"Inpatient stay"

I was admitted in recently after a fall resulting in a fractured spine. After over 18 hours in A&E I was admitted to the medical assessment unit. I was horrified at what I felt was a lack of confidentiality by everyone I encountered; bed to bed handovers with full diagnosis, medications and how many times my bowels were opened was heard by all the other patients, plus their visitors. It was extremely embarrassing, especially when nurses made loud remarks about my pain management. I was then transferred to a medical ward, again with 4 beds with men and ladies mixed in. The toilet was always filthy with urine on the floor and seat plus faeces on the seat.

My neighbour in the bed next to me had a small trolley at the end of their bed with a sign saying ‘contact precautions’ and one box of gloves. The patient told me that they MRSA+ (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). This upset me as only a few attendees both doctors, nurses, cleaner, etc., used gloves when attending this patient - plus one of the other patients in the room had an open wound! Here there was also loud bed to bed handovers with; I felt, no confidentiality at all. Despite all the state of the art computers by the beds nobody I encountered seemed to know why I was in, plus my past medical history. I thought handover was to let the next shift be aware of the condition of the patients? The nurse educator was loud, abrupt and upset nurses unnecessarily on a daily basis and for nothing. I believe they loved hearing their own voice and loved putting their team down. This particular nurse did a clinical procedure on me and was teaching others at the same time. I have had this procedure countless times over 30 years and they did not do it correctly at all, based on all my other experiences. When the nurse educator left I told the others that next time they should get someone else to teach them. This particular nurse was not caring at all. The patient in the bed next to me complained about a worsening headache over the course of 4 days. Their BP was going up and their temperature was also. Constantly I believe the patient was fobbed off by nurses and doctors saying that they just take Panadol. Then, the patient complained about fluid leaking out of their head! The patient told me that as a child they had a shunt put into their brain. On hearing this I suggested they tell nurses and doctors. Again, I felt no staff on the ward at the time took much notice. This patient was in a 4 bed room and was MRSA+. Their admission was unrelated to their headache. Eventually they did a scan and the patient was rushed into surgery as their shunt was leaking CSF (Cerebral Spinal Fluid)! All that time, and no staff on the ward seemed to care.