"Abandoned in Pain on ED"

Last week I went from feeling under the weather to being in acute pain in less than 12hrs. After contacting 111 I was quickly assessed as needing to see someone face to face. After a 3hr wait I eventually got a call to arrange an out of hours appointment at West Cornwall Hospital in the early hrs of Wednesday morning.

I was assessed quickly & thoroughly by the on call Doctor at West Cornwall, who told me I needed to transfer myself to Treliske urgently to be assessed by the surgical team. He made calls and reassured me that when I presented at Royal Cornwall Hospital Treliske Emergency Department, that the team would be expecting my arrival. Sadly this was

not the case & pretty much where the positive experience ended.

On arrival at ED, whilst it was true I was admitted quickly to a bay, once a cannula had been inserted & my bloods had been taken, I was then left with nothing but a sick bowl & bottle of water behind a curtain for the next 4 hrs. Whilst in ED I had no access to pain relief, despite repeatedly asking for some. As it turns out the Doctors had failed to risk assess me. Rather than tell me what was going on & chase it up, each staff member just walked away telling me  that they would go get some for me, never to return again. 

The night staff on ED seemed to be in a complete malaise. At one point I needed the toilet & had to prompt a staff member to take me to the toilets, as I didn’t feel very stable. I even had to suggest that it would be a good idea to collect a urine sample, & then hang around the corridor whilst they located the equipment to collect a sample, as my symptoms suggested something was going on with my kidneys.

In the 4 hrs I was there I overheard conversations between staff at the nursing station that gave me the impression that the night staff were simply biding their time till the morning handover. They sounded low and demoralised.

During the morning handover I also overheard a conversation about sending home bank staff, which would leave the staff on duty facing the several hours alone with responsibility for a 8 Bay area. I really felt for the staff as it was clear to me that they had no say in the matter.

The new team left on duty for the day openly spoke to one another about how low they were feeling, which was really sad & not reassuring to hear as a patient. Fortunately for me 2 junior registrars eventually turned up at my bay after a 4 hour wait & had me transferred up to the ESU for further investigation. 

Before I left a nurse, who could see I was in extreme pain, made the porter wait whilst she dispensed some pain relief before being transferred up to wait again. 

I then was taken up to a very bright & open surgical lounge by a kind & patient porter, where I struggled to get comfortable whilst waiting. I’m AuDHD & have sensory diffs, which I had made staff aware of but no one seemed to understand, so I did my best to cope by curling up in the chair in my sunglasses & headphones. 

It was obvious that I was very uncomfortable, was struggling with sensory overwhelm & in a lot of pain, resulting in me struggling not to meltdown in the subsequent consultation with a Doctor & medical student & a sonography examination with two jolly staff members I really didn’t want to explode on, because they were just trying to make the experience more pleasant.

When I was returned to the lounge where a passing nurse finally picked up I was struggling, so she personally escorted me to a bedded bay, more pain relief & privacy to reregulate.

During the next 24 hours on C bay on Emergency Surgical Unit (ESU) I was cared for by some wonderful nurses & Health Care Assistant’s (HCAs), however only one of them was curious about my needs as an Neuro Divergent (ND) person or attempted to navigate my sensitivities.  

After a night on C bay out of the blue I was told that it had been decided the learning disabilities team needed to come see me, which I didn’t feel was very appropriate as I don’t have a learning disability & any additional support would have better placed over 24 hours earlier- it felt very tick box & they in fact never turned up!

After 36hrs I was eventually discharged with an inconclusive diagnosis & a reluctantly arranged referral for something else that had been seen on my CT. I believe I have had a missed diagnosis of kidney stones, which passed whilst abandoned in ED/waiting for scans.

It’s also clear that awareness of Neurodiversity, training around Sensory differences & having appropriate conversations about/with ND SU’s is solely needed (FYI I do not “have Autism with mild traits”, as someone wrote in my notes). 

My experience I feel, clearly shows that staff at RCHT are on their knees and the NHS is struggling. I went to access treatment I didn’t think I could get at home, but would have had better access to pain relief & support there.