I had my son phone for an ambulance for me as I was in excruciating pain. I had a huge hernia suddenly develop in my right groin and was vomiting and after an hour I couldn't cope with the pain any longer. Ambulance control took the details from my son who is 15 and decided that I didn't require to have an ambulance at that point, that I wasn't an emergency and that despite my symptoms and being unable to get to hospital any other way that they would phone back in 1-2 hours and told my son to hang up the phone and get off the line.
I had to then in between having excruciating spasms and vomiting get my son to phone my aunt who was out and my daughter who was at work to come to my house which took over 20 mins, My aunt then phoned NHS 24 who after about 15 mins of going over and over my symptoms finally offered to send a doctor to come out and assess me in 1-2 hours. It took me screaming out in pain and shouting over my aunt talking that there was no way I could wait that long and I needed an ambulance now that the eventually agreed to sending an ambulance for me.
Within 5-10 minutes Tracey the rapid responder arrived and assessed me and I could not fault her kindness professionalism and care. She could see how much pain I was in and very quickly ensured I was given I.M. Morphine and Entonox. When the ambulance crew arrived they had me transferred to hospital very rapidly with a suspected strangulated hernia that could not be reduced.
I arrived in A&E around 10.30 pm and had had to have 38mg of I.M. morphine to try and get on top of the pain which failed to give any form of relief from the pain. I was then assessed and left in a bay with my family after being told that it did indeed look like I had a strangulated hernia. I was given IV antibiotics and IV fluids and told that I would be going for an X-Ray and then for emergency surgery.
At just after 2.30 am I was eventually taken for an X-Ray however, instead of going for surgery, I was taken to surgical admissions ward and left in pain to wait for the ward round in the morning and my family were sent home at 2.45am.
I was seen by a doctor between being admitted to the ward and the ward round at 08.45 whereby they tried to reduce the hernia without any success and without any further analgesia. Finally, when the consultant saw and examined me on the ward round the decision was made for urgent surgery. After talking to someone on the phone and the surgeon who would be carrying out the operation they remarked that it was ridiculous that I had been left overnight and that this should have been dealt with through the night and they didn't know what the Dr from the previous night (whose name I didn't catch) was playing at.
I was then seen and was in theatre by half past 10/11 am. I have no complaints regarding theatre or my aftercare in ward B11, I couldn't have had better care.
My overriding concerns are that I was denied an ambulance when it was urgently needed, and left in pain for so long, and due to delay in surgery not only did they repair the femoral hernia but they also had to remove a 20cm length of small intestine that had due to the delay had died, putting me at risk of sepsis. There was also part of the bladder that was also in the hernia and that could also have left me with further problems had the surgery been delayed any longer.
"10 hours delay before getting emergency surgery"
About: Forth Valley Royal Hospital / Accident & emergency Forth Valley Royal Hospital Accident & emergency FK5 4WR Forth Valley Royal Hospital / General surgery Forth Valley Royal Hospital General surgery FK5 4WR Forth Valley Royal Hospital / GP Out of Hours Forth Valley Royal Hospital GP Out of Hours FK5 4WR NHS 24 / NHS 24 (111 service) NHS 24 NHS 24 (111 service) Scottish Ambulance Service / Ambulance Control Centre Scottish Ambulance Service Ambulance Control Centre EH12 9EB
Posted by concernedoverdelays69 (as ),
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