern now is getting our daughter through the surgery and recovery and just hope she gets full movement back.

I really hope your daughter starts to improve soon

Ffs, Maras2 'lawyer up'. Don't you think OP has enough to worry about just now? This happened a few days ago and her dd is critically sick. The doctors, at a senior level are investigating and apologising and, more importantly, working their hardest to keep the child alive.

OP, keep hanging in there. Keep drinking water and don't feel guilty if you need a shower, food and sleep. You need to keep strong for a marathon not a sprint.

You have a time frame of three years to consult a lawyer and submit a letter of claim if you choose to do so. At present nobody even knows what the extent of the damage done is. It's long and stressful to take legal action though it sounds likely that the trust would settle out of court. It's still deeply unpleasant.

For now, breathe and get all the help and support you can. Ask questions but leave complaints and legal action until later. Agree with keeping a diary of events. The small details are the things that help sometimes.

Hi Vanilla, So sorry to hear about your daughter and what happened. I have had a lot of bowel surgery myself and a similar op, it may be that she had something called an 'anastomotic leak' which would link with what you are saying about the leakage of poo inside- or a bowel obstruction resulting in a leak, (caused by adhesions or scar tissue from the op) possibly. Yes, it can give a higher risk for further problems but it may be that she is OK, it will take time to tell. I'm not sure what the condition she had the op for, IBD or if the condition may also cause inflammation for example. I don;t think they should have sent her home so soon after, or at least should have told you how to re-admit quickly. I hope you can maybe speak to the surgeons and find out what happened, PALs may be good also.

I also had something similar, a serious things which was not noticed then needed open surgery and left with lots of adhesions, we did a formal complaint which they wrote a very dismissive response too (coin neg solicitor said as was possibly negligent) however when they consulted an expert, they said yes they shouldn't have sent home and possible was negligent, however the outcome would still possibly the same. So, if it is a known complication and would of required a lapatorotomy anyway, it may be not worth pursuing. However a reputable solicitor would help with this.

You don't have to put in a complaint if you want to do this, a reputable clinical negligence solicitor can be found through AVMA. Kind thoughts and hope she gets better and it settled down for her. Some people can get on OK with lots of adhesions, other times they can continue to cause problems, I hope for her it is the former.

Oh i so sorry to hear this, hope your daughter makes a good recovery. Im shocked they did this as day surgery first of all, then when she was in pain the surgeon should have been informed immediately, yes complain for sure.

Paracetamol is rubbish for this kind of pain, they did this to my partner after having irreversible stoma op, ended up on oxy after much pleading with the docs,.

Her ACE was being reversed because she was totally cured of all her bowel issues. She had it done when she was 5 and it improved her life in the most amazing way. The surgeon who did it changed her life for the better . Having it reversed we thought would be the easy bit and her surgeon was also very pleased with his work having done what it was meant to. He is devastated that his reversal has ended up nearly costing her her life. He said out of the 70 ace he has reversed my dd is first to go badly wrong. For that he has apologised and he has also apologised for the atrocious after care . On the one hand it's been a god send because for 9 years she has been pain and embarrasement free but we never expected this to happen . Neither did her consultant. Tomorrow she is looking going for ct scan as she is very poorly and showing all the signs of another leakage into her abdomen. It's so terrifying and we never know what's gunna happen from minute to minute. Thank you for the support. It's truly helping and I'm very grateful xxx

@lovelybath77 the outcome would have meant she would only have needed keyhole surgery to remove a smaller quantity of infection Ie puss and poo if it was detected the night she was re-admitted (4/5 hours after her reversal surgery ) instead of the full blown laparotomy and her whole abdomen being infected then having to go to intensive care. Yes she would have stI'll needed surgery but it would have been far less serious and less trauma to her body .

Oh lord, your poor DD and poor you. Last few days must have been awful, glad she's being looked after properly now and yes, absolutely complain

Oh and I'm in no way wanting to sue hospital or anything like that . I just want the ward sister and doctor who discharged her to be accountable for their poor decision and damn right neglect of care . I am not one of these people that complain or sue so it's all a bit scary for me to be honest xx

Yes complain. This should never have been allowed to happen, if they had properly examined your daughter considering her disproportionate pain they could have picked it up. Instead they dismissed you both and threw pain killers at the problem hoping it would go away. I am a nurse and first to defend the nhs if it's getting a hard time needlessly. It isn't in this case.

Thank you. I was so worried everyone would say I was being silly and should have insisted for a second opinion ? Gosh maybe I should have now I think of that ? I just trusted what the ward sister was saying and it was normal post op pain. I knew in my gut she didn't look right and did mention this to the nurse but again she just said "she needs a duvet day and paracetomol " ??

Yes, I see. I googlled the op after and isn't the same as a stoma reversal (where joined to the rectum) I see now it is a more minor procedure (I wondered when said the time it took). I read on GOSH site most patients are given antibiotics and observed overnight (for the procedure of making the stoma, so would have thought for the reversal as well). I would think the surgeon or consultant would have been in charge of that. But possibly not. Sorry to hear, and yes that was the same with me we didn't sue in the end but wanted them to know they shouldn;t have discharged too soon, it was wrong.

It's not your fault, that happened with me too, they kept saying I 'seem young and healthy' and reassuring us too. It wasn't the case.

This is horrifying, OP. I'm so sorry that your DD and you are having to go through this.

You don't need to decide what to do now, but it's a good idea to make a note of what happened while it's all fresh in your mind.

Was she given antibiotics after her surgery? That used to be routine after this sort of thing, but that practice may have changed.

I'm amazed that they didn't check for infection when they found she had a temp. Even I know that that's a real risk after bowel surgery, and my medical knowledge is largely derived from 30 years of watching Casualty, and having a nurse for a mother.

It seems like there was a lack of communication between the A and E and the surgical team.

I'm so sorry you and your DD are going through this. It sounds terrible.

PALS would be better to contact than Complaints, I'm sure they will be helpful.

No anti bs were given. The reversal ppm is supposed to be a simple straight forward day case surgery. The surgery itself only takes 20 mins to reverse. She was in recovery bay longer than the actual surgery. She returned to the day case unit 1hr after going down to theatre and 1.5hrs later was discharged to go home with a piece of paper with phone number of ward on of I needed any advice . The ward closed at 8pm so no idea where I would have rang if I'd needed to in the middle of the night. Obviously I was back at a&e as she was in agony but they wouldn't have accepted her back anyways as they only a day unit.

The more I think about things the angrier I'm getting. None of it seems real to be honest

My children have had a number of surgerys, day and stay over ones. On every surgery they have been given at least 24 hr open. Access back.to the ward that they were on post op..why the hell wasn't your daughter given that?