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Appalling care from A&E

LuckyTony
LuckyTony Community member Posts: 10 Listener
Hi All

I’ve been trying to cope with chronic pain for years now but last few months have been the worst. 

Back, shoulders, both knees and now a tooth extraction that refuses to heal. 

On Saturday just gone my wife in desperation called 111 and they dispatched an ambulance. 

After about an hour they managed to convince me to go with them to the local hospital (Royal Free in London) they promised that I would be admitted and given something for the pain and the panic attacks I was experiencing due to lack of sleep. That I would be put in a comfortable bed and allowed to rest and recuperate. I told them I didn’t want to go because I thought I’d be left on a trolley somewhere and sent home after a couple of hours and some mild pain relief. 

Well. 

Turns out we were both wrong. 

I was left on an agonisingly hard trolley and after a brief visit from a Doc who left promising pain and a consult with a senior doc about admitting me. I was left there for 4 hrs! 

No pain relief and no one would help me.. 
I asked countless times for some pain relief and in the end to be just let go so I could go home. 

Nope! 

Because when I was in mid panic attack I’d said “it hurts so much I want to die” 

this apparently meant I was suicidal.. 

no one could find my doc and no one could move me, give me pain relief or even let me go home! 

I remember crying and begging them to help me but oh no.. not until the doc who had first seen me could be found. 

When she was eventually found and told me I was being discharged I was forced to go to a mental health centre before being allowed to go home. 
(In considerably worse pain than when I arrived) 

I called my gp surgery on the Monday and am now laying here now on my sofa on day 3 of a new pain killer/anti anxiety medication still in pain but trying to feel more positive as I slowly learn to control the dizziness caused by the painkillers. 


All still hurts and the anti anxiety/sedition medication isn’t strong enough to put me to sleep but it’s better than being in A&E. 

anyone else have similar stories about A&E? 




Comments

  • woodbine
    woodbine Community member Posts: 11,521 Disability Gamechanger
    Hi i'm sorry to hear about your experience in A&E it must have been horrible for you, I must admit that on the numerous occasions I have been in A&E I have always been treated well. I hope your new medication helps.
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  • Cher_Alumni
    Cher_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 5,741 Disability Gamechanger
    @LuckyTony That sounds like an awful experience you had in A&E.  I'm sorry you had to go through it.  Have you thought about complaining to the hospital's Patient Advice and Liaison service about it?  They might be able to help you get answers as to why you were treated like that.

    I hope you begin to feel better soon.
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  • janer1967
    janer1967 Community member Posts: 21,964 Disability Gamechanger
    Hi @LuckyTony That doesnt sound like a good experience.

    I have been to A&E lots of times and most of them have been good however on one occasion not so good

    I was taken by ambulance to A&E after a district nurse called them as I had suspected sepsis

    Arrived at hospital left in corridor on trolley ambulance man wouldnt leave me till I got seen. 

    Finally seen after couple hours bloods taken etc Doc came back eventually and said my urine test was clear so he was sending me home with anti biotics, so off I was sent to patient transport

    They said I would have a long wait for transport home approx 4 hours so there I waited now on a hard plastic chair

    About 2 hours after being sent away by the doctor he came to find me to say my blood results had shown very high levels of infection and he had rung another hospital where I had been admitted before for sepsis and my consultant had said to have me transferred there for immediate treatment

    Still had to wait a couple hours for transfer to other hospital and then eventually got the vital treatment I needed 

    NHS guide is to receive drip anti biotics within 1 hour of suspected sepsis, luckily I am here to tell the story
  • Tori_Scope
    Tori_Scope Scope Posts: 12,488 Disability Gamechanger
    Hi @LuckyTony. I'm also really sorry to hear about your experience at A&E. I just wanted to check-in to see how you were getting on today? Do you think you'll speak to the Patient Advice and Liaison Service as @Cher_Scope suggested? 
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  • Tori_Scope
    Tori_Scope Scope Posts: 12,488 Disability Gamechanger
    I'm sorry you had such a bad experience too @janer1967 :( I'm glad you're here to tell the tale
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  • Chloe_Scope
    Chloe_Scope Posts: 10,586 Disability Gamechanger
    So sorry to hear you experienced this @LuckyTony! @janer1967, that certainly does not sound easy!

    Hope you are both okay today. :)
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