"Care at the A&E and Becton Ward"

On Saturday I went to Queens Hospital Cornflower B ward as I was getting abdominal and back pain and I had stopped getting pregnancy symptoms. I was seen by a senior nurse who did not seem to care about what was going on. I begged her to get a scan to check the baby and she dismissed me. She told me there was nothing she could do for me apart from booking a scan on the next available slot which happened to be on Tuesday. On Tuesday I had my scan and I learnt that my baby that had been growing inside me had stopped growing. I was given my options and I took the medical management to induce a miscarriage. The first stage was to take a tablet and return after 48hrs. On Thursday I returned and was given the next lot of tablets some orally and some inserted into my vagina. I was sent home after 30 minutes with two more doses to take at 3pm and 6 pm. I called a cab and less than 10 minutes later I was throwing up. I called the hospital and asked to speak to the nurse. The nurse told me it was a common side effect of the tablet and that I should go home. I got home and started reading the box which started to be taken with food.  

I had not eaten for two days as I was struggling with coming to terms with the loss. The morning before I left my house I had had an apple and a banana just I had energy to go to the hospital. I realized that I had been given the tablet on a virtually empty stomach. When I realized that I decided to have some dry toast. I ate the toast and within less than 5 minutes of having the toast I threw up. The nurse had not asked if I had eaten before administering the drug. 

At this point I had started bleeding heavily and clots were coming out and I was in a lot of pain. I tried to take some pain relief medicine and those too came out. I had a lay down for a bit then I threw up again. It was almost 3pm and needed to take the next dose of tablets. I called the hospital and I explained to the nurse whom I I had spoken to earlier that I had been throwing up and I would not be able to take the next dose as I was not keeping anything down. She again again told me that those were common side effects of the drug. She completely missed the point that I would not have been able to take the 3pm dose. 

After 4pm I called the hospital again and told them that I had not managed to take the 3pm dose and the nurses response was “So what do I want her to do ? “ To which I told her that I was asking for advice since she was the care giver. She told me I should come to the hospital and get some anti sickness medicine. I had explained to her that I had no one around and that I could take a taxi because if I threw up in the taxi would get charged to clean up the sick. 

She told me to go to my GP to which I told her that I was not registered with a GP and she said to go to the pharmacy and buy some anti sickness medicine. I explained to her that I was not able to as I was bleeding and was in immense pain. She didn’t seem to care so I got of the phone.

At this point I decide to call 999 as I was bleeding having diarrhea and being sick and feeling feverish . The emergency services told me they would dispatch an ambulance but this could take upto 2 hrs. The ambulance come about 30 minutes later. While in the ambulance I threw up after taking gas and air. The paramedics noted that I was severely dehydrated and my temperature had gone up to 38.3. I informed the paramedics of my medical allergies to which they said the hospital should not have sent me home since I had so many allergies. She noted it down as a failed discharged and told me that I should file a complaint against the hospital. 

 I was taken to Newham A&E as this was the nearest hospital to where I live. I arrived in A&E before 5pm and was booked in I was given a room and left there to suffer in pain. I called the nurse on the buzzer and I took over 20 minutes to be attended to. At this point all I wanted was some pain relief. The doctor did not attend to me until after a shift change which was after 8 o’clock. 

The doctor was nice he even made me a cup of tea and he asked the gynecology doctors to come and have a chat with me to see what I needed to do. The gynecologist recommended I be admitted and put on IV antibiotic and some fluid. I was taken to Beckton Ward. Generally the nurses in Beckton Ward were good for which I’m thankful for. 

On Friday I was booked for a scan which confirmed That the baby and sac had not yet come out. So I was put on another course of tablets to restart the miscarriage process. I was in pain all night Friday and on Saturday morning I passed what I was certain was the remains of the pregnancy because this was different to all the clots I had previously passed. I told a nurse who took the stuff and analyzed it. Before she analyzed it I asked her what would happen to the remains as she said they will be taken to the mortuary downstairs. 

She returned to me and said it was “just a blood clot” I was convinced but at that point I was tired and in pain so I didn’t question. Based on her incorrect assessment I would assume she flushed my baby down the toilet. Which makes me feel sick and sad. I would have like for the remains of my baby to be treated with respect or given back to me so I would find an appropriate way to bury my baby. 

On the Sunday I had another scan which confirmed that the baby and sac and come out but I had some stuff still remaining. I was told that I would be discharged for which I was happy about as I had been in the hospital for two days. On discharge I informed the doctor that I didn’t have a GP and that I would need a note to cover me for work. This was ignored. The Nurse returned with a discharge note and medicine and I asked to speak to the Dr as I had noticed that I had not been given a sick note. I was told rudely that I should hand in my discharge note to my work people and that would be enough. To which I objected to because the discharge note had very personal information that I didn’t feel comfortable sharing with work. She is obviously not aware of the Data Protection Regulation.  

The Doctor came back and i spoke informed the doctor that I was not comfortable sharing my discharge note with my work people. After some back and forth the doctor finally agreed to write another note that had some personal information missing. I then left the hospital and went home. I had been in pain all day and not been able to sleep so I called the ward at in the middle of the night and the nurse said to me to go back to A&E. I was under their care why do I need to go back to A&E only to face the poor service there? 

I am very disappointed in the level of care and service i received at both Newham hospital and Queens Hospital especially during this tough emotional time. I am going through a lot at the moment and lack of care from health professionals is one issue that anyone should ever go through.