"Chaotic Service"

I was sent to East Surrey Hospital (Surgical Assessment Unit) by my GP for a second opinion. I was quickly assessed blood taken and asked to wait and told nil by mouth, so far so good! Eventually, some 2 1/2 hrs later I was seen by a doctor who also wanted a 3rd opinion, so far the considered opinion was appendix ! I was asked to wait again while they found another doctor. 1hr later I was told I would be admitted and seen in the morning, I asked what about my medication that was at home and was told not to worry as they would sort it all out on the ward. So phoned my wife who came up with night clothes and wash bag, upon arrival at the ward I was told they did not have my medication needs and I should have brought them with me, so with that my wife has to go all the way home and back for them. then after lots of confusion the correct meds were administered however the nurse was quite insistent I should have an injection of blood thinning meds, apparently this is standard practice.! All this without a thought as to any conflict with my existing meds, I refused as I feel this is unacceptable to give a patient medication that at that early stage is quite unnecessary. At 11.00 I was given a roll, a cup of tea and a yogurt. Having then changed for bed I then had to go and find a nurse to make the bed as it had no bedding on it, they were not very pleased and did a half hearted job. Having used the bottle in the night I went to use the hand wash at the bottom of the bed it was empty !

During my stay no one used it and it was not changed !During the night patients were being brought in and a porter crashed into my bed waking me with a start. In the morning at shift change it was total chaos Night shift just wanted to go and day shift couldn't care less about a proper hand over. I was back on nil by mouth until the specialist had made a decision re my care. They came early with entourage and said it was not appendix but gallstones, and said they wanted a scan of my abdomen and then I could be discharged and treated as an out patient. By lunch time I was still waiting, nil by mouth, whereupon another doctor said they were doing the discharge papers and I wasn't having a scan before I went so then there was a disagreement with the charge nurse and doctor, still nil by mouth. I pointed out I was hungry thirsty and fed up eventually discharged 2.30 with no food or drink. Gloves were not worn by many of the staff, general cleanliness was poor and med rounds were full of interruptions, some of the staff were rude to patients. Out of three other patients being discharged that morning their experiences were all as poor as mine, one hand didn't know what the other was doing, there were too many staff all doing the same thing and getting stressed with each other.