What I liked
Not too long wait in A&E and it's been done up since I was last in A&E. The radiologists were good. The nice woman who put the temporary plaster on my broken leg and showed me how to use crutches and explained things well. The man who cut my temporary plaster off was friendly. The receptionist who tried to find me something to put my leg on while waiting for x-rays. The man who put the plaster on my leg 3 days later was very kind and friendly, he put me at ease etc.
What could be improved
Shocked to see ads in A&E and on info leaflets I was given for personal injury solicitors. I first said no to painkillers but later my leg and foot swelled really bad and I was in agony, I asked for them but had to wait for ages, crying. I had to hold my leg up as there was nothing I could rest it on, I was shaking with the effort. Finally the nurse came and got me, she forcefully separated me from my friend I'd brought to help me (I have some disabilities), even though I pleaded with her to allow my friend to come with me, took me into a curtained area (not soundproofed, with a cardboard bowl of black blood, vomit or liquid on the desk) and had a go at me very aggressively saying I had been aggressive asking for painkillers (not the case) then she gave me the painkillers, after this I was allowed to get my friend. The scissors the man who cut temporary plaster off with had a sharp bit that cut me, they had to be changed. The doctor I saw during second visit was very cold and unfriendly, he ordered more x-rays but didn't explain why, afterwards he refused to show me my x-rays and where my leg was broken, he did not read me what the radiologist had written. I asked him questions but he didn't answer, I'd never broken anything before and wanted to know things, I left him knowing nothing. He did not examine my injury properly. He wrote up my injury wrongly on the PC (I found out later) - he put that I'd broken the wrong bone in the wrong leg and this info was sent to my GP, I had to self-diagnose which bone I had broken and inform my GP of that and in which leg!
Anything else?
I can't rate the things above (other than cleanliness) because some people were brilliant but sadly the aggressive nurse and senior doctor cancelled out all the top marks I'd have given the others. How long would it have taken to give me painkillers sooner? I had to ring the hospital to find out why my GP had been given the wrong info. Then I had to ring PALS to get the info the doctor should have given me but didn't. PALS told me the doctor 'must have been having a bad day' to try to explain his errors and behaviour to me. I dearly hope that at my next visit to have the plaster removed I will be treated better by senior staff and that I will be shown ALL my x-rays etc and have my injury finally properly explained.
"Not too long wait in A&E ..."
About: Royal Sussex County Hospital Royal Sussex County Hospital Brighton BN2 5BE
Posted via nhs.uk
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