"Hospital stay"

I had TLIF operation in November in Musgrove Park Hospital Taunton. The anesthetists were great, my surgeon was wonderful. As soon as the operation was finished they rang my partner to inform him. Once back on the ward there were a few staff that were well short of being caring and compassionate.

There was difficulty with my medications, most of which I brought with me from home. They wouldn't give them to me as they weren't prescribed for me by hospital doctor. I have Rheumatoid Arthritis, osteoarthritis and had just had surgery to my spine, so I needed my medication. Rather than contact the pain management team, they handed this on to the night staff who handed it on to the day staff, by which time I was crying in pain, hardly able to move, but needing to, to ensure the success of the surgery.

Eventually the next day the doctor asked for Oromorph to be administered up to every 2 hours as well as my other meds, to manage my break through pain. I asked for oromorph only when my pain score reached to 7 to avoid it escalating to a 9 or 10, by which time it would be very difficult to bring back down. I was told I had to wait. It had been 3 hours since taking any pain killers so I asked again and again I was told no. I ended up in a huge amount of pain and once again unable to mobilise much. I asked the nurse to contact the doctor so I could talk to them about my medication.

A little while later I overheard a nurse speaking to the doctor telling them that I was just being a nuisance asking for pain relief all the time disrupting the ward. The doctor came to talk to me and put a plan in place to manage my pain. I was to have my own medications with the addition of higher doses of the prescribed drugs and oromorph every 2 hours. I felt relieved and hopeful I would have a good night.

The night nurse again would not give me the oromorph when required. I had to ask them for a list of my meds and their frequency. When they got to the oromorph they gave the frequency as 4 hourly and I told them the doctor had prescribed it every two hours. They just said, ah yes but you have to ask for it. I could not believe how ridiculous the conversation had gotten. That morning one of the pain team visited me to tell me they had reviewed my meds and my conditions and had decided to up the oromorph to double the original prescription. 

During my stay I have met some very dedicated people some extremely caring people. However, I found a few individuals to be dismissive and unprofessional, and I would not want anyone I loved to come to this department and experience this treatment. 

Human beings have a right to be treated with respect and if someone decides to have a career in healthcare I believe that compassion and empathy are the two most necessary qualities to have. I have been made to feel worthless, I have felt ridiculed and too frightened to ask for pain relief when some nurses were on duty. No one should be made to feel like that at a time in their lives when they are at their most vulnerable and frightened. I was flown over on my own and have no family in the uk. What I needed was reassurance and kindness which I would show to anyone in my situation 

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