"Standard of Care"

I was diagnosed with Arthritis in 2014 and since around 2015 I have suffered with bleeding from my rectum. It has been between mild and severe throughout that time and is still ongoing.

Last year the bleeding was happening on a regular basis and was quite severe and my Specialist referred me to the Endoscopy unit. I had an appointment in August last year for a procedure to check my bowel. I explained that I was bleeding quite severely but I do not believe I was taken seriously. They did the procedure and found haemorrhoid's but took no action. They sent me home with only a recommendation to use suppositories .

The bleeding continued on a regular basis and was getting more severe. In December last year, it was at the point where I had been bleeding constantly for 30 days straight when I had a bowel movement, I when to my GP, who felt I did not look well and did blood test, we then found out that I was anaemic due to the blood loss.

What makes this worse is that I have to get my bloods taken every two months for the medication I am on for my Arthritis and yet no one was able to spot that my blood count was way down, what is the point in having these done if no one is reviewing them.

My GP sent me to A&E toward the end of December 2023 and I was there for over 6 hours, when I was finally seen, the Doctor told me my blood count was very low and they would give me an appointment with General Surgery at the beginning of January 2024 but they would not keep me in.

I attended the appointment in  January and when I was eventually seen by a Doctor that day, he advised that I would be kept in hospital and couldn't understand why I had been sent home as my blood count was at a dangerously low level.

I was so frustrated that the potential of this happening was not made clear to me, I had no idea that I was attending an appointment where there was even the slightest possibility of being kept in. I was admitted that day and informed on the next morning that I would have the appointment with Endoscopy five days later to have haemorrhoid's banded and another procedure of my bowel.

At this point my blood count was in the low 80's. They wanted to keep me in until the surgery but I wanted to go home. I spoke with the head nurse on the ward and we talked about, why they would not give me a blood transfusion and let me go home until the day of my surgery.

The nurse agreed with my point of view and called down to the endoscopy unit, just to ask if there was a possibility of me going home and just returning on the day for the appointment. The nurse came back to me and told me she had bad news, that whoever she spoke to in the endoscopy unit advised that if I went home, I would lose the appointment and it would maybe be a month before I would be seen.

I found this absolutely disgraceful and I was very angered by it. She told me to speak to the consultant in the morning and see if I could convince them. Early on the next morning I had a bowel movement and severely bled again, one of the nurses got a junior doctor to come and see me and I told her it was a waste of time keeping me here for five days, they were not treating me for anything, and if they are concerned about my blood count, give me a transfusion, see if the blood count increases and let me go home until the appointment.

This Doctor also agreed with my point of view and said she would pass it on to the consultant. A few hours later four Doctors came to see me, I told them it was completely unacceptable that the Endoscopy unit threatened to take the appointment away if I went home, considering I was with them in August last year, and I would not have been in this position of having a dangerously low blood count if they had taken action .

I feel the consultant deflected from that by saying it was a different unit of the hospital, I asked why they would not just give me a transfusion and send me home since I was just taking up a bed, the consultant told me they would not be allowed to give a transfusion unless my blood count was under 80, I was at 84, which makes no sense whatsoever to me, I feel they could have given the transfusion, let me go home and freed up a bed. I told them I wanted them to call down and guarantee the appointment with Endoscopy and let me go home, they made me sign a waiver to discharge myself.

I attended the appointment, they did another scan of my bowel, found polyps and told me I would come back for a full colonoscopy, and they banded 2 of the haemorrhoid's.

One of the nurses told me that it will be important to stick to the diet, I asked what diet and she told me they would share it with me, I asked for this again before I was discharged and was told it would be sent to me. I received a letter weeks later saying the polyps were nothing to worry about and that my treatment was over for now. No diet shared.

Two months later the bleeding is back, have no clue why the haemorrhoid's are back so quickly. I have not been taken seriously and feel like just a number on a production line. I feel the standard of care is not good enough.