Traumatic hospital stay

[Mama12345678910]

Hi everyone sorry for what is bound to be a long one. On 23rd Jan I ended up being admitted to hospital pending an emergency gallbladder removal. Long story short the care I and others on the ward received was appalling.

Just a few of the things include:
-There were no access to showers on the ward and despite begging numerous times never given one in my weeks stay- there was an 83 year old woman waiting for a bed in a care home who had not had a shower in the 3 weeks she’d been there
-Medications were regularly not recorded. I’d get some medication and 5 minutes later a nurse would come to give me it again and I’d have to explain I’d just had it. I also had to do this for the 83 year old woman when they nearly double dosed her- this was a daily occurrence
-Pain relief was allowed to lapse then you’d have to wait hours after it was due or you asking for more. Medications prescribed were not given fully or at all. I ended up extremely constipated and injured myself because of this.

• I asked for thrush treatment (caused by the antibiotics I was on) and didn’t end up getting any for over 48 hours after first asking. I must have asked 15+ people over this period
• I was left nil by mouth for 3 days waiting for my operation then would be told at 7/8pm that I wasn’t having it and was allowed to eat and drink. I became very dehydrated and wasn’t given fluids despite asking multiple times for these as I felt lightheaded and faint- general bad care
• I had panic attacks because of the cars I was receiving and not being listened to. I said to one of the nurses can you please help me I’m having a panic attack I can’t breathe and I’m really scared. She looked at me and said can you go an ask someone else I’m busy serving the dinners.

There are many more issues but I’ll leave it there you get the gist.

My Mam ended up coming and discharging my on Sunday and has been caring for me at home but struggling to come to terms with what has happened. I’ve put a formal complaint in not just for me but for the people still on that ward. The nurses explained this happens all the time like it wasn’t a big deal. I don’t feel like me and I’ve been having nightmares waking up crying and screaming through the night. I’d like to consider myself quite a strong person mentally but at the moment I feel so weak. The operation went well and I’m recovering well physically but emotionally I’ve never felt weaker. I suppose I’m just looking for anyone who’s been through something like this and can let me know it will get bette. I just feel like I’ve been stripped of myself really and the impact it’s had on me is huge

I should add I have complained to the PALS team with photographic evidence and dates times etc but their investigations take 25+ working days and I’m concerned about what could happen to the patients there during the time it takes to complete the investigation

@Mama12345678910 I'm sorry you had such an awful experience, I haven't experienced it myself so can't comment on that but you've done completely the right thing by making a complaint and think you can focus on your recovery now. When you feel stronger you can follow it up and hopefully get a proper response.

Can you also leave a review of the hospital online? I think you can do that on the NHS website?

Have you complained to the CQC? I think that is your next port of call.

Thank you for your reply. I know I need to focus on my recovery but sometimes I can’t help but sit and think of the people still there. Obviously you’re still not allowed visitors because of covid so you become quite close with the people around you as they’re the only people you socialise with and a lot of them were elderly or vulnerable so I felt the need to help them. I’m in touch with some of them still that are still there and the treatment is still appalling.

No I haven’t reported to the CQC. I’m definitely going to look into that now. I just complained straight to the hospital via a formal complaint

That's absolutely shocking! In addition to the suggestions offered, you could also contact your MP and perhaps the local press.

As a nurse, I am horrified by your experience, the likes of which I have luckily never witnessed. I’m so glad you have complained to PALS. You could also report to the CQC?
I would ask the hospital for a proper debriefing in your complaint to PALS. I think if you sit down with the ward manager and tell them face to face (take someone with you) you will really have the chance to change things.

Someone suggested the MP to me but I wasn’t sure what they could do exactly other than raise the complaint with the hospital themselves. Honestly I’ve never experienced anything like it and like I say do feel quite traumatised (which I feel silly even saying really but that’s how I feel)

Sliding that is one of the things that upset me too that so many nurses worked on that ward and just accepted it like ‘this is the norm’. There were a few bank staff on the weekend who didn’t normally work there that commented on the levels of care and actually one lovely nurse on the weekend came in and changed all our beds (hadn’t been changed for 4+ days) as she was appalled at the state we were in. She said she would be a witness to the levels of care we were receiving and I know she herself reported it

@Spudina not sliding! Sorry!

It is worth contacting your MP because as soon as someone like that starts asking questions senior staff will take notice.

Please don’t feel silly for how you are feeling. I’m not surprised that it has impacted you so profoundly. How could it not?
It sounds horrendous. And what is terrifying is that it is just the norm there.
I hope you can recover now you are in a safe place and find ways to feel that you are doing something useful for those still there and all future patients.

I'm sorry you've been through this, we had the same experience when a loved one was terminally ill. I honestly believe that the atrocious care he received in hospital shortened his life. Our complaint is now with the coroner.

So much of the care in hospitals is normally provided by loved ones. When you stop them visiting, but do nothing to bridge that gap, it is inevitable that people will suffer.

I hope you get some answers Mama, but I'd expect that you will be fobbed off.

I'm a nurse and that ward sounds like absolute hell! Well done for advocating for that elderly woman who couldn't speak up for herself. Absolutely appaling care. Complain to the trust board, CQC. I'm glad you've already contacted PALS. Sounds like you're experiencing PTSD so please contact your GP for counselling etc.

@bilbodog I have now forwarded my complaint onto my MP to bring it to his attention

@Thinking2041 thank you. Sometimes it feels like a sort of out of body experience like how did that actually happen. My mental health was quite good going in there, whereas now I’ve never felt so low. I can’t imagine how people would feel going in there already with poor mental health. I was quite lucky my Mam was able to come and get me out of there and care for me at home. I had quite a traumatic birth with an emergency c-section and that feels like a holiday now compared to this. I know others won’t have that luxury of someone coming to help them.

@CorrBlimeyGG I’m really sorry about your loved one. I too believe I wouldn’t have been so poorly after the op had I not received such bad care before and prior. I’d hardly eaten or drank for 3 days before so felt really weak going into it. Then not being given meds I was meant to I just wasn’t getting stronger and was just sort of left to get worse.

@Peoniesandcream thank you. I have spoke to the GP who said take some time and don’t automatically think there’s something wrong with me I won’t get better. She said if I’m still suffering and feel low in a few weeks to call back and we’ll go from there, but she said I’ve been through something traumatic and to give myself some time to heal.

That is horrendous.
I was in hospital for a week last year and while there were a few shortcomings due to staffing levels it was nothing like you describe.

One thing that you do notice as a patient is that some staff work much harder than others. I remember the ones who worked like demons and the odd one who sauntered around doing nothing. Very smiley but when a patient asked for help she would disappear.
It's not exclusive to health care it's the same in any workplace. If the slackers become a majority or are not managed properly then a culture of poor performance becomes the norm.

It sounds like you were unlucky enough to find a whole ward (or hospital) that was badly managed. Well done for complaining. It's hard to do when you are ill and trying to recover.

This ward sounds not only unacceptable and upsetting, but downright dangerous. I know it's hard when you're still feeling rotten, but I would made a formal complaint ASAP, copying in anyone who can help bring attention to it such as your MP and local press. I understand WHY hospital staff are so overworked, understaffed etc at the moment. But care deteriorating to such levels will lead to the death of vulnerable patients if allowed to continue. I wouldn't have thought the staff would be happy with the risks to their careers, if nothing else!

'I wouldn't have thought the staff would be happy with the risks to their careers, if nothing else!'

There are actually few 'risks' to their careers. It's practically impossible to sack a HCP. They're pretty much irreplaceable. As much as anything because the management know that the HCP will be able to very easily prove they were short-staffed/ staffed with agency (many of whom will not at all be appraised with NHS expectations) etc.

Most HCPs actually do care but after many years of being told to shut up or fuck off by NHS management; an inability to provide the care they'd originally aspired to; a public who vote Brexit and Tory; red top papers 'informing' their readership that the NHS are shite; growing aggression from The Public- many care rather less than they once did.

I’ve spent a lot of time in hospital. Oncology wards. The patients in the four berth wards do tend to chip in and help the more frail or vulnerable ones.

Did you ask specifically for someone to help shore you. They might have been assuming you were going for one or a wash in the morning. They are there to provide nursing care and can’t always get the time to arty out personal care.

What were they expecting of you?

*shower not shore
*carry not arty

What your GP says is very sensible as feeling low after an operation is not unusual at the best of times, let alone with the lack of care you experienced.