"I was at risk of dying but nurse didn't stop me signing out"

I was sleeping rough on the streets of Nottingham and was addicted to heroin and was took into hospital because I collapsed down an alley way and my friend rang the ambulance.

When they came to pick me up, I'm convinced they just thought I wanted somewhere to stay for the night as it was the middle of winter and they just took me to hospital. I was left in a cubicle where one nurse came in and asked what the problem was. I told her I had a pain in my groin and she asked if I was using any drugs. I told her I had been an addict for twenty years and I lived on the street.

Three hours later the doctor came and asked the nurse to take some blood and because the nurse couldn’t find a vein I had to do it myself. Then after that they put me on a ward with just elderly people hooked up to machines and left me till the morning.

When the nurses came round with breakfast I asked if I could have my methadone and she said not till I had seen the doctor. I waited till 2pm and signed myself out so I could get my methadone. The nurse said that I was at risk of dying because they didn’t know what I had but didn’t stop me signing out.