Tomorrow I shall write about my 2 days in hsp under the care of Mr Allibone and his wonderful, fantastic, charming,delightful, (hyperbole overdrive) team at The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Sq, London.
Now I need to sleep a night of pain free sleep.
Sunday, 23 November 2008
Saturday, 25 October 2008
Met with surgeon MR J Allibone......finally...not his fault i realize he is not involved in the admin side of hospital life. What a great guy....down to earth, straightforward, easy to deal with, confident and competent. Good examination and run through of events since injury occurred and agreement to do operation......micro discectomy, with a view to other things if when opened up he spots things that are hindering mobility. All done and dusted within an hour of meeting him. I had the feeling he would have done the surgery there and then if he could.........he just had the air of somebody who just gets things done. Its a shame the beauracracy of our NHS lets these doctors down so much. I appreciate he's one of the bright intelligent guys and the background work is done by folks who can hardly string a sentence together and don't have an 'A' level between them but surely we can find brighter people to make these places work smoothly and in the absolute best interests of the patients. The doctors want to do it.....they are held back by the inefficiency of the admin staff.
Monday, 6 October 2008
Complaints Dept for A&E dept
Have called Marion Westwood regularly to ask why the complaint I sent into her dept in April has still received no response. Mr Tom Smerdon is dealing with it I'm told, he was the one who concocted the wholly incomprehensible drivel when trying to explain the A&E side of things the last time. Why has it taken 6 mths to find out what went so wrong on the 2 occasions I was taken into A&E in February? What is it they can't explain? Of course now I have my experience of going into another London hospital's A&E dept in exactly the same circumstances and seeing how it should really have been dealt with.
What these people expect is that the complainer will get tired of chasing them up and give up.....how wrong they are!
What these people expect is that the complainer will get tired of chasing them up and give up.....how wrong they are!
Is UCHL the most badly run and staffed hospital on earth?
Answer......yes!!!!
We are now in October 2008......some 8 mths after the initial debacle at the A&E dept and I am still having to make numerous phone calls to several depts of the hospital to get help with what has now been diagnosed as chronic pain. The surgeon, Mr J Allibone, with whom I was due to have a meeting with early July, failed to make the appt and though I was told I would immediately get another appointment have heard nothing since. This despite the fact he had let several patients down on the morning I arrived by failing to turn up several hours after his 1st appt was due to start. They now asure me, because I called to remind them, an appointment is in the post.
I called the Pain Management Dept during the 1st week of Sept to tell them I was in a bad way and needed to see the doctor ahead of a scheduled appt at the end of Oct, they failed to respond and subsequently 3 days later I collapsed at home and was taken, once given large doses of morphine, to St Thomas's Hospital. I had refused to allow the paramedic or ambulance team to take me anywhere near UCH. The difference in approach was staggering. I was admitted to a ward for 3 weeks within hours of arriving at St Thomas's. The level of nursing care was so different I found it almost unbelieveable.
We are now in October 2008......some 8 mths after the initial debacle at the A&E dept and I am still having to make numerous phone calls to several depts of the hospital to get help with what has now been diagnosed as chronic pain. The surgeon, Mr J Allibone, with whom I was due to have a meeting with early July, failed to make the appt and though I was told I would immediately get another appointment have heard nothing since. This despite the fact he had let several patients down on the morning I arrived by failing to turn up several hours after his 1st appt was due to start. They now asure me, because I called to remind them, an appointment is in the post.
I called the Pain Management Dept during the 1st week of Sept to tell them I was in a bad way and needed to see the doctor ahead of a scheduled appt at the end of Oct, they failed to respond and subsequently 3 days later I collapsed at home and was taken, once given large doses of morphine, to St Thomas's Hospital. I had refused to allow the paramedic or ambulance team to take me anywhere near UCH. The difference in approach was staggering. I was admitted to a ward for 3 weeks within hours of arriving at St Thomas's. The level of nursing care was so different I found it almost unbelieveable.
Wednesday, 23 April 2008
Many thanks for all the positive and 'couldn't agree more about the NHS' comments from people. No thanks at all for the 'anonymous' comment from a clearly defensive and chippy NHS employee for the 'this is a boring rant' message. I tell you its really boring dealing with you and your pathetically inadequate colleagues.
Received a letter from A&E dept ....lots of 'sorries' and ' the care was deemed correct' by a consultant who never saw me, the letter relied heavily on her input, due it appears to me, because they could not get comments from the two wholly useless locum doctors who saw me in the A&E dept during two consecutive visits. No offers of 'how can we put this right?', just 4 pages of bland excuses.
Still no word from the surgeon or his staff. Case notes been handed over to hospital manager to see if she can make them pull their finger out.
Received a letter from A&E dept ....lots of 'sorries' and ' the care was deemed correct' by a consultant who never saw me, the letter relied heavily on her input, due it appears to me, because they could not get comments from the two wholly useless locum doctors who saw me in the A&E dept during two consecutive visits. No offers of 'how can we put this right?', just 4 pages of bland excuses.
Still no word from the surgeon or his staff. Case notes been handed over to hospital manager to see if she can make them pull their finger out.
Wednesday, 16 April 2008
Still no word from the hospital apart from the odd courtesy call from the patient liaison staff to tell me they have asked the doctors to contact me. Apparently Mr Allibone is not responding to faxes, emails, phone calls or letters sent to him from senior staff within the hospital.
This hospital are sending me a letter, it hasn't arrived yet, responding to complaints I have not myself made. The complaints were sent to the complaints dept from people in the A&E dept who were asked to answer questions about my treatment when I went in on two occasions in early February. How can they answer complaints I have not made yet. Unless they are writing to offer compensation, which would be the decent and honourable thing to do, but of course they wont, they will wait until they're all taken to court to answer this monumental catalogue of neglect. By far the worse culprit is my own G.P, who throughout this saga has made no effort to smooth my path through to treatment, not one phone call to ask how I am, not to find out if my use of Diazepam is going o.k, he's shown no interest whatsoever apart from to sulk and attempt to intimidate me when PALS, (Patient Advice and Liaison Services (PALS) contacted him. He of course does some work in the A&E dept when the surgery is closed, which incidentally is most of the time.
The great thing about writing the blog is the emails I get from people around the WORLD who are horrified at the way the hospital functions, if it can be called functioning.
This hospital are sending me a letter, it hasn't arrived yet, responding to complaints I have not myself made. The complaints were sent to the complaints dept from people in the A&E dept who were asked to answer questions about my treatment when I went in on two occasions in early February. How can they answer complaints I have not made yet. Unless they are writing to offer compensation, which would be the decent and honourable thing to do, but of course they wont, they will wait until they're all taken to court to answer this monumental catalogue of neglect. By far the worse culprit is my own G.P, who throughout this saga has made no effort to smooth my path through to treatment, not one phone call to ask how I am, not to find out if my use of Diazepam is going o.k, he's shown no interest whatsoever apart from to sulk and attempt to intimidate me when PALS, (Patient Advice and Liaison Services (PALS) contacted him. He of course does some work in the A&E dept when the surgery is closed, which incidentally is most of the time.
The great thing about writing the blog is the emails I get from people around the WORLD who are horrified at the way the hospital functions, if it can be called functioning.
Monday, 14 April 2008
Ever greater heights of neglect.
I take it all back, the doctors at UCHL are not doing all they can to get my injuries sorted. Far from it, they appear to be doing nothing at all. Dr Penn, Dr Morris et al , the team who arrived at my bedside to tell me they were doing all they can to prioritize my treatment have done precisely nothing since they uttered those words. I have made repeated phone calls, over several weeks,to the hospital to get some idea as to what they are doing and have had no response at all. The PALS people don't get much further either despite their repeated intervention. This hospital is highly inefficient, the staff seem a law unto themselves and they care not a jot for their patients.
Dozens of them know how negligent they have been and yet they still do nothing to try and put right the damage. NOTHING!
Every department has been useless from the disatrous A&E , the rheumatology people under Professor Ehrenstein; who needs to get his head out of his study books and find out whats happening to his patients, that is what he's paid for and not least those mean characters employed on the ward.
They know they will be sued and their attitude is one of 'its not our money that's paid out and we don't lose our jobs, so who cares'.
The hospital seem incapable of admitting fault or a breakdown in systems which their clearly is. The communication between hospital and patient is non existent.
They might want to take a look at the way Dr Lee over in The National works and keeps notes, meticulous and thorough. None of the excuses that one doctors secretary gave me ...' it's the NHS, we don't log every phone call made or take any notes about enquiries'. Dr Lee's team note down details of every phone call made about ongoing treatment, I've seen them in my file.
This was the same secretary who always asks, 'Private or NHS?'...because we know it makes a difference even if they are using NHS property and resources to carry out their work.
Dozens of them know how negligent they have been and yet they still do nothing to try and put right the damage. NOTHING!
Every department has been useless from the disatrous A&E , the rheumatology people under Professor Ehrenstein; who needs to get his head out of his study books and find out whats happening to his patients, that is what he's paid for and not least those mean characters employed on the ward.
They know they will be sued and their attitude is one of 'its not our money that's paid out and we don't lose our jobs, so who cares'.
The hospital seem incapable of admitting fault or a breakdown in systems which their clearly is. The communication between hospital and patient is non existent.
They might want to take a look at the way Dr Lee over in The National works and keeps notes, meticulous and thorough. None of the excuses that one doctors secretary gave me ...' it's the NHS, we don't log every phone call made or take any notes about enquiries'. Dr Lee's team note down details of every phone call made about ongoing treatment, I've seen them in my file.
This was the same secretary who always asks, 'Private or NHS?'...because we know it makes a difference even if they are using NHS property and resources to carry out their work.
Monday, 7 April 2008
does Mr Allibone exist??
after the gestapo team arrived on the 18/03/08, i was told.....'Dr Penn has faxed a letter to Mr Allibone........who will be asked to see you as a priority'......not a peep out of any of them since that date. today is the 7/08/08...what kind of priority did they have in mind??
after the gestapo team arrived on the 18/03/08, i was told.....'Dr Penn has faxed a letter to Mr Allibone........who will be asked to see you as a priority'......not a peep out of any of them since that date. today is the 7/08/08...what kind of priority did they have in mind??
Friday, 28 March 2008
priority.
where is my appointment from the Mr J. Allibone that was promised as a priority.
will he be called doctor or Mr......isn't there a convention that a surgeon is called Mr?
or is it a case of out of sight out of mind???
a good 10 days after leaving hsp not a word..so hardly what could be called a priority.
i guess i will have to do the chasing...the phoning, the finding out when i get to see him.
in the mean time, when i could be out at work and earning a living, i'm trapped at home because the NHS grinds so slowly. if it grinds at all ....seems to stay still most of the time.
will he be called doctor or Mr......isn't there a convention that a surgeon is called Mr?
or is it a case of out of sight out of mind???
a good 10 days after leaving hsp not a word..so hardly what could be called a priority.
i guess i will have to do the chasing...the phoning, the finding out when i get to see him.
in the mean time, when i could be out at work and earning a living, i'm trapped at home because the NHS grinds so slowly. if it grinds at all ....seems to stay still most of the time.
Thursday, 27 March 2008
MLK jr
'Man's INHUMANITY to man is not only perpetrated by the vitriolic actions of those who are bad. It is also perpetrated by the VITIATING INACTION of those who are good,'.
Compassion fatigue.
Always difficult this one......discussing the help one receives from friends , neighbours , 'loved ones' , I believe even The Queen has been known to use that expression in our New Labour, loving caring, sharing, 'all in the community' world.
There is only so much that the people one knows can do or are prepared to do in the hurly burly, busy-busy, big city London is. A visitor here, a kind gesture there, all help of course and I'm not at all ungrateful, but lets face it people get bored of helping or doing....they want, after a busy day at work, to go home or eat out......they basically want to have fun.
But....(sorry i can't avoid it).....but 'compassion fatigue' sets in......one sees people less.....visits are promised, excuses are made......holidays are taken (it was Easter after all) and there comes a time when real help is needed. Or one ends up living in squalor and starving (take note the starvation is happening...one cannot live on the cakes and chocs from the kind visitors...Sarah take note ....4 large cakes from the M&S patisserie do not a balanced diet make. Simon will eat them when he shows............if he shows....but then he'll leave the crumbs all over the floor for the mice to eat and then i'm bed bound with rats and mice running over me. It's all entirely possible........and no 'Hitchcockian' nightmare.
The bed needs changing, the dust needs....dusting, the floors need cleaning, the bathroom needs scrubbing. Some food needs bringing in.......the everyday stuff needs doing. Westminster staff solution........looking into providing an hour of cleaning, and 1/2 hr to change bed, and and hour for shopping.........charge £13.50 per hr...........unless you can prove poverty..........well some of us still have some pride, and poverty, until i've sold off every last piece of furniture in the flat will not be something i'm admitting to.
£13.5O?????, people i know have cleaners for £10 or less......where is the common sense in that solution to helping an injured person?. 'We'll help you but you gotta pay above the market rate'.
The entire system is designed to drive us all to living in France or Australia or wherever....well those who can afford to at any rate.
There is only so much that the people one knows can do or are prepared to do in the hurly burly, busy-busy, big city London is. A visitor here, a kind gesture there, all help of course and I'm not at all ungrateful, but lets face it people get bored of helping or doing....they want, after a busy day at work, to go home or eat out......they basically want to have fun.
But....(sorry i can't avoid it).....but 'compassion fatigue' sets in......one sees people less.....visits are promised, excuses are made......holidays are taken (it was Easter after all) and there comes a time when real help is needed. Or one ends up living in squalor and starving (take note the starvation is happening...one cannot live on the cakes and chocs from the kind visitors...Sarah take note ....4 large cakes from the M&S patisserie do not a balanced diet make. Simon will eat them when he shows............if he shows....but then he'll leave the crumbs all over the floor for the mice to eat and then i'm bed bound with rats and mice running over me. It's all entirely possible........and no 'Hitchcockian' nightmare.
The bed needs changing, the dust needs....dusting, the floors need cleaning, the bathroom needs scrubbing. Some food needs bringing in.......the everyday stuff needs doing. Westminster staff solution........looking into providing an hour of cleaning, and 1/2 hr to change bed, and and hour for shopping.........charge £13.50 per hr...........unless you can prove poverty..........well some of us still have some pride, and poverty, until i've sold off every last piece of furniture in the flat will not be something i'm admitting to.
£13.5O?????, people i know have cleaners for £10 or less......where is the common sense in that solution to helping an injured person?. 'We'll help you but you gotta pay above the market rate'.
The entire system is designed to drive us all to living in France or Australia or wherever....well those who can afford to at any rate.
Limbo
It's been more than a week since I left the UCH.
Not a lot has happened in terms of mobility improvement, it's very slow that's for sure.
I've attempted a couple of journeys to get food....and one to the physio...but all are like major events and draining.
Difficult system we have where somebody is discharged in this way and little if anything is done in terms of aftercare. Your G.P will follow up I was told. I was given a cocktail of painkillers , muscle relaxants, anti-imflammatories etc and all of different amounts. So the muscle relaxants have run out, yet i have differing amounts of the other drugs.
Major problem had/has been my G.P not being at all pro-active in my care or treatment at all. He has never, in the weeks I have been immobile, been to see me or called to see how he could help once, despite knowing the situation. Even the intervention of Westminster PALS team had no effect.
Thus calling his surgery for help is a really stressful procedure...to the point of being off putting.
Incidentally, one of the gang of docs, who arrived at my beside last week to attempt a reading of the riot act, was entirely supportive of the G.P because she knew him personally and suggested 'I write him a note, saying sorry, I'll be good boy' and all would be mended between us. I admire her loyalty to a colleague (do I??) but jeez!, by any standards that was a patronizing solution to a fraught situation. Also it showed once again that the solution had to be on their terms not necessarily for the benefit of the patient.
I will need support I'm told by Westminster people y'day with being weaned off diazepam.......who's going to do that??
I have 10 drugs to manage ......per day......pretty strong stuff some of it...yet not helped one jot with managing them.....like who replenishes the ones that run out and i still need...hsp or G.P...who gets them to me.....I can barely get out.
Not a lot has happened in terms of mobility improvement, it's very slow that's for sure.
I've attempted a couple of journeys to get food....and one to the physio...but all are like major events and draining.
Difficult system we have where somebody is discharged in this way and little if anything is done in terms of aftercare. Your G.P will follow up I was told. I was given a cocktail of painkillers , muscle relaxants, anti-imflammatories etc and all of different amounts. So the muscle relaxants have run out, yet i have differing amounts of the other drugs.
Major problem had/has been my G.P not being at all pro-active in my care or treatment at all. He has never, in the weeks I have been immobile, been to see me or called to see how he could help once, despite knowing the situation. Even the intervention of Westminster PALS team had no effect.
Thus calling his surgery for help is a really stressful procedure...to the point of being off putting.
Incidentally, one of the gang of docs, who arrived at my beside last week to attempt a reading of the riot act, was entirely supportive of the G.P because she knew him personally and suggested 'I write him a note, saying sorry, I'll be good boy' and all would be mended between us. I admire her loyalty to a colleague (do I??) but jeez!, by any standards that was a patronizing solution to a fraught situation. Also it showed once again that the solution had to be on their terms not necessarily for the benefit of the patient.
I will need support I'm told by Westminster people y'day with being weaned off diazepam.......who's going to do that??
I have 10 drugs to manage ......per day......pretty strong stuff some of it...yet not helped one jot with managing them.....like who replenishes the ones that run out and i still need...hsp or G.P...who gets them to me.....I can barely get out.
Friday, 21 March 2008
letter sent to ward management and complaints dept and no response
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am a single male, living alone and being looked after on an ad-hoc basis by friends and neighbours.
After many phone calls between myself and various members of the hospital staff, all of which should be recorded and logged for future action, I was called y'day and told a bed was ready and I should come in for an MRI scan, clinical investigation etc. Approx 1 hour later I was called back and told the bed was no longer available. I was assured, previously, I would be in by 10/03 or 11/03/08.
The management and allocation of beds in your dept falls very, very short of the standards expected of the tax payers' NHS, after years of having billions of pounds thrown at it. Your male ward is far too small for the number of patients needed to be treated and you have been aware of this for some time and done nothing about it. The admittance procedure is a farce and actually inhumane. You are aware that patients are in agony, desperate for medical attention and you do next to nothing about improving the situation.
Do not write to me in any way with an apology, simply put into place procedures and practices for your staff to get on with job we pay them to do. No ifs, buts, if only's. Get on with managing the business of caring for unwell people.
My case is a long and complicated one, involving UCH A&E, various other depts and my G.P and legal action is being considered because of the catalogue of negligence. Your management of the ward does not help the situation one jot.
This letter is purely to make the point that the way you manage your wards, T8 for example, is a national disgrace.
Yours
G D C
still in bed some 5 weeks after initial incident.
p.s I might add that it is almost impossible to get through to ward T8 on the telephone and is something else that needs rectifying immediately. This is not a 3rd world country even if we have 3rd world hospital experiences.
On Feb 11th I blacked out at work after feeling an enormous pain shoot through my body, to cut a very long story short, and after two woefully negligent trips, after being given morphine, to UCH A&E dept I have been house-bound and virtually bed-bound since.
After much phoning around various places and with no support from my G.P, I was told by Professor Michael Ehrenstein I should be admitted for treatment into neurology ward . I sensed he understood the urgency of the situation. Only 'sensed', because the phone call was relatively short and he did not have time to listen etc.I am a single male, living alone and being looked after on an ad-hoc basis by friends and neighbours.
After many phone calls between myself and various members of the hospital staff, all of which should be recorded and logged for future action, I was called y'day and told a bed was ready and I should come in for an MRI scan, clinical investigation etc. Approx 1 hour later I was called back and told the bed was no longer available. I was assured, previously, I would be in by 10/03 or 11/03/08.
The management and allocation of beds in your dept falls very, very short of the standards expected of the tax payers' NHS, after years of having billions of pounds thrown at it. Your male ward is far too small for the number of patients needed to be treated and you have been aware of this for some time and done nothing about it. The admittance procedure is a farce and actually inhumane. You are aware that patients are in agony, desperate for medical attention and you do next to nothing about improving the situation.
Do not write to me in any way with an apology, simply put into place procedures and practices for your staff to get on with job we pay them to do. No ifs, buts, if only's. Get on with managing the business of caring for unwell people.
My case is a long and complicated one, involving UCH A&E, various other depts and my G.P and legal action is being considered because of the catalogue of negligence. Your management of the ward does not help the situation one jot.
This letter is purely to make the point that the way you manage your wards, T8 for example, is a national disgrace.
Yours
G D C
still in bed some 5 weeks after initial incident.
p.s I might add that it is almost impossible to get through to ward T8 on the telephone and is something else that needs rectifying immediately. This is not a 3rd world country even if we have 3rd world hospital experiences.
Thursday, 20 March 2008
aftercare....less
its ok being discharged from hospital barely able to walk more than a few yards through the pain...but what happens when ur like me..live alone, and all ur m8's , neighbours, colleagues etc that have kept one provided with the basics....such as food and toiletries etc all disappear one by one for their easter hols.
it occurred to me that during all the tests in hospital.....nobody asked to see me walk, the very basic human activity that i'm finding most difficult. its clear to all who see me walking, that it's nigh on impossible yet.
i can get not much further, without a great deal of discomfort, than to the loo a few yards away.
i'm doing the exercise that the physio team have given me.......and they, the physio team, at least work in the modern world and email information and advice via the internet. pity Gavin doesn't do home visits.
not too sure about the change in meds....one of them or the mix of them is upsetting my stomach.....what to do??
attempted walk to shop.......5 min journey took a half hour or more and quite some pain......and ..oops!... couldn't carry the shopping. thank you to the manager of M& S for sending one of his staff members to carry my shopping home for me. unfortunately i then had to spend the rest of the evening and morning in bed until the pain subsided.
it occurred to me that during all the tests in hospital.....nobody asked to see me walk, the very basic human activity that i'm finding most difficult. its clear to all who see me walking, that it's nigh on impossible yet.
i can get not much further, without a great deal of discomfort, than to the loo a few yards away.
i'm doing the exercise that the physio team have given me.......and they, the physio team, at least work in the modern world and email information and advice via the internet. pity Gavin doesn't do home visits.
not too sure about the change in meds....one of them or the mix of them is upsetting my stomach.....what to do??
attempted walk to shop.......5 min journey took a half hour or more and quite some pain......and ..oops!... couldn't carry the shopping. thank you to the manager of M& S for sending one of his staff members to carry my shopping home for me. unfortunately i then had to spend the rest of the evening and morning in bed until the pain subsided.
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
thank you
thank you to the staff at UCH........UCHelpful compared to UCHell.
the ones who took the time to listen....the lovely dr p, the physio team who want to help get me moving again.......gavin could have arrived earlier in my stay, maybe, but i guess he's a tonic all by himself. the doctors generally were great and i realize the constraints within which they work and battle against.
the whole system needs to be a lot more joined up so people can move much more quickly and help heal patients at a greater speed. letter writing btw docs is slow and cumbersome and slows things down.
the ones who took the time to listen....the lovely dr p, the physio team who want to help get me moving again.......gavin could have arrived earlier in my stay, maybe, but i guess he's a tonic all by himself. the doctors generally were great and i realize the constraints within which they work and battle against.
the whole system needs to be a lot more joined up so people can move much more quickly and help heal patients at a greater speed. letter writing btw docs is slow and cumbersome and slows things down.
off u go...again
pretty sure the blogging thing got to the staff.....seemed to get an awful lot of attention.
the ward sister in charge never came near me again after i complained about the weekend staff and their useless care. neither did she bother to address the issues i raised with her. she knew i was writing a blog and said sulkily...'good'. however the nurses that dealt with me after her brief visit were all great..the lovely smiley argentinian lady.......and all the male nurses.....interesting in itself that the male nurses had no attitude at all. shame the nurse manager didn't have the decency to come and talk to me after her initial.....'i've heard it all before, you're just too unrealistic about the NHS' attitude. strangely enough i was probably the least demanding of patients from what i could hear going on around me. the homeless, drug addict types that were all over the ward seemed to get the most attention.
she didn't like hearing the word negligent at all. well ask ur weekend gals if they brushed the floor.....mopped or changed the beds....ask them how often they changed the water and ask them how often they went and asked the patients if they were ok.....ask them how long it took them to answer the buzzer to let not only visitors but the patients back onto the ward. ask them if they were rude and surly, she must know her staff or were they all agency people?
or is she afraid of the 'race' thing......the fact the horrors were all black women.
unfortunately they couldn't wait to get me out of the bed under the guise of ' we've done all we can here, for you'.
sent home in pretty much the same state i was when i went in, with the added extra of an e-coli bug caught whilst in there i believe. water borne???
i was quite literally bundled out of the place at 9.00 at night.
odd thing was the most useful inpatient physio came to show me a few exercises and said he'd be back to see me the next day......so at what level it was decided i should be ousted and the sooner the better is not entirely clear. i only knew about it when the nurse said we are waiting for your meds from the pharmacy so u can go home.
at the end of the day i'm back at home with just enough ability to get to the bathroom, wash, and get water from the kitchen.
and the possibility of some surgical procedure at a later day.
what is it about the british medical system that allows people to suffer such pain for an endless time?
the ward sister in charge never came near me again after i complained about the weekend staff and their useless care. neither did she bother to address the issues i raised with her. she knew i was writing a blog and said sulkily...'good'. however the nurses that dealt with me after her brief visit were all great..the lovely smiley argentinian lady.......and all the male nurses.....interesting in itself that the male nurses had no attitude at all. shame the nurse manager didn't have the decency to come and talk to me after her initial.....'i've heard it all before, you're just too unrealistic about the NHS' attitude. strangely enough i was probably the least demanding of patients from what i could hear going on around me. the homeless, drug addict types that were all over the ward seemed to get the most attention.
she didn't like hearing the word negligent at all. well ask ur weekend gals if they brushed the floor.....mopped or changed the beds....ask them how often they changed the water and ask them how often they went and asked the patients if they were ok.....ask them how long it took them to answer the buzzer to let not only visitors but the patients back onto the ward. ask them if they were rude and surly, she must know her staff or were they all agency people?
or is she afraid of the 'race' thing......the fact the horrors were all black women.
unfortunately they couldn't wait to get me out of the bed under the guise of ' we've done all we can here, for you'.
sent home in pretty much the same state i was when i went in, with the added extra of an e-coli bug caught whilst in there i believe. water borne???
i was quite literally bundled out of the place at 9.00 at night.
odd thing was the most useful inpatient physio came to show me a few exercises and said he'd be back to see me the next day......so at what level it was decided i should be ousted and the sooner the better is not entirely clear. i only knew about it when the nurse said we are waiting for your meds from the pharmacy so u can go home.
at the end of the day i'm back at home with just enough ability to get to the bathroom, wash, and get water from the kitchen.
and the possibility of some surgical procedure at a later day.
what is it about the british medical system that allows people to suffer such pain for an endless time?
Tuesday, 18 March 2008
Context
a team of dr's appeared in front of me today...curtains closed........and one leading consultant neuro specialist/surgeon. it appears there are rumours circulating that i am writing a blog about my experience at the hands of the NHS staff at UCH. gestapo like ( or good cop, bad cop scene) i was told that the hospital were doing all they could.....to get me dealt with....and that i was causing anguish amongst the staff who feared they were being named and shamed on a blog i was rumoured to be writing. well if they'd nothing to be ashamed of what were they worried about??? oh yes....they'd forgotten how to do the job of caring for people....without surly faces and a bad attitude. but of course the nice, decent, hardworking staff have no fear........i know who u are and so do the other patients.
the doctors i have seen are efficient and as far as it goes......keen to help me get back on my feet and to a normal life.
i was never angry with the ward staff here in UCH, it was always the A&E dept that were at fault for causing me nearly 6 weeks of miserable, almost entirely bed bound, pain. they were the doctors who ignored my immense pain and inability to walk and sent me home in the middle of the night with no painkillers despite being taken to them 2 hrs earlier in desperate pain and with the need of gas and air all the way to get me through the excruciatingly painful journey. wait and see what the cctv footage from camden and westminster show of me attempting to struggle back home. those doctors simply turned thjeir backs knowing i was unable to walk. i have a letter which will be scanned to this site from a leading hsp consultant stating this. its damning in its own right.
again the next day at home i collapsed with pain...a paramedic attended and i was given more gas and air...and 2 doses of morphine...an ambulance was sent for again....the doc prescribed the very strongest possible muscle relaxant to settle the spasm...but i was again sent home with some painkillers and a set of crutches, despite the protestations of a neighbour. "i fell into a loop hole of non medical nor orphapeadic issues"....so was sent crawling out the hospital again.
2 weeks later...stated i should have been seen by the on duty neurology doc and admitted. 2.5 weeks later the doctor wrote a letter and the opening line was.....'this man is in a bad way'.....did any doctor incl my G.P care.....not a jot. i had to fight to be seen..make nearly a hundred phone calls to get any help...all from my bed and with the help of a cocktail of painkillers.
and they wonder why...i'm unhappy with my treatment.
the doctors i have seen are efficient and as far as it goes......keen to help me get back on my feet and to a normal life.
i was never angry with the ward staff here in UCH, it was always the A&E dept that were at fault for causing me nearly 6 weeks of miserable, almost entirely bed bound, pain. they were the doctors who ignored my immense pain and inability to walk and sent me home in the middle of the night with no painkillers despite being taken to them 2 hrs earlier in desperate pain and with the need of gas and air all the way to get me through the excruciatingly painful journey. wait and see what the cctv footage from camden and westminster show of me attempting to struggle back home. those doctors simply turned thjeir backs knowing i was unable to walk. i have a letter which will be scanned to this site from a leading hsp consultant stating this. its damning in its own right.
again the next day at home i collapsed with pain...a paramedic attended and i was given more gas and air...and 2 doses of morphine...an ambulance was sent for again....the doc prescribed the very strongest possible muscle relaxant to settle the spasm...but i was again sent home with some painkillers and a set of crutches, despite the protestations of a neighbour. "i fell into a loop hole of non medical nor orphapeadic issues"....so was sent crawling out the hospital again.
2 weeks later...stated i should have been seen by the on duty neurology doc and admitted. 2.5 weeks later the doctor wrote a letter and the opening line was.....'this man is in a bad way'.....did any doctor incl my G.P care.....not a jot. i had to fight to be seen..make nearly a hundred phone calls to get any help...all from my bed and with the help of a cocktail of painkillers.
and they wonder why...i'm unhappy with my treatment.
Monday, 17 March 2008
doctor doctor can't u see i'm hurting.
settled today.......seemed like more of an A-Team.....doctor arrived with a posse of student docs in tow......and did a fairly thorough examination........some concern that like a lot of doctors he has pre-conceived ideas about issue at hand and not too open to looking for variations on a theme.
not convinced they view the wider picture and medication plays too great a part in their treatment and not practical solutions to resolving situation quickly. again he didn't ask to see me walk.
when will the scan happen???? promised since saturday!!!!
food by far the worst so far.......beyond bland.
fortunately had food brought in and some extra treats by kind hearted visitors.
important when u visit friends in hsp..that you're not in a grump urself......leave ur sulks at the door. its not helpful or at all conducive to good health. and don't blame the patient. yes i know keeping fit is a health hazard but hey, iv'e never smoked, hardly drink....have the healthiest diet possible....and exercise....whats so wrong with that. yes i tried too hard....so shoot me and just treat the smokers, the obese, the unemployed and the KFC munchers.
we've got to be honest about our hospitals they are not worth the billions thrown at them......the process through them is simply too slow..not helped by staff brought in from the 3rd world who simply loathe helping others and show it and are only here 4 the money. the cultural awareness is too obviously lacking and the divide too wide to be of any use. they would be better off staying in their own countries and running the prison service or becoming traffic wardens.......or helping mugabe with his everyday chores.
not convinced they view the wider picture and medication plays too great a part in their treatment and not practical solutions to resolving situation quickly. again he didn't ask to see me walk.
when will the scan happen???? promised since saturday!!!!
food by far the worst so far.......beyond bland.
fortunately had food brought in and some extra treats by kind hearted visitors.
important when u visit friends in hsp..that you're not in a grump urself......leave ur sulks at the door. its not helpful or at all conducive to good health. and don't blame the patient. yes i know keeping fit is a health hazard but hey, iv'e never smoked, hardly drink....have the healthiest diet possible....and exercise....whats so wrong with that. yes i tried too hard....so shoot me and just treat the smokers, the obese, the unemployed and the KFC munchers.
we've got to be honest about our hospitals they are not worth the billions thrown at them......the process through them is simply too slow..not helped by staff brought in from the 3rd world who simply loathe helping others and show it and are only here 4 the money. the cultural awareness is too obviously lacking and the divide too wide to be of any use. they would be better off staying in their own countries and running the prison service or becoming traffic wardens.......or helping mugabe with his everyday chores.
bed action
gosh....the bed's been changed.....and by a cheerful character....poss ....spanish......appalled that bed had not been made or cleaned up since i arrived. i've been put on infectious diseases ward because rheumatology is full....and is next door.
notes on a SCANdal
i picked up the notes on my hospital stay today, the same notes that a nurse had left on the next door patients bed and which i heard her tell the patient off 4 reading. he had read them because whilst reading them he called out my name which hitherto he hadn't known.
reading the notes today was a horrifying experience. questions i had not been asked, were recorded with 'patient refused to answer'. No explanation so far as to why they wrote that...because they can't explain it. It's a lie and they know it....they were too lazy to ask.
a question about mobility with scores 0-5.....i scored a 0....for fully mobile. i was wheeled into the ward 2 days earlier because i have been largely bed bound for nearly 6 weeks....are they serious?????
i'm still waiting for water an hour after the morning painkillers were handed to me.
b'fast.....cold white toast, i asked 4 brown bread. hot chocolate arr cold and made with water.
cornflakes with cold milk, came with warm milk. the woman who served it is a mean, nasty spiteful piece of work who shouldn't be allowed to serve pigs in a farm their daily swill.
a senior nurse arrived today (defensive and not a trace of a smile or kindness) however....she speaks english....wow!.....water was fetched and pillow arrived within secs of asking. something the gang of african/caribbean staff had failed to do all weekend.
reading the notes today was a horrifying experience. questions i had not been asked, were recorded with 'patient refused to answer'. No explanation so far as to why they wrote that...because they can't explain it. It's a lie and they know it....they were too lazy to ask.
a question about mobility with scores 0-5.....i scored a 0....for fully mobile. i was wheeled into the ward 2 days earlier because i have been largely bed bound for nearly 6 weeks....are they serious?????
i'm still waiting for water an hour after the morning painkillers were handed to me.
b'fast.....cold white toast, i asked 4 brown bread. hot chocolate arr cold and made with water.
cornflakes with cold milk, came with warm milk. the woman who served it is a mean, nasty spiteful piece of work who shouldn't be allowed to serve pigs in a farm their daily swill.
a senior nurse arrived today (defensive and not a trace of a smile or kindness) however....she speaks english....wow!.....water was fetched and pillow arrived within secs of asking. something the gang of african/caribbean staff had failed to do all weekend.
Sunday, 16 March 2008
cold Comfort
"tea or coffee?"
"no...do u have hot chocolate?".......polystyrene cup of mud arrives. brown powder with water.
"is it possible to have a biscuit?"
"no....only in the afternoon".
the glee when the nurse/nursing assistant is able to say....no...is the only time one sees a hint of a smile.
they simply do not want to do any act of kindness.
we live in 2008.....food plays a big part in the happiness and health of human beings.
bring back the volunteers who came round with a tea trolley and a smile.......give a choice of teas, ( we don't all like builders brew), get some filtered coffee.......be proud of giving ur patients the best not the worst available....look at where you waste money and spend it in areas that will make patients well again not worse. at the moment a stay in hospital is like a stay in a 18th century workhouse. not that the words 'please sir may i have some more',would ever be heard in UCH at the moment where the food and drinks are concerned.
dinner is served at 5.00p.m
breakfast....if u can call it that.....at 8.00a.m
that is some 15 hrs between meals.......so a custard cream (yup thats the choice) in the evening is not exactly asking for a take out from the wolseley ....(www.thewolseley.com)
"no...do u have hot chocolate?".......polystyrene cup of mud arrives. brown powder with water.
"is it possible to have a biscuit?"
"no....only in the afternoon".
the glee when the nurse/nursing assistant is able to say....no...is the only time one sees a hint of a smile.
they simply do not want to do any act of kindness.
we live in 2008.....food plays a big part in the happiness and health of human beings.
bring back the volunteers who came round with a tea trolley and a smile.......give a choice of teas, ( we don't all like builders brew), get some filtered coffee.......be proud of giving ur patients the best not the worst available....look at where you waste money and spend it in areas that will make patients well again not worse. at the moment a stay in hospital is like a stay in a 18th century workhouse. not that the words 'please sir may i have some more',would ever be heard in UCH at the moment where the food and drinks are concerned.
dinner is served at 5.00p.m
breakfast....if u can call it that.....at 8.00a.m
that is some 15 hrs between meals.......so a custard cream (yup thats the choice) in the evening is not exactly asking for a take out from the wolseley ....(www.thewolseley.com)
why such small beds?
at a time when human beings, generation on generation, are getting taller and wider, why, like london bus seats, are the hospital beds getting smaller?
patients with chronic back pain, are in beds, that the good men of Alcatraz on their wooden boards and with a single blanket, would find uncomfortable.
the, too small, thin sheet that covers the 4" thick plastic mattress slips straight off the bed and needs retrieving with every turn. a thin blanket and 1 flimsy nylon pillow completes the journey to dream land. no nurse comes near to sort bed out and i hear her tell the patient next door he can sort his own out..and she's too busy..too busy doing nothing from what i saw.
2 days later i'm still asking for an extra pillow to put btw my knees to ease the pain back sufferers will know all too well. a pillow the doctor suggested i have.
i cannot stretch at all......when stretching is needed and part of my treatment.
God save us from the NHS because the staff wont.
i should add to this......3 days later i told a male nurse the bed was impossible to stretch out on..he simply extended it...why did the weekend staff not do that??/was so simple.
patients with chronic back pain, are in beds, that the good men of Alcatraz on their wooden boards and with a single blanket, would find uncomfortable.
the, too small, thin sheet that covers the 4" thick plastic mattress slips straight off the bed and needs retrieving with every turn. a thin blanket and 1 flimsy nylon pillow completes the journey to dream land. no nurse comes near to sort bed out and i hear her tell the patient next door he can sort his own out..and she's too busy..too busy doing nothing from what i saw.
2 days later i'm still asking for an extra pillow to put btw my knees to ease the pain back sufferers will know all too well. a pillow the doctor suggested i have.
i cannot stretch at all......when stretching is needed and part of my treatment.
God save us from the NHS because the staff wont.
i should add to this......3 days later i told a male nurse the bed was impossible to stretch out on..he simply extended it...why did the weekend staff not do that??/was so simple.
what's for dinner, Jane?
Those of you fortunate enough to have seen Whatever Happened to Baby Jane will remember the scene well: the wheelchair-bound Blanche reaching fearfully for the silver plate-cover, her horror at the sight of the dead rat lurking beneath. Here on the Euston Road, barely a mile from The Ivy, ( www.the-ivy.co.uk) similar fare is dished out to the hapless hospitalized.
Today's lunch, a burnt offering served up by the wildly mis-named Comfort, featured deep-fried potatoes, polka-dotted black with rot. Three small morsels - ha'pennies rather than medallions -of lamb, had clearly been finished off in the hospital incinerator. Worse still was the cauliflower - a forlorn, tasteless little growth of battleship-grey, faintly redolent of low-tide bilge.
Aintcha hungry?
Today's lunch, a burnt offering served up by the wildly mis-named Comfort, featured deep-fried potatoes, polka-dotted black with rot. Three small morsels - ha'pennies rather than medallions -of lamb, had clearly been finished off in the hospital incinerator. Worse still was the cauliflower - a forlorn, tasteless little growth of battleship-grey, faintly redolent of low-tide bilge.
Aintcha hungry?
misery ala kathy bates school of nursing
is there a single nurse at UCH who should really be doing the job?
do they care at all?
not in my experience......Lord Mancroft would have found his experience, at the hands of NHS nurses at the hospital he was in, a dream, in comparison to the nightmare of the UCH gals.
i say gals because the male nurses have none of the stroppiness and can't be bothered attitude of the lazy gals......unfortunately they (the male nurses) are not around much.
do they care at all?
not in my experience......Lord Mancroft would have found his experience, at the hands of NHS nurses at the hospital he was in, a dream, in comparison to the nightmare of the UCH gals.
i say gals because the male nurses have none of the stroppiness and can't be bothered attitude of the lazy gals......unfortunately they (the male nurses) are not around much.
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