"Lack of care and respect from nurses and doctors."

At the end of March, my partner phoned NHS 24 at around 6: 30 am- who suggested an ambulance - as they thought I may suffering from meningitis. The ambulance staff then wondered was it the onset of a stroke and I was taken to the RAH. I was seen quite promptly by a doctor who made a total hash of taking my blood and filled the form in wrong - stated she left a catheter in my hand but she took it out immediately after and did no after care. She also gave me 3 Aspirin and claimed she thought it may be a Subarachnoid haemorrhage, so I was given a CT scan. I was then placed into the Medical admissions ward where there was a very rude nurse who I felt could not have cared any less about me.

I saw another doctor who said that they couldn't see anything on the scan and that they'd probably do a lumbar puncture and wait for more blood tests. This was at around 12 noon. I was told a Consultant would see me in the afternoon a decision would be made. I had one blood pressure taken by a nurse. Rude nurse and some other HCSW came and woke me up and immediately took my heart rate that they stated was pretty high but hey I'd just woken up and that was it until almost 23: 00.

No one took my BP or pulse, no one asked was I in pain. I was then moved to Ward 1. In this time I was offered no pain relief, and was not told what was wrong despite repeatedly asking. I felt No one cared.

Again, no vitals taken until around 10 am the next day and a doctor came at around 11: 30. I have to say the Ward Sister and Students on Ward 1 were outstanding - the doctors I saw were not. The doctor examined me and saw I was in pain, still had bad vision and confusion/dizziness and thought it may be a mini stroke or bleed on the brain. The doctor said we would definitely do a lumbar puncture today to find out the cause.

The ward sister remarked how I apparently should have had an IV but the doctor had marked it in wrong and not filled out paper work or made an after care plan and that I had no diagnosis, care plan or even any information bar my address - I had to explain everything to every member of staff. The ward sister was very concerned that no one had seen me when they suspected meningitis or stroke-related illness.

After this I had my vitals taken then at 17: 15 another doctor came in and said "We've ran out of time and aren't doing the lumbar puncture today". I had already been feeling like a time waster as I thought if no one was bothering to help me or see what was wrong, then I must be fine. I asked the doctor "Why not today? And if not can I go home? " and was told that the consultant will decide that tomorrow or some time. The doctor stood to leave and I asked them to wait so I could ask some questions about what they thought it was and the doctor walked away. He mumbled and walked away from me. The ward sister rushed in to see me after and I was in floods of tears. I asked the sister to call the doctor back and wanted to self discharge. After 3 hours, the doctor had ignored the sister's request and left. It took till 20: 30 for another doctor from a different shift to come down and let me self discharge, with various nurses getting upset and saying it wasn't "safe" for me to leave and trying to persuade me to at least come back for the LP. If I was that unwell and "unsafe" then why was no one helping me?

The doctor eventually let me leave and there has been no follow up. Since then I have had memory loss, speech problems and constant headaches. I was left so upset and distressed from this experience that I decided to leave working for the NHS as I felt so disillusioned and am scared to visit a doctor again.

So in short, I never found out what happened as my notes weren't passed on properly to my GP apparently, but rather I suspect there were no notes taken as no one wanted to bother with me.