"Unnecessary Hardship - Policies need urgent..."

From the outset, I wish to stress that pre/post treatment, my Consultant, all the doctors and the Occupational Therapists involved in my care were good, informative, reassuring and caring.

My experiences relate to the level of care post-treatment, by other staff....

1. Treated with disrespect by post-treatment nurse and assistant.

2. Thereafter, transferred to the ward. During my time there, no consistency amongst nurses and assistants. Some were good and understood that I needed help. But some were pressuring me to recover quickly and refused to help me.

3. The staff member who provided the meals was bossy. Except for the fact that I am an adult – and they had no right to speak to me in that way.

(Incidentally, the meals were tasteless. If I dared to request an alternative, this was rudely refused).

4. Question: Who has their dinner at 5.30pm (whether you are hungry at that time or not)? Answer: The patients. Then it’s a 15hr wait til breakfast.

5. There were also entries in patients’ case books (and not just mine) that were inaccurate / omitted. Seriously concerning....

6. Serious issue with some staff not observing hygiene rules, after they tend to a patient (to reduce the spread of bacteria / infection).

7. From what I experienced and observed, the staff seem to do most tasks at their own convenience. There seems to be no urgency, in terms of actually tending to a patient / dealing with requests.

8. Despite the ‘qualifications’ (whatever they claim to hold) of two specific staff members, I was treated with contempt, a lack of empathy and disbelief. They had no real understanding of the level of pain I was in, let alone appreciating that each patient is individual in terms of their healing and recovery process. They seemed to think it is ok to humiliate me, and in such a public way. Who on earth gave them a job?? 9.

Many other issues... list is endless.

To conclude: one of the fundamental principles of the NHS Constitution states that patients should be treated with respect.

Instead of recuperating, I faced unnecessary hardship and became distressed. As a result, I was begging to go home. Unacceptable.