This is the complaint I sent to PALS whilst in hospital .
I have severe COPD and was brought by ambulance on the 27th may 2020, I have been shielding myself since 16th march and can proudly say although it's been hard going and very lonely and tough at times not seeing family or friends etc I have done really well .
I was assured that I'd be safe coming into hospital , I'd be separate from the Covid 19 patients , I arrived very safely at A&E , cant fault the paramedics or staff of A&E who clearly know how to keep myself and themselves safe , it was decided that as my sats were so low I needed to have oxygen and would go up to a ward at some point.
The nurses only came into my room as and when they needed to for tests obs etc , when the ward was ready to receive me myself and the nurse transferring me were waiting for a porter , he arrived and came straight to my bedside, no PPE whatsover , the nurse challenged him saying I was a potential covid patient, he replied " oh it's ok we are safe ", he went outside to put on PPE an I heard him say " what about the people going to the beaches ? " now I work at the Homerton hospital as a nursing assistant in theatres and clearly know of the potential risks , so when he came back inside to transfer me I told him straight that I heard his attitude and if more people were to think the same we would be in a worse state than we are currently , I said dont worry about people at the beaches , we need to think of ourselves and others around us, he muttered something I didnt quite catch .
We went up to floor 11 , room 24 , I felt safe in my own room except the bathroom light wasnt working , I had to.leave the door open so I could see safely , this is a privacy and dignity issue in itself but at these challenging times I appreciate that only essential works are being carried out , but this is also a health and safety issue as you need to be able to see whilst in the bathroom, I told 1 of the nurses about the problem. It was still not working when I was transferred the next night up to the 13th floor.
Midday today 28th may a Dr arrived at my room to take some bloods and switch off the oxygen for 10 minutes , he left the room for said 10 minutes, he knocked and came back in to take bloods , it suddenly dawned on me that he had no PPE on at all and I asked him.should he not be wearing it ? He informed me that he had caught covid in February 2020 when it had struck lots of other Drs , ok fair enough but what about the potential risk to me ? I told him I'd worked too hard shielding to be now put at risk like this, he agreed maybe he should have PPE on , his bleep went off and he left the room to answer it , he'd not managed to get enough blood for the sample and had to come back to repeat on my other wrist, before he came back into the room I could clearly gear the sound of the apron roll turning and knew I'd shamed him using it , yes battle won , but in reality as healthcare professionals they shouldn't need telling about these things , there was complaints when there were issues in obtaining the correct PPE equipment, so now its available use it as the guidelines advise .
Later that evening I was told I was moving to 13th floor, to the respiratory ward, transfer was very good , PPE all round etc , I was put into a side room , I had just learnt that my covid test was negative to my relief, although I had every faith in my good shielding, so I'm in this new room and a nurse comes inside to do a BM , she has gloves and apron on but NO MASK , obviously I have apologised but challenge her to the whereabouts of her mask ?to which she says she was passing and thought she would pop.in quickly and do the test , I told her about my shielding and her lack of PPE , she told me she didnt want to catch covid either.
I am totally gob smacked with the slap dash attitudes of these 3 people and can clearly understand how so many healthcare professionals have put themselves at so much risk , don't get me wrong the majority of staff who have had contact with me have been totally and utterly amazing but these buffoons and that's the nicest word I can use at the moment have caused me great distress , I cant even think of sleeping tonight as I am too wound up and upset to the extent of tears and really fearing for my safety and wanting to ask if i can be sent home , which could be fatal for me in my current health crisis.
I'm not sure its it because i work myself in the NHS that I can see things clearly others seem to overlook.
Hopefully I'll be going home tomorrow where I feel secure , very lonely but safe and cocooned in my own little bubble.
Later that same night I was unable to sleep through fear of somebody else entering my room without mask etc , a nurse comes asks if I need anything? I say yes a cup of tea plz , she comes back and I realise she has no mask etc , when I challenged her on this she simply replied she has no symptoms and has no obligation to wear PPE , I explained to her that I'm high risk , she said she wont come in without a mask again .
I had 45 mins sleep that night , when the drs came next morning I had a total meltdown, I was like a 5 year old having a tantrum , I had explained to my son that if 1 more person comes in without a mask I'm likely to kill , he had to phone and tell the drs to put a sign on my door saying wear mask before entering , which everyone abided by and I was far happier , I feel that I shouldn't have had to behave in that manner but felt they was treating me like I was just a neurotic woman .
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