"It was dreadful."

What could be improved

On Oct 30th 2009, I arrived at A & E to find my husband and one son on trollies and my youngest son, 8 , lying on the floor after a serious car accident. We were all traumatised - a fact not appreciated by a female doctor who pulled back the curtain to exclaim (her exact words), "Oh God, is this all one family?". To which I replied, "Yes. Mine". She then disappeared and wasn't seen again.

My husbands subsequent treatment at the L& D was appalling. It took more than a day to establish that he had broken his pelvis in three places in addition to other injuries. On the ward, nurses were dismissive to the point of being rude. On his final night of a 4 night stay (after which he demanded to leave) my husband was left to sleep on an upright chair (with broken pelvis and cracked ribs) in the corridor whilst a single nurse was trying to deal with an elderly gentleman who had fallen out of bed and bled all over the floor.

We removed my husband and took up his treatment at a private hospital in Harpenden. Our GP was equally appalled by his treatment at the L & D.

Getting any kind of after care at the L&D was frustrating to the point where we gave up. My husband was refused an appointment at the fracture clinic, nor was he offered physio. We ended up paying for his aftercare (which included some very beneficial physiotherapy) at the private hospital.

We did consider complaining to the Chief Exec at the time, but frankly had more important things to think about with my husband and 2 sons all suffering from injuries and being quite distressed by the accident - we were keen to put it behind us and try to get back to normal.

Thank you for giving us this opportunity to leave comments. I hope that the nurses' attitudes and the care provided at the L&D has improved significantly since 2009.