"My stay"

I was an inpatient earlier this year as a result of a staph infection. Apart from Accident & Emergency, the treatment I received by the hospital was appalling. I was told I had a private room. I did not. I was taken to a bed and was not even told how to operate the TV. I have not been an inpatient in a hospital for over 25 years, not that that should make a difference. I was given no assistance to get comfortable. After 30 minutes, I found the bell hanging 2 feet behind my bed. I rang it and asked for instructions. I was given them, but I feel with derision. I put my clothes in the chest of drawers beside my bed as it was easier to access and closest to the bathroom.

Then a roommate arrived. I took no issue whatsoever with that and was texting my friends to that effect at the time. However, it later became apparent that I was not going to receive the rest I needed. When I quietly raised the fact that my roommate also had a noisy machine with a nurse, the nurse responded to me loudly and I feel disrespectfully to me and indirectly my roommate. I asked them to show some discretion. They did not and I feel spoke to me rudely again. I asked to speak to the supervisor. I was tutted at and had eyes rolled at me by a nurse who I feel reluctantly stomped off to get their supervisor.

The supervisor came in and I asked them to accompany me outside into the corridor away from my roommate. I repeated my concerns. I protested that I was promised a private room. The lack of empathy and patient focus was astounding. The conversation ended with me in floods of tears and frustrated, tired and angry. After that, the lovely nursing staff decided it was appropriate to undertake a campaign of reprisal against a paying customer who had the audacity to question and challenge them to require that they provide the standard of care one reasonably expects in a private hospital.

Here are just some of the examples of the behavior I was subjected to:

- A nurse rifling through my underwear in my drawer

- A nurse mistakenly and I feel abusively insisting that vitamins are a restricted drug and therefore have to be locked away. I have knowledge of the law, and know this is not the case.

- A nurse stomping their feet and clenching their fists at me when I questioned whether the treatment they were proposing to give me was correct (I later found out it was not).

- A person in a uniform different to the other nurse uniforms I had seen and with no role set out on their tag and with no introduction attempting to stick a line into my hand without having any background knowledge of my issues with needles and lines.

- A nurse taking exception to being challenged about the above and referring to me derisively with a nickname they came up with for me that I feel was very demeaning

- No-one telling me what the meal arrangements were, including meal times so that I returned from the shower to a cold meal and a cold coffee.

- A nurse opening the door to the toilet so I could see straight in while my roommate was half-naked on the toilet.

- I believe the supervisor told my roommate and their spouse what I had said in private conversations.

- A supervisor colluding with a Doctor to stop the IV treatment I had been told I needed for 48 hours, less than 12 hours in and without the Doctor seeing me beforehand, I feel so that they could get rid of me.

- Failing to provide me with any treatment for 12 hours - subsequently my condition worsened.

- After this I felt forced to call my own lawyer and the Health Ombudsman and when I advised the nursing staff, the Director of Medicine overrode the Doctor, took them off my case and doubled my dose of IV antibiotics. The Director of Nursing and Head of Risk and Quality arrived at my bedside. (However there are currently no ongoing legal proceedings.)

- The hospital also got my address wrong so that three months later, I received demands from debt collectors for the pathology service and from the pharmacy and imaging service for unpaid invoices I knew nothing about.

- As a result, the residents at the incorrect address received my personal information including health and other sensitive information.

- A refusal by the hospital to accept any responsibility for anything and a complete dismissal of the issues without proper investigation and consideration.

And, for the record, I have voice recordings of the goings on.