Should I complain? Hospital related

[MrsPotts18]

Sorry this is long but I'll try to be brief. I'm so confused.

• last Sun became unwell around 5pm with what I thought was gastro bug. Vomiting, spasms etc. Managed until 1.30am when I got a sharp pain in my right hand side and was in agony. Took more painkillers but was worse by 2.30am so went to triage (30weeks pregnant)

• got the by 2.45am and was seen immediately. Bloods done and seen by midwives. Dr eventually came after 2hrs as they were v busy and initially thought gallstones. Got adequate pain relief at this point as was in agony. CTG on baby was great thankfully.

-6am was transferred to antenatal ward. Slept on and off all day and was on morphine, dihydrocodeine and paracetamol at this point. Various bloods ran all day and was suspected gallstones and ?cholestasis. Had ultrasound Monday pm which showed normal gallbladder/liver.

Tuesday Am rounds consultant comes and says she's discharging me. Says the pain on my right side is pulled muscles from being sick and I've had a gastro bug. I'm still being sick at this point but only after very small meals. She says CRP (infection markers) are 168. Anything over 100 would suggest bacterial but she def thinks I've been unlucky with a gastroenteritis infection. Tuesday night I beg to stay as I'm still in horrendous pain and cannot eat at this point. Reg agrees. I ask for antibiotics and was told 'can't find original source of infection so what's the point'. I'm too weak to discuss more.

-Wednesday 1.30am. I wake up in total again. I was sobbing and couldn't breathe. Midwives get SHO who refuses to call consultant. I beg for pain relief or to be knocked out. Pain was only on my right side under ribcage again. They tried for 6hours to get blood from me. 28 attempts later (even from my feet) only 1 was successful. Refused to call anaesthetist or senior dr. 8am and SHO finally decides to call the surgeon.

-Wednesday 9am. Surgeon comes. Spends 5 mins with me and I'm in MRI with surgeon personally doing it by 10am. Was told by 10.45am my appendix has perforated and I have pus pockets everywhere. CRP is now at 268 and I need to go to theatre. Everyone is worried and preparing for c section as told early labour is almost guaranteed. By 1.30pm I'm in theatre. Overhead brief conversation between surgeon and obstetrics and he told them it was basic negligence but I can't be sure of exact conversation

Thursday - in HdU. Finally round from op but GA has aggravated my asthma and I'm really ill. Baby is thankfully amazing and didn't need to do a c section. Staff in HDU are amazing!!!

Today spent all day in HDU due to no bowel sounds but finally got those moving. Kidney function returned to normal. Now back on original antenatal ward.

Had a slight debrief with surgical team (im still a little out of it). Had an open appendectomy and have 24 staples in situ. Op that was meant to be an hour was 3.5 due to complications. My appendix was black and gangrenous and the infection had spread much further. They had to go into my bowel too and repair due to infection.

The surgeons have been amazing. I have never felt so safe since they came on board Wednesday morning. But from Sunday night to that point I feel neglected. Things wouldn't have got this bad if they had run the appropriate blood tests or even called the right team. On the other hand should o just be grateful that I was got to in time and my baby is healthy. It could be so much worse and all I keep hearing is how lucky I am. I'm so emotional tonight hence this post and just need a hand hold I think.

Please continue with a formal complaint(s) and even about the treatment you initially received following your surgery. PLEASE do. You could easily have died from this negligence, and someone with less knowledge of healthcare may well benefit from your complaint. This was appalling.

" Maybe I should have done that sooner."

You shouldn't have had to.

You don't have to be a medical person in any capacity to realise that buzzer/food need to be placed where they can be reached with no effort when someone is struggling to move without pain.

Ask your husband and your mother to inform the nurses that you will be making an official complaint regarding their negligent behaviour towards you. Get them to properly have a go at scaring the nurses stiff

That is the most stupid advice I’ve ever heard. All that will achieve is the staff calling security and banning them from the ward. No one ever wants to look after the family who stamps and shouts and is aggressive. You don’t have to be rude to get answers.

Definitely go to PALS. I cannot believe the wanted to discharge you knowing your CRP was 168. Ask for a PALS leaflet they will have them on the ward or look at the hospital website.

Definitely go to PALS. I cannot believe the wanted to discharge you knowing your CRP was 168.

This! That could have been lethal to both you and your baby.

Facts and time scales will be useful. No banging on the desk. Calmly state the obvious. That’s my advice.

Have just finishing reading the whole thread. Honestly, abdo pain, vomiting and a raised CRP should have been treated as suspected appendicitis (I’ve been admitted 4 times with similar symptoms and they’ve assumed appendix until it was clear it wasn’t). The fact that it reached the point where you had perforated and were septic is shocking. This was life threatening.

I’m glad that your baby is still well It sounds like you have been assertive more recently, that’s great. I would document and photograph everything you can for now. You should make a complaint but it doesn’t have to be now. It could be after you’ve been discharged or even after you’ve had the baby. I would expect an apology but also complaints mean that they look into the processes within the NHS and would hope to avoid it happening again. All the best with your revovery and the birth of your baby

Tbh I only got as far as:

Wednesday 1.30am. I wake up in total again. I was sobbing and couldn't breathe. Midwives get SHO who refuses to call consultant. I beg for pain relief or to be knocked out. Pain was only on my right side under ribcage again.

and I knew you had an atypical appendix presentation. So to my mind the villain of this piece is the SHO who refused to call a senior. When you say SHO do you mean F2, or do you mean someone a bit higher up? If an F2, I would say that what happened to you has probably given them the fright of their life and they'll never forget to rule it out in a similar case ever again. If higher, then that's unimpressive tbh, and at the very least they should have known to call a registrar.

I think you need to raise this promptly, before everyone moves on to other jobs. Are you still an inpatient? I think you should request a meeting between you and DH and key representatives of the team looking after you, to express your feelings about what happened, where you think it went wrong and asking them to take on board some learning points, particularly the SHO and anyone further up the foodchain who may have left the SHO feeling unsupported. I also think the midwife team didn't advocate for you especially well, though that can be difficult. I would follow that up in writing after you get home, addressing the consultant and copying in the Chief Executive of the Trust. It may have an effect, it may not, you'll probably never find out tbh.

I'm glad you're OK, OP. Good luck for the birth of your baby.

The midwives could have called the Reg if they weren’t happy with the SHO. Unless they were ok with the SHO’s decision.

I posted earlier but have one further suggestion for now to keep the care level up to scratch.

Very simple: keep a notebook and pen o your table and jot things into it each time a doctor comes to speak to you. They will know this isn’t for fun and no need to say anything or be anything other than polite.

You deserve gold plated care- no, solid gold care and I sincerely hope you are receiving it.

I’m a former midwife and utterly shamed by this.

Howabout, the obvious difference between our NHS and the USA system is that if you are unable to pay NI here for whatever reason yo still get the same level of care. In the US if you are unable to pay for medical insurance, which millions of people there are unable to do, your level of medical care is most definitely reduced.
Here, everyone gets the same level of care, if you can go private, you can be seen sooner in fancier surroundings, but more often than not by the same medical staff in the same hospitals.

The “old” nurse again, here. I’m still appalled by this. You and your baby could have died. I’m so sorry you received such poor treatment.

Just want to add, don't bother with PALS, you'll get a response full of excuses. Write to the chief, exec, medical director and director of nursing, both by email and recorded delivery hard copy. And be very clear what you want. Your surgeon should have already raised this as a SUI.

I don't want this to descend into a debate about the NHS as the priority on this thread is the OP's wellbeing.

HOWEVER, as someone who has lived in 2 EU countries (France and NL) I feel duty-bound to point out that when considering future options for the NHS it is not as simple as a US vs UK dichotomy. Plenty of European countries invest far more efficiently in their healthcare systems and get far better results than either the US or the UK. These are not expensive for the user of the healthcare service. It is these services that people need to be looking at and comparing the NHS to, with a more critical eye, rather than demonising the US system as the only alternative and treating the (clearly stretched and imperfect) NHS as a sacred cow. I say all of this as a close family member of an extremely hardworking NHS worker who deserves every penny (and more!) of her salary.

You have had a lot of very good advice on this thread OP. Keep following it.

I have a medical background and I was thinking “appendicitis?” after reading the first couple of paragraphs of your OP. Definitely complain. Get yourself home and feeling better and then write a nice long letter detailing all of the issues. If you don’t get a response to your initial complaint contact PALS to chase it up.

I feel duty-bound to point out that when considering future options for the NHS it is not as simple as a US vs UK dichotomy. Plenty of European countries invest far more efficiently in their healthcare systems and get far better results than either the US or the UK. These are not expensive for the user of the healthcare service. It is these services that people need to be looking at and comparing the NHS to, with a more critical eye, rather than demonising the US system as the only alternative and treating the (clearly stretched and imperfect) NHS as a sacred cow. I say all of this as a close family member of an extremely hardworking NHS worker who deserves every penny (and more!) of her salary.

This.

And again, please formally complain, you don't need to be so grateful, their negligence was totally unnecessary.

Complain. That is appalling g negligence. I fucking hate midwives. Their lack on basic knowledge and complacency broke my lovely baby and I now have to live every day knowing she could have been well and healthy instead of severely disabled.
I would try to have your baby elsewhere. I would be terrified to return to somewhere so appalling. The first thing I thought when your post said right sided pain was appendicitis. Anything out of the ordinary and midwives are out of their depth.

If you ever can't reach your bell or it falls on the floor. Call the hospital from your Mobile and ask for your ward, it works.
You have had some pretty discusting treatment. Even staff not used to sick adults should treat a patient with a bit more respect than to leave you helpless.
Complain formally.

PALs follow a formal complaint system which means it will be addressed to senior person leading the team. I suggest sending the complaint to the CEO and PALS.
It sounded like appendicitis from your first post (I've had it myself).
Your experience has been terrible and the staff involved need to learn from it.
As an inpatient, I've also had problems with a dropped buzzer and rang the ward from my mobile to tell them - they were surprised but yes it works.

Please do make the complaint - I work in the NHS myself and hope that all those involved reflect on this and how the outcome for you and your baby could have been even more serious.
Stay strong.

OP, you poor thing. I hope you are feeling better now and have an event free remainder of your pregnancy. Wishing you lots of love and luck. I’m so sorry you’ve had to go through this.

First of all hugs and . Sounds like you have been a complete trooper.
Secondly you should definitely complain.
I have been there. 22 weeks preg and absolutely hideous pain which I knew wasn't the baby. No- one believe me 2 doctors and my husband who still hasn't lived down the fact that he thought I was being a wuss. Finally, a consultant came in and realised what was going on and blue lighted me to theatre where they caught me just before it burst.
There seems to be a complete lack of awareness that as a pregnant person you can still get appendix when anyone else presenting those symptoms would be caught straight a way. I wrote a letter of thanks but made the point that it had nearly been a much worse outcome and NO ONE had believed me.

Get well soo

Soon.

Also should add- baby completely fine- now 7 years old