I had a very traumatic and stressful experience but do not want to bore you with all of them but Think it would help me to talk about it.
I am 82 and had to spend 11 hours in hospital, 6 of them waiting to see the doctor.during this timeI sat on chair and offered nothing to eat or drink nor checked on with medications had to take, espicially for diabetes. Doctor wanted to admit e for mri scan which boopefully they would do after the weekend.. I told them I didn’t want to stay . Doctor put out by this and she was so unhelpful and completely overbearing. They got me to signa release form.. Shen said shad just noticed I had a pacemaker which had to be checked. Even I know magnetic fields can be dangerous.and Ididnt wanted to be subjected to more stress from the. Even someone half my age would find it stressful.
Her discharge notes are totally misleading saying I declined treatment. Where was the duty of care? And had not slept for 24 hours
when the cannula r was removed I told nurse I was on blood thinners and ble.she paid no heed and when I got home at 6.30 nin the morning I was covered in blood.
I am pacemaker dependent and failure to check mt medical history is to my mind dangerous.
I Enders if anyone has had a similar experience now havng scream g nightmares
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Taichid
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The pacemaker settings can be changed so an MRI is safe to have. I totally understand you didn’t want to stay in hospital but if they are advising further tests it would be wise to get them done, personally I take any tests offered.
They were only advising mri, but couldn’t do it without checking with my cardiologist. Being pacemaker dependent I think might change things. My post was about being left all this time I found very traumatic, especially due to my age especially losing a lot of blood
I'm so sorry to hear about your experience at the hospital. Waiting that long without being checked on or given water or food or your needed medications is upsetting. It’s also concerning that they didn’t seem to consider your pacemaker or the blood thinners. That’s such an important part of your medical history. When you're up to it, I would share your experience with the hospital administration and the impact this had on you. In the hospital I’ve been in you can do this by writing on a hospital pamphlet they have for describing care while there. You're not alone in this.
It might also be worth following up with your doctor soon, just to make sure there was nothing overlooked that needs further care, especially for your diabetes and pacemaker. Your peace of mind is the most important thing, and if any tests or check-ins would help with that, it’s worth exploring.
Thank you for your comments. I now have appointment with Diabetic Nurse on Monday and GP next Friday who now have written to Cardiology re safety of Pacemaker. I did feel the attitude of the Doctor was uncaring which contributed to my stress. E GG,blood tests,Ct scan were all carried out whicj believe all ok.
As an aside Doctor told me her speciality was Diabetes so she know the importance of eating and meds.
I have seen this same treatment myself once when waiting in ER for my AFIB to settle.
An elderly man in a wheelchair waiting for hours with no one checking on him. I have never been able to shake the awful feeling about it. Reprehensible …
I’m sorry you had such a poor experience. Are you in the uk? If so, and if you feel able to or have someone that could do on your behalf, you could tell the hospital PALS team about your experience.
Well all in all a waste of time, theirs and yours, and I am assuming you were alone without family or friend support to speak up for you. Lets deal with the Pacemaker first, I am over 80 and I wear a Pacemaker, this is checked now every 6 months and is a simple procedure and I guess the Doctor wanted to make sure that yours was fully functional as she was trying to investigate why you were unwell. To undertake an MRI with my Pacemaker which is almost ready for a new battery the settings could be changed. Secondly, you were given the option to be admitted which you refused and I can understand why however this doctor, probably run off her feet, was taking the extra precautions of keeping you in a place of safety until tests could be carried out, she was assessing the needs of a vulnerable patient who had come to the hospital for help and rather than make any snap diagnosis wanted to make sure and treat. By refusing that treatment you denied both you and her the opportunity of getting to the bottom of what took you there in the first place. Finally, being left alone for so long was awful, but sadly is the norm these days and at our age it is worrying and frightening plus we are also a little intolerant at times and always know best but, sadly, in some cases we don't, if it had been me and I felt the need to be there in the first place then I would have accepted their offer of care otherwise, as I said at the beginning, what a waste of time. I hope by now you have visited your GP to try and find out why you experienced the problems that took you to the hospital and the hospital itself should have a complaints procedure if you feel they have failed is a duty of care. I would add to this that I wouldn't have gone in the first place, unless I was carried in on a stretcher!!!! I hope you are feeling much better now xxx
I had the same thing waited all night and most of the day on hard chairs. When we are old it is an ordeal with no drink or food . I was told I was dehydrated . I had ablation for SVT a year ago and now my heart is trying to go into an attack causing me to have very high blood pressure when it tries. I,m77 years. I live in Hornchurch outside London.
Taichid, I feel for you. I’ve witnessed similar lack of care many times with myself and my family in A & E and also on the wards. Hospital is not always a safe place. You need a family member with you to fight for you to get proper care.
The NHS is not giving us the safe medical care any more. However there are good and bad hospitals as there are good and bad staff, you need to complain to bring this to the correct attention of the governing body.
I had another TIA some months back but refused to ring 111 or go to A&E as I knew that would be no help. Been there, done that, seen the chaos. Being on Apixaban and with pacemaker etc I felt safer at home. But in a real emergency what chance have we got to feel safe.
You need to complain to safeguard the well-being for others in the future.
Reply to Dynamite..yes we need a family member or good friend with you in A and E….Sadly there are many of us who have no family member alive or near by. My friends locally, have all died ( not all old)
Going into A and E or other departments alone is vile. We try to be brave but when one is not well it much worse. You just need a comforting hand …..
I’m so sorry that is so stressful. It is awful not to have compassionate care when one is ill - and old. I avoid A&E becuase the staffing levels are dangerously low. A friend keeps an A&E bag ready, just in case. It has drink, healthy snacks, a blow up cushion, a phone battery charger and a warm shawl! And a book…
Yes, absolutely essential. I always take allow up pillow top and my ipad and noise cancelling headphones. Luckily at this point in my life the other half always comes with me. As I do for him.
Sadly, your experience is not unusual these days. I have had numerous experiences with my local Nothing Happens Soon and few were good. Mostly, the bad experiences were with doctors. We really deserve better from these so-called professionals.
I'm sorry you were put through that crap. Similar experience in Ireland. Except the nurse listened when I said I was on blood thinners and it took a good 15 minutes to stop bleeding. A different nurse had given me clexine (a blood thinner injection) on top of my Xarelto, even though I objected. Consultant told me the following morning, if someone tries again to hit it out of their hand. First AFib episode with heart rate of 176 left sitting in a and e for four hours before I was seen, and I had a referral letter from GP and an ecg. It had resolved by the time I was seen. Another time, heart rate in the 180s to 7 second pauses, 11 hours and they couldn't find room in resus to cardiovert me. And AFib is considered a medical problem in my local hospital, doesn't even warrant cardiology. Unless a person complains.
I had a long attack of SVT 18 months ago and was left unaided whilst they were talking and laughing in the office . I was in the critical care part of the hospital and I wasn,t the only patient who was upset about the lack of interest in our illness. I was becoming quite distressed with the symptoms which had been ongoing for 7 hours with high Troponin.
Some just don't seem to care. I got that dreaded sense of doom and gloom sitting in that a and e waiting room, awful. At least next time when they couldn't find time to treat me I went in by ambulance. Sure every few minutes I was going to pass out and they still couldn't find the space. Our hospital is the most overcrowded hospital in Ireland. Average of 100 people a day waiting for a bed. I've seen older patients here left on trollies while they find beds for people with health insurance so the hospital gets paid for the bed, absolutely disgraceful. I've seen nurses walk past a man who looked so uncomfortable in his bed, he'd had a stroke, and they wouldn't straighten him up. Heartless is the word I'd use about some staff.
A friend of my wife's had a similar experience at Leicester two weeks ago. It seems the last place on earth to go these days is A&E. The doctors and nurses there seem to be working long shifts and are very stressed themselves at times. Basically, the service is failing so far as I can see through lack of doctors and overuse of agency staff at enormous cost. It also seems that far too many people turn up to A&E that should be at their GPs, too, causing the service to be near collapse at times.
Whether this government can improve it, well - I hope so but doubt owing to the national shortage of medical staff. It is since we left the EU, my daughter-in-law, a nurse, says that the situation has deteriorated a very great deal.
I’m in Leicestershire, i always ring 111 and if they say i need to go I ask to be sent to an sdec. Clinic. They have one at glenfield, they’re smaller and usually someone wandering around with sandwiches etc also keeping an eye on people waiting - still takes a long time but less frightening than a&e
Hi Taichid, I can totally identify with your horrible experience. My partner took me to our nearest A&E, on the advice of NHS 111, after I woke with AF and palpitations that were making me faint. It was about 9am on a weekday, and A&E was already overwhelmed, with dozens of people waiting on chairs and more queueing out the door. I got triaged, still going in and out of fainting, nurse told the doctor she couldn’t get a BP reading because of my AF. Then I spent the next 10 hours sitting in one waiting area after another, with my head between my knees feeling so ill, going in and out of consciousness, being called for various blood tests, then repeat blood tests. Nobody noticed or cared that I was fainting. Nobody came to check on me. Without my partner there with me, I wouldn’t have been able to get anything to eat or drink during the 10 hours I was in there.
There was a recent awful story of a lady who had gone unnoticed and was found dead in an A&E waiting area, and I can totally see how it happened. After my experience I vowed never to go to A&E again
Yep, 16 hours without food or water. Ended up lying on the floor with nurses stepping over me until I asked for help when they discovered my BP was dangerously low. I didn't bother to complain because it's not the hospital's fault there were no beds anywhere in a huge hospital, it's lack of funding for the NHS by a government that didn't really believe in universal care. If you want a good health service we have to pay more like the french and Germans do, I'm afraid.
Uou are right. Some of tbe blame must be put onto the Doctors who send patients AandE who do not the need to be there. They do nt work full time,perhaps 2 /3 times a week. In my recent experience the nurses were not runoff their feet as there were at least 4 of them on the desk in the waiting area where I was, busy chatting and talking to their friends and I have experienced it many times. They talk about being stressed - what about the stress they are putting on the patients.
Sorry I,m rambling, but it’s all the failt of Covid !!!!
And I thought a 6 hour wait after several hours outside in the ambulance becoming good friends with the paramedics and a student one, was something of a record. Fortunately, I had a good book with me, a box of nuts and raisons and a flask of water!
You really ought to take notice of what the doctor said. Believe me, they don't want to admit you for no good reason. A&E is exactly that. You were ill and they assessed that you needed further treatment
I feel for you , but have to admit when my very poorly Mum has been to A and E , it’s always been the same . She usually comes out worse than when she went in !!! ( from the long waits , no hydration etc ) it really shows how our NHS is struggling . I know we shouldn’t talk politics but I truly hope that Labour will turn things around 🤞🤞🤞
absolutely unacceptable but sadly the norm these days and likely to get worse however Keir Starmer has now come up with a plan to allow illegal immigrants private health care so they’re not a burden on the NHS system. We’ll all have our views on this plan 🤦♀️
And take away the winter fuel payment so eat or heat , now the chemists are closing in the evening and weekend to save on the extra NI by getting rid of staff , next are the surgeries
I'm afraid I had a similar experience 6 yrs ago when I had a heart attack. Even though the paramedics diagnosed a likely HA , it was over 5 hours before anyone even checked on me. I was left on a trolley in a corridor behind a locked door and couldn't even get help to go the loo. ( I can only walk a few steps. Luckily I'd taken several doses of painkiller with me. It was 14 hours before the blood tests eventually came back and I was admitted. I wrote to the hospital with a complaint afterwards but they denied the time scale. I'm afraid A&E is a dangerous place these days. There were literally hundreds waiting. You must talk to your GP about how it's left you feeling and send a complaint to the hospital.
Very sorry to read about this experience. I'd recommend telephoning Patient Liason Services at the hospital. Take the approach that you want to tell them about your experience and how upsetting it was. I think it's important for you to speak to someone and I hope your local PLS is good. I'd also talk to your GP in case there's need for follow up.
I can understand how worried you were and how upset but please please spare a thought for the dr as well. My friends daughter is a dr, often in A&E. she works enormously long hours, often 12 hrs at a time and sometimes longer if they’re short of staff. She often doesn’t get to eat if they are really busy and sometimes isn’t even able to go to the toilet when she needs- being called from one patient to another. She has had to cancel days out and family get togethers when staffing is short, and even had to cancel a holiday because she was needed at work. And on top of that there is the constant threat of complaints and even of being taken to court with our modern no win no fee society. And truthfully, how many of us actually thank them for the time they give us. It must have been a frightening time for you, but she may have been absolutely exhausted and thought she was doing the best for you. So please can we all spare a thought for the drs who are only trying to do their best in really bad circumstances, and I for one will try to remember to say a big thank you to them in future
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