"Post op care"

I was admitted to the Day Ward and the staff were fantastic you could not want for better care.

When I woke in the ward, I was in a tremendous amount of pain & I was quite upset because I was told I would not be in any pain at all when I woke. The nurse allocated to me offered me sandwiches, I said I was not interested in eating at that time & was more concerned with pain relief.

They got the pain under control within the hour & I then asked about food, I asked if there was a plain salad I could have because bread constipates me & with all the pain meds I had had & will be taking for the next few weeks, I was advised to avoid bread.

When I arrived in the ward, I was the only patient in there & they had put me in a bed with the cupboard on the left side of me, the same side as my op. I asked if I could be moved to the bed opposite where the cupboard would have been on my right, they looked & said, yes it would be better, I don’t know why they did that, but just buzz me if you need something & I will get it. I said, so every time I want something out of my bag I have to call you? the nurse said, yes it's fine.

I later asked that nurse if they had any lighter blankets & they said no, then I asked, can you take some of these away please because they are so heavy, I can’t move. Well, it seemed whatever they were looking at out the window was more interesting, because they just turned & walked out of the room.

A while later a young student trainee came in & asked if I needed anything, so I asked them if they could take some blankets away, which they happily did for me. I believe I had 6 blankets all folded in half, so I basically had 12 heavy blankets on me.

After another hour went by, another nurse came to see me about the sandwich/salad situation, they said the kitchen staff were confused by my request. I explained the problem with bread again & said a bowl of lettuce will do, or even a raw carrot, & if having sandwiches is the only way I can get some salad then I will take the sandwiches & just pick out the salad, but I need something in my stomach, I haven’t eaten for 21 hours & all the pills you are giving me, are on a very empty stomach. The nurse then left to sort something out I believe.

Meanwhile, the bed opposite me had been removed & was now just an empty spot.

When I saw the nurse again I asked again why my bed could not be put in that spot & then I could at least access my belongings easier & would not have to call for them. I felt they were not happy but they did move it. They did not give me the buzzer from off the wall.

By late afternoon, they still had not given me anything to eat & I was ready to unplug everything & walk out.

I told my nurse that I had had enough of what I felt was their lousy treatment & I would be better off at home. They could either discharge me or I would discharge myself. I felt the nurse was so surprised that there was a problem, I told them I still hadn’t been given any food & they said that when they offered me sandwiches I said I wasn't hungry, & I said that was over 3 hours ago when I first arrived. I have since asked 4 times for anything to eat. I believe they went off to try & get consent from the doc to let me go home, not to get me something to eat.

Half an hour later, a new patient had been brought in by then & I believe they were not awake properly yet, but in came their dinner tray all loaded up & they weren't even awake. While they were setting their table up, another person was brought in, they were also still pretty out of it & I believe the nurse was asking them, “is there anything I can get for you, sandwiches, yoghurt, orange juice?”. I was furious by then, I was not offered those things & I would have loved a juice or a yoghurt, I was still waiting for literally anything by then.

Around half an hour later, the kitchen staff delivered the food to them & had nothing for me, they went on to give the meals out in the next ward I believe, then came back in with a plate of what I felt was overcooked slop, not a salad & handed me a box of sandwiches and they didn’t even open them. I had to fumble 1 handed to get it open to get to the tiny amount of cucumber, lettuce & carrot that I could find. As they walked away, I believe they were giggling with their co-worker and I recalled they said, loud enough for me to hear, it’s a hospital, not a hotel. I felt they had no right to make that comment, I’m not supposed to be denied food in a hospital after surgery & I felt I did not do anything to deserve any of the treatment I was shown, through all that time I was there I never said a cross word to any of the staff, even though I was getting more annoyed by the minute.

That really was the last straw for me.

Why was I treated like that, I felt I was no different from the other patients that had come from recovery & in my opinion, they were treated very well. I was not offered anything at all, in fact, I was denied food requests for over 4 hours.

Why was I treated that way?

When my doctor & anaesthetist had arrived I told them the short version & they agreed it was better that I go home.

When I walked out of that place later that night, I had not eaten food for 24 hours.

Based on my experience, I felt there is no care in our Healthcare system.