To discharge myself from hospital?

[toldyouiwasill]

I’m desperate.

Admitted on Monday with ?appedicitis. Then told I had a UTI; possibly kidney infection. Then ended up catheterised. Then told my sats are too low (92-95) and that I’ve got a chest infection. Told I need a CT scan and a chest x Ray. A doctor came round at 4pm and told me I’d be given a nebuliser tonight and possibly oxygen. I can’t lie flat as I can’t breathe without wheezing, coughing to the point of vomiting.

Come night shift - nurses said they have zero record of that conversation and there’s nothing they can do. I haven’t slept more than four hours since Sunday. I haven’t got any water, I’m being left with a full catheter bag for 12-14 hours at a time. I’ve no idea what’s wrong and if I have got an infection it isn’t being treated. I’m so tired I’m hallucinating.

I’ve just asked the band 2 nurses for help and got snapped at. They’re sitting discussing Chinese takeaways.

I don’t know what to do. I live only a mile away. I keep thinking of packing up and going. I can buy a syringe from boots to take the catheter out. I don’t know what to do, I’m scared and desperate.

Tell everybody what's happening. The family who is worried about your uni work presumably want you to finish it? Can you send them this thread? It's very clear that if you're not properly treated and medicated you won't be in any fit state for anything in the next few weeks. They need to call on your behalf, if they can't come in. It's really important. I think maybe that you've got so many things in your mind in a really stressful situation that you're naturally not able to prioritise things as well as you normally do.

This is a time to ask for help and if any bigger doesn't help, ask someone else!

Of course it’s normal take no notice OP.

Wishing you a very speedy recovery

Er.... the OP never questioned why her catheter bag was full, she was stating that it hadn't been emptied.

And if your BP is low you're actually meant to drink more fluids.

I’m sorry to read all that you have gone through, OP.
I discharged myself after my last hospital stay (crash C Section) because the care I received was intolerable. The section was only necessary due to failings by staff in the lead up to my birth. I laboured for 129 hours and then almost lost my baby.
The post natal midwives wouldn’t even give me paracetamol because they said I should have packed it into my hospital bag. Like you, my catheter was full and I had no water for 12 hours.

I called my husband (I didn’t have him spend the night with me on the ward) and announced my intention as soon as he arrived. The nurse told me I had no legal right to do so, but I corrected her and she backed down.

I left with no antibiotics or DVT medication, although my parents picked it up for me from the hospital pharmacy the next day.

I haven’t been back to the hospital since and I have only attended GP practice for injections / check ups for my children. I have dealt with UTIs etc myself by buying antibiotics online. I tolerated a damaged kneecap without intervention. I am just too afraid to go back because I think I have been left with some degree of PTSD.

If anyone is even still reading my ramblings at this point - my experience of the NHS does not match what we are told to think, which is that all failings are at upper management level and all staff are tireless, thankless workhorses that will always go the extra mile. Just as in any industry, many many staff are simply not good. And, in fact, due to poor management, under funding and poor pay, I actually believe the NHS is attracting more and more of these types.
Furthermore, I have two nurse friends who have left the profession due to poor working environments - in the large part caused by the behaviours of their colleagues.

Part of fixing the NHS is acknowledging that many of our care givers are not adequately giving care because they do not want to.

I should add that I live 1 hour from my only “local” hospital and it languishes at the bottom of all league tables. It is on special measures, it has one of the highest birth intervention records in the country, and its natal services are some of the worst in England. I am fairly biased.

OP, I am not saying you should discharge yourself ofc. I just know the feeling of desperation. I empathise and I see you - individual cases of care in the NHS can be very, very bad.

One final note: I tried to complain via PALS, but when I received my medical notes, I was confused and surprised to find that my labour had been recorded as 45 mins, none of my many attempts to been seen via maternity triage had been logged and my baby had been recorded as breech. She was NEVER breech. She was trapped against my pelvis for many days and born blue, with the cord wrapped around her neck twice. My medical notes for this birth are completely incorrect - possibly someone else’s entirely. My complaint ran aground here. PALS felt I must be confused and had misremembered the facts.

You take your life in your hands when you go to hospital in the UK. If you have no-one to advocate for you, you're fucked.

Yes, obviously depending on why you are in hospital in the first place, but having some visible support is important. Not everybody is fortunate to have someone to advocate for them. The OP is in that situation, but seems to be able to clearly state on MN what is happening to her. She can contact PALS from her hospital bed, and do the same. That would be more beneficial to her. I have not read the whole thread admittedly, so apologies if she has already said that she has done this.

@toldyouiwasill I'm so sorry the care has been so poor. Staff are just not supervised anymore. We need matrons back imo.

When I was last in hospital, my catheter was sorted every 4-6 hours not to leave it until its overflowing! And no water overnight esp when you can't breathe and no medication is tantamount to abuse. Pls make sure you pull the Dr ref notes ref a nebuliser, but as yiu were then put on a nebuliser, I'm thinking the night team knew and just cba. Neither of those nurses deserve to be in the nursing world because they lack the conscience needed.

I hope today is a better day for you. Request your meds - all of them. Ask for students to be removed so you can have some privacy.

Sending a hug x

"Recording people without their consent is illegal"

That's absolute nonsense. Record away OP. Livestream the abuse and neglect your suffering and complain to PALS. The patients who officially complain are the ones who get the best treatment.

I am so sorry to read your account of the awful care @toldyouiwasill you are recieving, you have had some great advice. I can imagine how hard it is for you having both physical and Mental health illnesses, I know from first hand experience that when patients don't act 'as we expect ' if they have MH illness then that is often blamed.
As a nurse, I can tell you it is our job to advocate for our patients and I don't understand why these vile people choose to do this job. Anyway the important thing is you get the care you need.

I can see why you want to leave as you have zero control but, it will be easier to talk to senior staff during the day. My experience of PALS is better than some have described so still worth a phone call.

I hope you start to get the care you need and feel better very soon 💐.

I'm sorry about your experience OP, sadly it's becoming more and more common. On another thread recently I posted about a family member who died in agony because night staff refused to administer any pain medication despite her having a massive tumour pressing on her organs. It's terrible.

Perhaps it's worth you threatening to discharge yourself if the nurse you've spoken to can't get things sorted, perhaps if they realise you'd rather risk your life than stay they will realise you seriously need help.

@JustEatTheOneInTheBallPit I'm so sorry, that's horrendous. If I were you I'd be going to see a no-win, no fee lawyer about a compensation case - not so much to get compensation but to get exposure on what's going wrong in that hospital. There have been cases in the news of staff deliberately hiding notes or replacing them, perhaps that's the case with yours. Sadly it often seems legal action that draws attention to the horrors in some hospitals is the only way to drive change.

Have had oramorph; anti depressant, beta blocker, two laxatives and a shower. Just waiting on doctors round now.

This is so true.

When our very elderly family friend was hospitalised, we realised we had to be with her every lunch and dinner time, or she just wouldn't eat. They would bring her food, but she couldn't feed herself, and they didn't even bother to check if she had eaten anything, let alone help her. It would just be taken away uneaten. If we hadn't spoon fed her (which did take 30-60 minutes per meal, but that's the reality for weak people) she would have starved. Imagine if she didn't have anyone to look out for her, which is the case for many elderly people.

I'm sick of hearing propaganda about "hard working nurses". Most nurses are rude and lazy and spend their time fannying on their phones while having the gall to act like they're uniquely hard-working and underpaid.

And even if most nurses were good, they should just shut up and do their jobs like everyone else. No other profession acts entitled to hero worship.

The day nurse is good just now, she’s being very good to the woman opposite who’s terminal. Think doctors are on their way round to see me in a minute. Uni support worker (ITU nurse) is on her way in two hours too 🙏

I'm really sorry you're being treated so badly, OP. It's disgraceful. I'm one of those people with no one to advocate for them, and I'm pretty sure I have PTSD from admissions like yours. I was literally trembling reading this. You can't win in these situations because if you kick up a fuss they say you're a difficult patient and use your MH against you. I need to have an operation at some point in the not too distant future and I'm absolutely petrified of being in hospital, to the point I think I'd rather live with the problem than be at the mercy of ward staff. I'll never forget being assaulted by a male staff member, shouting for help and watching as a doctor popped his head in the door only to walk off. As a PP says, if you try to talk about it you're just told 'well no one likes being in hospital'. They don't get it.

Please contact PALS.

That's great. However, the management need to know how horrendous the night staff are. They can't do anything about it otherwise, and other patients will have the same experience or worse. You really should speak to the Band 6 about your experience last night. And don't let them gaslight you into it all being about your mental health. You're talking about the lack of water, and your catheter bag being bulging full. Both unacceptable standards of care.

I am a band 2 nurse and I often get patients complain to me about the night staff when I come on in the morning. I make sure that I reassure the patient, and tell them that they can speak to me in confidence. Sometimes it seems night staff feel they can get away with substandard treatment of patients, it's shocking.

Yeah but no but!

There's no way you can be speaking for all forces let alone situations - police can and do respond in person depending on circumstances at the time.

And ridiculing people in distress is just unkind.

I'm really sorry to hear this. I hope you can get the care you need really soon 💐

How kind!

That's good to hear. I things improve for you soon.

I honestly think. If care was soooo bad that I wasn’t getting water and wasn’t able to get any consistently. Then I would report on 101 - so at least there is a paper trail for if it goes to coroners court for my family 🤷🏼‍♀️ that’s kept outside the hospital records.

Have had a chest x Ray, catheter is out and roommate went down to the cafe for bacon sandwiches, lucozade and a cake 😂

Speak to the PALs, tell them you're being neglected. Do you need more pain relief? Please don't leave, you're not well enough.
Speak to the nurse in charge, then tell them what you want and need and complain to PALs at the same time. Press the bell now and don't stop until someone comes.

I’ve written everything down on here and room mates have verified it, that night staff are horrendously bad. They have mentioned it to day staff, that they’re not happy for them or me. It’s when you’re confused and virtually immobile, having to remember to ask for so much stuff and take so much in is bewildering.

Will write an official complaint asap.

@OwlinTheTree I've seen mixed advice on this, I'm not trying to dissuade from doing so if OP can, I just wouldn't want her to get more aggro than she needs. The general information I've read is that it isn't lawful because although it is a public place, it's a person at work. Hopefully you're right and she can though because her experience sounds appalling 😞 Glad to read that the day staff have been kinder OP 💐