"Great when you are there but aftercare nightmare"

Over the Christmas period I was sent to A&E at Watford General to have a perianal abscess checked and treated. The first time I went in, my doctors and misdiagnosed the abscess as a bartholin cyst so the A&E gynaecologist set the record straight that it was a perianal abscess. The A&E gynaecologist didn't, however, provide much advice on what I should have done next. I was given antibiotics and despite being in agony, was sent home and told to return if it persisted. Fact is, I should have immediately been referred to surgery. Eventually I was scheduled in for the surgery and was treated very well. The staff were great and the anaesthesiologists were so patient with me. I was very nervous but they were all great. After the operation however, after they cleared me and checked blood pressure etc., I was given some printed instructions, some pain killers and sent home. When I looked at the instructions there was nothing informing me of how to care for the wound or what to expect. I didn't know what the gauze packing in the wound even looked like and I only discovered it was there when I needed to urinate. Obviously, being female, it was near impossible to pee without wetting the wound. I had to go for it as I was desperate then fearing infection, called the hospital again. The nurse didn't seem to have much of an idea as to what advice to give me. The nurse told me to buy more dressing and change it myself, which I did. The one instruction I received was to go to urgent care the next day to have it cleaned and redressed. This morning I was in agony as the gauze which was stuffed into the wound fell out very roughly due to being soaked in blood and urine. At urgent care I found out I would need to have the wound cleaned and repacked every single day until it healed. They too couldn't believe I had not been given any advice or info on aftercare by the surgical team or nurses. I would encourage Watford General to ensure they are thorough with patient aftercare as this would prevent further admissions and problems. Seems an obvious one really. Aside from that I am thankful that the people who operated on me and nurse staff who looked after me following the operation were so nice.