"Unbelievable pain"

I was referred by Musgrove park to West Mendip Hospital for a skin graft from my neck to my scalp, being told that they are very good.

On arrival the reception seemed uninterested and unwelcoming,

I went and met the surgeon who advised me after injections that I will not feel a thing and can nod off to sleep and smiled,

After  6 or 7 very painful injections in my head and similar in my neck they asked me if i can feel something he was doing on my head. Heck I can! They provided more injections but it was not fully numbed and they proceeded with the graft,

90 mins of this and I was gritting my teeth and squeezing my hands so hard it was like torture. Near the end the surgeon stapled my head like a piece of plywood and I said that's painful, and they replied that rugby players used to have their scalps stapled and continue playing and laughed.  I was appalled at the lack of care and empathy for me.  They ripped a large plaster off the hairs on my chest again and laughed.

At the end I was put in the recovery room with a young person who had witnessed this and said they must know I was in great pain.  They gave me my discharge notes and said sorry. I was not even offered a cup of tea. I  guess my blood pressure was off the chart.

I had a Melanoma and last November had a large incision on my shoulder removed in Southmead.  I felt very little and they were so kind caring, you cannot compare the difference in care.

Here even the nurses seemed inept standing in front of me with soaked gauzes full of my blood and putting the wrong size covering on my head, but the surgeon almost seemed to enjoy being rough and causing pain.

I tried in vain to have my stitches and staples out by someone else but my Doctor seemed reluctant to get involved.  I will never go back as it felt like being treated in the 1950's.  How these surgeons are trained or allowed to practice is beyond me.