"Poor care and compassion from doctors"

Whilst at work around 5 weeks ago, I was suffering from severe pelvic pain so I visited the 8 to 8 centre at The Ironstone centre. The GP examined me and also took a sample of urine. The urine showed blood but she suggested that I should not be in as much pain as I was upon examination and advised me to see my GP to refer me for ultra sound. She prescribed me antibiotics which I took for a week with little effect.

I made an appointment with my GP, a week later and expressed my concerns. This GP never examined me and basically wanted to prescribe me more antibiotics. I stressed that I needed referring for an urgent ultrasound, as the location of the pain was worrying me and due to the high prevalence of ovarian and stomach cancer in our family I was quite anxious. The GP never once logged onto my notes on the computer and made all notes in a diary. I left the surgery waiting for an ultrasound appointment.

Three weeks passed and I had still not heard about an appointment and was still in a lot of pain. I had been told that the referral had been sent through to ultrasound.

The other day, I was at work and experienced severe pelvic pain and on going to the toilet I saw a lot of blood in my urine. I decided to take myself to A and E as I was quite concerned and the pain was almost unbearable.

I saw a GP, who tested my sample and sent me down for an x ray to rule out kidney stones. I was asked to sit back in the waiting room where the GP came back to me and told me all results were clear. The GP did not take me into a private room and my results were given to me in the waiting area. I was advised to go back to my GP and ask that the ultrasound was re sent as urgent and that the hospital had no power to refer me for one.

Leaving very upset, I had previously that morning made an appointment for 6pm that evening. I did not see my usual GP and the manner of the GP I saw was appalling. This new GP barely gave me eye contact, and seemed quite unsure what to do, but did agree to re send my scan referral through as urgent.

The next morning, I rang ultrasound to see if the GP had done so, but they in fact had not and I was told it could be 3/4 weeks before I would get my appointment. I called my GP surgery and the receptionist said that a note would be put through for the GP. Later that afternoon I called the surgery again to be told it still had not been actioned. I was very distressed on the phone and the receptionist said they would ring ultrasound. An appointment arrived on the Saturday morning for an appointment in a couple of weeks time.

On the Sunday, I was at home and woke with the pains worse than ever. I had felt a tearing feeling in my lower pelvic area and was very distressed by the pain. I had been taking Paracetomol and it was barely taking the pain away. My daughter took me to Casualty.

On seeing the nurse in the booking in I was crying and very clearly upset and told her I was frantic about cancer. She was very nice and assured me that she would ask the GP to collect blood to be tested for cancer markers.

I was called through to the GP who examined me and also took a sample. The sample again suggested white cells and blood but no infection. On examination and clearly in pain he said that he was not happy for me to go home as I was showing signs of ovarian accident and that he would like a Gynaecologist to see me.

I waited and eventually saw a doctor. On sitting down I felt very uncomfortable with the doctor's manner, when asked why I'd come and what I hoped to get from seeing them. I was horrified and said that I just wanted someone to help me, as I was very concerned about the cancer side of things. I explained everything all over again and clearly there had been no communication from the previous GP. My stomach was very bloated, I was in pain and feeling very distressed and was feeling very sick. The doctor offered to take swabs and give me an internal examination.

The doctor entered the room with a nurse and I was asked to lay on the bed. No blanket was given to me to cover myself with, only 2 squares of blue tissue. The examination was very painful and I asked how long my results would take. The doctor said that I would not be contacted and that I would have to make an appointment with my GP a week later, to access my results. No blood was taken and as there was no need, as I would have the scan before the results came through. I expressed my concerns about cancer and was told that if it was another week it wouldn't hurt. I was absolutely horrified at the bedside manner and lack of compassion I received from this doctor. I felt defeated yet again and my daughter brought me home. No medication was given, and despite me saying that paracetamol was not taking the edge off, the doctor still suggested I still take them.

I am still bloated, was violently sick yesterday 5 times and the pain last night was excruciating. I still have to wait until Tuesday for my scan and have rung to see if there are any cancellations. There are not.

I will have to continue being sick and being in pain for the next 7 days, even after that I will be waiting another 7 days for my results. I have never at any point been offered pain relief and no antibiotics.