"10 Days in Hull Royal"

On 24/08/15, I had been to A&E and was admitted to ward 90, the staff here weren't even going to let me say goodbye to my family (because of the time) until my mum had insisted.

Whilst on the ward there were numerous occasions on which I felt that the care I received was inadequate.

First of all, the insertion of a cannula by a certain nurse.. Due to the fact that I had "rubbish veins", and the cannula became blocked quickly, I had to have a new one every day. I had told this nurse that I was afraid of needles. In their first attempt, in my right forearm they proceeded to rake around trying to find the vein. Whilst doing this, they were laughing and said things like, "I can't believe you're crying over this." and "I do this to 90 year olds every day." As you can imagine, this was quite degrading and after their second attempt, in my elbow, I asked them to leave.

Secondly, the amount of antibiotics that I missed because of the cannula issues was ridiculous. I'd have thought that once they'd realised that I needed a new cannula every day, then it would be scheduled between doses. On one evening, I had missed my 6'oclock dose and the doctor came to cannulate at 8.15pm. At 8.30pm I asked the nurse to set them up and I was told that I'm not a priority right now, and then they proceeded to make a bed. at 9pm I asked again for antibiotics, and they told me I would either get my 6o'clock or my 12o'clock... but I won't get both.

Thirdly, the timing of antibiotics. As most people know, antibiotics are supposed to be given at timely intervals to ensure the levels in the blood are maintained rather than going up and down. It was very rare that I would receive them on time. Some times, they'd be 3 hours late.

Another issue was the amount of time I had to wait for pain relief on some occasions. I was taking oxycontin twice a day and then oxynorm as needed. One afternoon at 4pm, I requested the oxynorm as I was in a lot of pain. I received the pain relief at 7pm. And then staff were complaining that I'd not touched my food despite me being in agony and having lost appetite. As I was admitted on the Monday, my drugs were due to be renewed on the next Monday, which happened to be a bank holiday. And I was told I can't have any strong painkillers because it can't be prescribed on a bank holiday. Outrageous, I know.

Also, my consultant had requested that I had my bloods taken everyday after my operation and reviewed daily to monitor progress. My operation was on the Wednesday, my bloods were taken on the Friday and following Wednesday (supposed to be Monday but bank holiday... can't take bloods!)

Although it wasn't often that I saw a Doctor, they were all really helpful. There were a handful of nurses on the ward which were really nice and helpful but they were let down by their rude, arrogant and inadequate colleagues.