"Coordination seemed very poor"

After several years of delays with the NHS, I had my gall bladder removed at the (private) Duchy Hospital in Truro. I was in a lot of pain overnight and was transferred to the NHS Royal Cornwall Hospital the next day with acute pancreatitis. After a very uncomfortable day on a trolley, I finally had a bed. After 4 days of which I remember nothing, I gradually recovered both awareness and from complications including pneumonia, gastric bleeding and diarrhoea.

During this time I was on a number of medications, some for prior conditions, others to manage pain and the pancreatitis. The nursing staff were kind and caring. However, as I became more aware, it was clear that they were offering me medication such as laxatives and specific pain relief which the Consultant had directed to be stopped. Coordination (or simply keeping the system/notes up to date) seemed very poor, potentially harmful.

I was finally discharged around two weeks later. I was very weak. I had been in a “Planned Care Unit” which seemed designed for short stay patients. There was no facility or encouragement to take any exercise as I recovered. Nor was I offered any assistance with washing (even tooth-brushing), hearing aids and so on. Any discussion of whether we would be able to cope at home as an elderly couple in an isolated cottage was cursory at best.