"Poor treatment at hospital"

Recently I was suffering an abdominal pain which was absolutely excruciating. As per procedure the nurse at the emergency department in my local hospital went through the motions of administering pain relief to try and quell the symptoms to no avail. It was at this time that she contacted the doctor at 11pm who came to the hospital around 12pm. The doctor ordered an ambulance and I was sent down to Bunbury Regional Hospital where I was given a CT scan on my abdomen.

Once the scan was complete it was approximately 5am and the doctor and nurse came and conversed regarding my scan. I was told that I had a bowel blockage and it was quite high in my gut. This was all I was told. I asked them both if it was ok to have some more pain relief and a sleep while I waited for someone to collect me, as I live approximately an hour away and the earliest anyone could get me was 10am. Both said that was fine, so I was given some intravenous pain relief and left to sleep.

At approximately 8:30am I was woken by a nurse who came into my zone in the ED in Bunbury Regional Hospital telling me to - get up out of bed - I woke up and asked what was going on. Her response was - you've been discharged, time to get going. I was very confused at this and explained to her that I was still in pain, had not eaten yet and was waiting for someone to collect me, as well as not seeing a doctor before I was discharged. I felt the nurse was very abrupt and her response was - we need the bed, go wait in the waiting room, there is a script next to your bed, so take that to the pharmacy, I will also get you some toast. In my opinion, the nurse was very rude and brought me in 2 pieces of cold toast, which I ate as I was starving.

I was given no follow up advice on the script regarding how I was to take the items, what volume, frequency or procedure - so I took it upon myself to just take the max on the box. I was given no follow up instructions about seeing a doctor or what I should do next. I was lucky that my step-dad was in Bunbury and he collected me and took me home. I was also given absolutely no pain relief at home, so I took what I thought was adequate for my pain levels, as they would not supply or recommend anything at the time.

Two days later I did a follow up with my local GP as I was very concerned about what had actually happened. I was given an x-ray which showed faecal impaction on my entire left side of my body and the pain was unbearable. I was admitted to hospital for a few days.

The doctor and the nurses at Collie Hospital were amazing. I could not fault their service or care whilst I was there. In my opinion, the treatment at Bunbury Regional was well below what it should be.