"Ward B14"

My husband was admitted to Ward B14 in July 2016 after having a huge nose bleed. His nose had been cauterised in the ENT clinic 3 days before. I took him to Urgent Care at Burnley General Hospital as I was sure a nose bleed was something they could deal with and I didn't want to waste the time of A &E staff. We were taken to a room straight away and after a short wait seen by a doctor who said they did not have the equipment to deal with nosebleeds in Urgent Care and he should have gone to A&E. They said they would need to transfer my husband by ambulance. We then heard the same doctor arguing on the phone with someone in Blackburn. They came back into the room and said they had been ordered to pack my husband's nose before transferring him. They proceeded to very roughly shove a pack up my husband's nose without any warning of how painful it would be. My husband was screaming out but they carried on regardless. It was awful for me to watch. They then left us to wait for the ambulance which arrived some time later. I had to drive home to collect some clean clothes for my husband as he had blood all over the clothes he was wearing. As I was about to drive off the ambulance staff knocked on my car window and told me that they could not transfer him as he was coughing blood so they would need to get paramedics to take him. It was clear my husband was not coughing up blood but instead was spitting out the blood that was going down the back of his nose. After another wait he was taken to Blackburn and I found him on B14. He had been left in a chair and no one had been to him. Eventually a doctor came to process him. They were fantastic and took their time with us. It turns out this doctor was the doctor who insisted that Urgent Care packed my husband's nose prior to transferring him. My husband suffers from Parkinson's Disease and has to take regular medication. This doctor was the only person who seemed to understand the importance of taking his medication at the correct time. My husband was left on B14 for 3 nights. As this is a surgical triage ward it was extremely busy and he got no sleep. I was disgusted to see that there was only one wafer thin pillow on his bed and I asked a nurse for a pillow to be told there wasn't a pillow available. I had to bring a pillow from home to try and make him comfortable. In all the time he was there only one member of staff washed their hands before dealing with the 4 patients in the room. He received constant conflicting advice and information being told not to drink anything hot then having a hot drink put in front of him. He was given conflicting advice and information by doctors about taking his regular Aspirin. After 3 night he was discharged. The discharge letter given to him said he would be followed up in 2-3 weeks! It is now January and he heard nothing not surprisingly. He has had another nosebleed and I had to ring ENT who managed to get an appointment in 2 days. I am disgusted with his care.