I took my 74 year old wife with rheumatoid arthritis to the out of hours doctor at Crosshouse hospital.
The doctor who diagnosed her thought she had severe constipation. They gave her something to relax and advised to possibly see another doctor for a scan appointment.
On Monday, things hadn't got any better, so we came in again and another doctor gave her some liquid medicine.
Tuesday, her pain was severe so we contacted OOH who called an ambulance for us. We were waiting in A&E for an hour to an hour and a half, the nurse said we can't come in until the doctor registrar has seen us.
The doctor eventually came, and was incredulous asking us what possessed us, at 2 o clock on a Tuesday, to come to A&E for constipation. They poked twice around her affected area, gave her 2 suppositories and sent us on our way. Told us it would work after 20 minutes, and we should go home and wait for it to take effect there. I had explained to him my wife's rheumatoid arthritis, and the fact she had already been on escalating prescribed laxatives, but they did not listen.
Later, she was in very severe pain, so I had to ring 999. The person on the phone asked what was wrong, arranged an ambulance where she was taken to ward 4A with a perforated ulcer.
I should point out now, that the service is good, and everything up in ward 4A at the hospital has been right for my wife. No complaints at all. She is not out of the woods yet, hasn't eaten for a week but that's understandable given her condition.
My issue is with the doctor. They came across as authoritative, almost cheeky, even. They weren't listening to anything I was saying, and showed no compassion. I can look on the internet myself right now and find information linking RA with perforated ulcers, but this doctor didn't know or care enough to investigate this, the didn't listen to anything we had to say.
I am angry about this, as it could have cost me my wife.
"Dismissed as constipation"
About: Crosshouse Hospital / Accident & Emergency Crosshouse Hospital Accident & Emergency KA2 0BE Crosshouse Hospital / Care of older people Crosshouse Hospital Care of older people KA2 0BE
Posted by velabj35 (as ),
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