"My hospital stay."

I was admitted to Medway Hospital via A & E, and what followed was a catalogue of inefficiency, bureaucracy and lack of patient care from most of the staff. I was seen shortly after arrival and was put in cubicle 3 to begin treatment, within minutes I was removed from this cubicle and moved next to the staff positions.

After some hours I was moved into cubicle 13. When I returned from tests this had been filled and so I was dumped in the corridor with at least 10 others. There I stayed for nearly 24 hours before being moved to a ward. Despite many complaints to the nursing staff, for which my husband was even threatened with ejection from the hospital, nothing more was done for me during this time.

I was due to have an enema and painkillers as I was in agony but was told that no treatment could be done in corridors. Even when a cubicle became free they would not take me into it, give me the necessary treatment and then take me back to the corridor. I was promised the enema, then told that I could not have it because it had not been prescribed. When I waddled round to see senior staff and ask about this, I was told that I was due to have it and that it had been prescribed.  In the end it was two days before I was actually given it.

I had nothing to eat on the day before my admission so I was given dinner in the hospital, I was then told that I should not have had anything to eat as I might need an operation (which I did not need in the end) or scans so I had no food for all of the next day. For hours no nursing staff saw any of the corridor patients, no drinks offered, no food, no care. When a meal eventually arrived it was inedible and a patient on the trolley next to me could not even reach hers.

Every time I spoke to a nurse, it was the same reply, we’re busy. Every time my husband watched them they seemed to be either chatting or on computers. Would it get better on the ward? The answer was no. More of the same, it is as if the patients are an inconvenience. There are signs around saying respect the staff, it is a shame the same doesn't always apply to the patients. For the 5 nights of my stay it was much the same. Meals were usually unedible when they arrived. The drinks service was worse, sometimes going hours without a hot drink.

My husband was providing things that I needed such as food, water and hot drinks. I was told off by a nurse for getting my own tea from the kitchen, they treated me with totally disdain then got angry when I snapped back. I was in acute pain, in a confused state, only wanting hot water but that still did not stop them treating me like a befuddled old lady.

None of my regular medicines, which I have to take daily, were given. The ward was unbearably warm and patients had fans on them. I was to be discharged on a weekend on the Saturday but at the last minute that was changed to Sunday. The Sunday came and went, by the time the doctors came round it was too late.

The next day was also an absolute shambles. I was woken before 6am to have an antibiotic injection. The nurse inserted the syringe but instead of the liquid entering my arm it leaked everywhere so they wrapped tissue round it. I dozed off like all the other patients in the ward and at 07.30 when the drinks came round the person delivering them thought we were all asleep and did not stop. Breakfast was cornflakes and a small orange juice, nothing else. Later that morning I went to get a cup of tea and the 4 nurses standing round chatting said bluntly no, that I was to go back to bed. They gave me no reason for this. I did then raise my voice and was told that they are busy. A helper got it for me immediately.

Another nurse came to give me my next antibiotic injection and once again this leaked, I said forget it as I was still trying to drink my tea. Just then the doctor arrived and said to me do I want to go home - to which I said yes I did. I was told that I would have to wait for my discharge paperwork and my prescription. In the mid afternoon I telephoned my husband, in a very distressed state saying that I was still waiting. My husband visited the hospital pharmacy to collect my prescription and discovered that it had not even been requested. It was only then that we received excellent staff assistance from the pharmacist and the ward nurse, who sent us home and brought the paperwork and prescription round to our house themselves.

I don't know when I would have gotten home if we hadn't enquired, as nobody was wise to the mistake made. The hospital management seemed oblivious to any of the problems with that place, this is not the first time, in fact it is the fourth time that we have had serious misgivings about Medway Hospital. They issue out complaint forms, but seem to take no notice whatsoever if you do complain. It is difficult to criticise nursing staff who do have a very difficult job to do and some went far beyond their duties. But many of them didn't give any time to actually care for the often vulnerable people in their charge.

The smallest requests such as toilet assistance were often ignored until it was too late. If you asked for a drink, forget it.

I feel that there are systematic failings in the hospital which need to be urgently examined.