"Terrible experience at Ealing hospital"

I am currently pregnant and have multiple fibroids which grew larger during the pregnancy.

I was sent to Ealing hospital for my antenatal care. I feel this happened because my GP did not fill in my hospital choices on time for me to be accepted elsewhere. From the start of the pregnancy, I had bleeding complications. I wanted to be sent to a particular hospital but my GP instead sent me to the A&E at Ealing hospital. I was then stuck with this hospital for the rest of my pregnancy which I did not want.

In summer of 09 I had to be admitted in the labour ward due to extreme pain from the fibroids. The nursing staff injected me with morphine, but then I felt they should have monitored my baby’s heart but they did not do this. I believe I was 19 weeks at the time. I know a little bit about drugs, morphine, an opioid, and I believe it can affect the foetal heart rate so I would have thought it is quite important to monitor it. When both my husband and I kicked up a fuss, the nurse made a comment to my husband which he thought implied that she would only monitor my baby's heart rate if he went home. I felt terrified that my baby may have been distressed and no one was doing anything to monitor it.

The following day I was sent down to the sonographer for a scan. I felt this person’s bedside manner was not very good. Due to the extreme pain I was barely able to walk. The nurse handed my husband a wheelchair and told him to take me down, she did not seem to want to do it. When the sonographer placed the scanner on my abdomen and pressed down, it caused me to wince. I felt she did not have the right attitude with me as it seemed like she was raising her voice whilst she was asking me what was wrong. This made me frustrated with her attitude and it made me loose my patience and I began to raise my voice back at her. I feel it was only when I did this that I was able to be treated with some respect.

I was in this ward for 4 days and I don’t think my bed sheets were changed, considering the sheets had food stains on them.

On the last day I finally got fed up of being treated in the ways described above and I discharged myself as I just wanted to go home. A registrar approached me and told me the problem could be my appendix needing removal. Having been there for 4 days they ran blood tests but why had they not checked the problem could have been the appendix, especially after 4 days!

It was suggested I stay one more night, but I was so fed up with the way I had been treated I just wanted to go home.

At 33 weeks I went in with abdominal pain which was not due to fibroids. I was put in a room where I found spiders and other creepy crawlies. It made me wonder when the last time was they actually even cleaned this room!

I feel I have had the least pleasant experience of my lifetime in this hospital. Having come from Africa, I now think the hospitals there are cleaner and they provide better health care in a third world country than they do here in the UK.