"kingsmill Hospital"

I was admitted to kingsmill hospital due to have severe pain in the right abdomen. I arrived at the Emergency department around 2pm straight away the receptionist spoke to me and asked me what was wrong I began to feel faint and she asked if I was ok. The receptionist was very kind towards me and she straight away knew I was unwell. Within minutes of sitting down I was called by a triage nurse who held the door open for me and immediately sat me down. The nurse was very gentle with me and understood that I was in severe pain, she took my vitals and discussed with me that I had a high temperature and high pulse therefore she suspected? sepsis? appendicitis and needed to move to the majors section of A&E due to the severity of my illness. This nurse is a credit to the A&E department and I cannot thank her enough for listening to me and for being sympathetic and gentle. I was taken through to the Majors a&e by another lovely nurse who found me a bed to make me more comfortable before she left she wished me well. I was told that a nurse would be with me very shortly, within 10 minutes a nurse came and discussed with me that very shortly another staff member would be coming to put in a cannula and to take some blood. Straight after a doctor came to speak to me he gave me dignity and asked if I wished for my career to stay before he asked any personal questions and whilst asking questions didn’t speak loudly so other patients could not hear. He felt my stomach and saw that I was in extreme amounts of pain therefore discussed with me that he would like to put me onto an IV drip he was very sympathetic and apologized for the pain pressing my stomach caused and also asked me if I had any concerns.

Another member of staff came to put in a cannula as she did this she spoke to me which helped relieve some anxiety. I was then brought through a drip and the nurse connected me to the drip. Within 10 minutes the same doctor came round to check that I was alright and to see how I was feeling right away he walked in and said to my mum and me that I was in lots of pain therefore he would like to make the drip go faster. He then said that he has called down the surgeons to come and assess my condition and then said if you need anything please let me know. Despite the department being very busy he still managed to regularly check up on me and listen to any concerns I had/ deal with them appropriately. He reassured me that things will be ok.

A surgeon came to see me and asked me some questions, he then went on to press my stomach in places that didn’t hurt however when he went to press my lower right abdomen I pushed his hand away as it was very painful for him to touch. He then tried to press it again and I said no to him as it hurt. He then said “You need to let me feel your stomach so we know what to do” in a sharp tone of voice. I then began to become upset, he said that I was going to be moved up to ward 14 (SAU) for assessment and for better pain relief so I can be examined better. I was moved up by a porter and a lovely HCA. When I was taken up to the ward on the trolley the nurse said that the person that is in my bed hasn’t left yet so I was told to be taken to the ambulatory clinic waiting room. I was left for 20 minutes before somebody came to get me. She offered no wheelchair to take me round as it hurt to walk therefore I ended up walking very slowly. She was walking ahead and didn’t say a word to me she looked back as I was behind and then got out her phone and was looking at it and typing which I found was very rude of her. She took me onto a bay and then left without asking if I was ok or needed anything. 45 minutes later nobody had come to give me any pain relief so I became very distressed due to the pain. I also felt very uncomfortable as I was on a bay with elderly people and I have only just reached the age where I can no longer go onto paediatric wards. I ended up asking to leave as the staff member lacked care and understanding of how much pain I was in. The staff member went to get the doctor who was very rude to me, he didn’t explain the risks of me leaving hospital and didn’t offer any pain relief to take home with me, he didn’t identify that I was distressed which left me feeling very un supported/ disappointed in the care that was being given. I then asked to speak to a female doctor who was extremely kind and listened to my concerns about being left in pain and how I felt I was mistreated. She then came up with a plan of what to do she gave me very strong pain relief to help calm the pain down and even made me laugh. We agreed that I would see a surgical consultant to see if an emergency operation was required and to have a ultrasound scan.

I went to the appointment however was 4 minutes late, me and my parent waited for 30 minutes and then a member of staff approached us to tell us that the consultant had left. During this time me and my carer witnessed staff using their phones texting during their working time. I was disgusted by this as we witnessed several staff members doing this.

The consultant was then called back and saw me. He said that he didn’t want to do an operation just yet due to my bloods being normal. I asked him what the next step was from here, he said that I need to see my GP. I explained to him that I have seen a GP many times before and they have not done very much at all. He explained that he only needed to see me if I needed an emergency operation. He said that I need to see my GP to see what they would like to do/ to refer me back to the hospital. I said to him “how many more hospital admissions is it going to take for them to find out what's wrong” as I have had many admissions before with the same pain. I left the appointment very disappointed as I was just told to go and see my GP for further investigation. I left the appointment crying as I feel like it's the same cycle over and over again.

The A&E department is a credit to the hospital I would like to thank every member of the staff for the fantastic care that was given I couldn’t fault a thing! And a special thanks to the doctor on ward 14!