"Disaterous and un-caring"

Anything else?

We are from Luton and were visiting Sunderland.

There is something culturally wrong with this A&E department. My partner was admitted by ambulance to Sunderland Royal Hospital at 02:00 am on Sunday 1st April.

It took 45 minutes for the ambulance to arrive. Once we arrived at A&E, it became clear why the ambulance had taken so long to arrive; she had to wait 45 minutes for the nursing staff to process her and take control of her from the ambulance crew.

There was plenty of nursing staff but no-one seemed particularly interested in taking responsibility for my partner. Throughout this wait, the ambulance crew remained with her, presumably unable to respond to their next call

Once admitted, she was left in room 11 for over 4 hours with no attention from the nursing staff. No-one visited her, checked on her, asked if she was ok, or even ask if she needed the loo?

I asked for a blanket for her, which took 20 minutes to arrive and, despite asking for pain relief, this was refused until she had seen a doctor, but no doctors were available.

What made the whole experience intolerable was the constant chatter, laughing and whistling from the nursing staff who were only 10ft away from us.

After 4 hours of inactivity from the nurses, I asked to see the ward manager and only then did I begin to see some action.

The person I saw was rude and unhelpful and wasn't in the least interested in our plight and refused to provide me with any information about how I might make a complaint. She was far more interested in the fact that I had challenged the inactivity of her staff. (And, rest assured, they were inactive throughout our stay)

In the end, my partner was incorrectly diagnosed with torn cartilage between her ribs and given a prescription for Tramadol. She was also given a Kleenex!! on which was written the times that she should take her medication along with some other over the counter medication including ibuprofen and paracetamol. She was not given a discharge letter for her GP and, as at 4 days later, the notes on her central file have not been updated.

My partner got no better and took herself to see her GP today. He correctly diagnosed a torn diaphragm and he also disposed of the unnecessary medication prescribed by your team.

I am preparing a formal complaint about my partner’s treatments whilst in your care and, if the other posts I read here are anything to go by, it seems that my partners experience is not the only one of this kind.

I hope that by doing so, you will review your practices and treat any future visitors with the respect and care that they deserve.