"Care of a disabled woman"

Awful nursing care on ward 210.  A general lack of care, compassion, safety, infection control, with only a few pleasant nurses. In September 2022, I arrived on the ward at lunchtime on a Friday from HDU after drastic surgery (for cancer), the nurse in charge greeted me by telling me they were really short staffed - not my fault or responsibility. They saw the catheter from my op and told me they couldn't take it out as they don't have time - 7 hours before shift changeover and left it in.  Luckily nightshift that night were better and took it out at the end of shift for me.  

The side room I was in had no blind on the window, for privacy or light reduction.  There was no chair initially to sit in, and the one brought was odd and not comfortable to sit in so ensured I stayed in bed, which hampers recovery.  The bed did not rise and fall and was stuck at a height that was just too high for me, I had both my walking stick and walking frame due to my disability, so had obvious signs of poor mobility, I am unaware of any fall assessment done for me.  The chair in the shower was a plastic visitors chair initially - no brakes- which was unsafe, it was swapped after time, I think 4 days.  

A towel was basically thrown on the end of the bed with no one checking if I was safe to shower alone after my op - I have since been told by a nurse that after such a major op I was at risk of fainting (which nearly happened on day 5 on the ward) and I should have had help.  Also my disability includes balance issues, which means it was not safe for me to shower alone initially.  I did ask for help and one care assistant told me they wanted to encourage independence, so I didn't get help.  It took till Monday and a change of staff to get help and a shower from a care assistant with so much care and compassion.  On Tuesday I almost fainted first thing and the same nursing team again had care, and were gentle.  

Wednesday the care assistant that refused to help my shower was back on and this time did help me, after me having to repeatedly say it was difficult, is was grudging and made me fell very uncomfortable, I felt a loss of dignity.  

On a ward round, the nurses were requested to remove the multiple steri strips, I tired that day and the following day, I rang over the whole afternoon and only I care assistant came, the nurses never came, never removed the strips.  

My pain was never fully controlled , the medics had problems getting the right balance of pain relief, and early on I woke up in the middle of the night desperate for morphine, but the although the dose had been lowered, the increased frequency hadn't been recorded so the nursing staff left me in pain for hours and made no attempt to get help.  It was rectified the following morning.  

The day I was leaving and the day I kept trying to get the steri strips removed and failed I also need more morphine (on top of the fentayl patches) however as the nurses did not come into the room for hours I was again left in pain. They came into the room after my partner appeared and handed me a closed bag of discharge meds, which I preceded to tear into to get pain relief, and only then did they finally help me.  It was truly awful, I dreaded those two nurses in particular, they had no compassion and gave me very little care.   

It was a time where face masks were still required in wards, and areas where there were patients, however the nurses took their face masks off at the nursing station in the area/corridor between the side rooms and bays, which meant I was unable to walk anywhere safely outside my side room.  I was immune suppressed and had no COVID protection as the meds I have been on meant I had a blunted response to COVID vaccines.  

It also meant that this lack of infection control, ensured I didn't exercise by walking in the area outside the room and so increased my risk of clots and slowed my recovery.  The only person that was careful about mask wearing and told another patient to put a mask on when they wandered into my room without one was the cleaner!   

There were other low points in my care on this ward, however in summary, poor infection control, lack of risk assessment, lack of support for a disabled person - meant it was unsafe and put me at risk of injury, a lack of personal care, leaving me unwashed - again poor infection control, poor pain control (nursing), a lack of care and compassion and at times a callous attitude.  A general disinterest in patient safety and well being. 

Due to the poor level of care, the lack of compassion, the poor facilities, the way I was made to feel a bother, the poor attention to pain relief from the nursing staff, the lack of support for even the basics of washing, it was an awful experience at the time I was most in need of care and compassion after drastic surgery (oncologys description) for an aggressive cancer.  It was truly awful and should never have happened.

Staff attitude

Seeing the whole me

Pain relief

Medication

Room

Bathroom

Food

Privacy

Heating

Being listened to

Calling for help

Nurses

Doctor

Other staff

Environment

Finding your way

Noise

Access to outdoors