"A nice experience ruined at the last hurdle by..."

What I liked

I have a severe phobia of hospitals and hospital paraphernalia. The day staff on the day surgery ward and surgical team where excellent at calming me down and making me feel relaxed and they are a credit to hospital. The staff that came to take my food order where also exceptionally polite.

What could be improved

Staff don't seem share and pass on information to each other effectively. I did have to explain my phobia several times which means I found it hard to put it to the back of my head and it got me worked up on several occasions.

I was told by day staff I could of gone home after I had eaten some food, drank and passed urine. I was also asked on several occasions for my cannula to be removed due to it causing me to become panicky and distressed as my sedatives were wearing off. I was promised that I could have it off in 5 minutes as the nurses were just handing over. At staff handover to the night team this information and the fact I was allowed to go home could not of been shared as the new staff members were adamant I should of been staying overnight.

After handover I pressed my buzzer to ask staff again to remove my cannula as it was making me feel sick and dizzy. I was also becoming more distressed and upset, I could also feel a panic attack coming on. Two nurses came to my room and me and my mum explained how distressed I was getting and asked politely for them to remove it. One of the nurses had a very poor attitude. She told me I would have to wait because she had patients to see. This caused me to get very distressed and made me go into a panic attack and made me cry. I said if it was not removed by them I would have to remove it myself as it was causing me so much discomfort, distress and was making me feel sick and dizzy. The nurse responded with "well do it and bleed to death" and walked out the room in a strop. This made me feel even worse and more panicky with the thought of blood and bleeding to death. I could see that the other nurse that was with her felt embarrassed and awkward about the situation and she offered to remove it straight away.

This nurses behaviour was disgusting and I would recommend she undergoes some training on how to deal with phobias and nervous patients, also basic courtesy when dealing with patients.

Anything else?

I wanted to make a complaint about the nurse as her behaviour was disrespectful and unacceptable. None of the nurses would give me her name, staff number or details on how to complain and asked me to wait for her to come back and speak to me. I then had to sit waiting just over an hour for her to just come back with the same poor attitude and no apology for how she behaved and spoke to me. She also had no ID card or anything to identify her in my complaint which I will be making in writing soon. Also the names of the staff that where on the board where the day staff. I find it unacceptable that the staff members name and the complaints procedure where not made available to me.

Staff should be held to account for any complaints made against them and making it extremely difficult like this has probably prevented people complaining in the past which makes it harder for the hospital to improve.

Although the day staff and surgical team are excellent. I feel there are some staff members letting their colleagues down by not following their excellent example. Unless something is done about this complaint to prevent this happening again I will not be recommending Kings Mill to family and friends. I am also considering going to the Chad to tell my story when I have fully recovered.