"I felt I also had to speak up about the negatives"

Over the past month or so I'd been having really bad pain in the right hand side of my stomach. 

I went to ADOC and they decided to send me to the surgical ward at Ayr Hospital.

All the necessary investigations were done and only abnormal finding was that my gallbladder was a little inflamed and had some sludge inside. Despite this... the surgeon understood and acknowledged that I was in pain and agreed to remove my gallbladder (with the understanding it may not help but he was more than willing to listen to me and help with my pain) it turned out there was no availability for the operation on my admission so I was rushed on as an outpatient and I was added to the pooled surgical list.

At home my pain was not managed .. couldn't eat or look after my 6 month old without rolling around in pain. So I decided to represent to A&E, thinking no matter what surgeon I seen they would take the same outlook as the previous one.

I was wrong.. I came back to hospital and told them I could not hold anything down and this time I never even seen a doctor until later in the afternoon, I explained my situation and was told my bloods were totally fine they will give me anti sickness and keep me until my pain settles (that's fact, and is totally fine) BUT I was left in a room in the combined assessment unit feeling sick to my stomach and when I told the nurse I was handed oral anti sickness and told "just try, I don't have time to put a canula in".. okay so I did. I brung up the anti-sickness and buzzed the nurse and a student came and told me everyone was far too busy... I was made to feel like an inconvenience, I was in pain and feeling sick and I came to hospital for help and never got it, I was let down to say the least. 

On this same admission, I was moved up to station 4 where the nurses were lovely.. I was basically in tears by this point trying to explain I was in agony and feeling sick, thankfully i was given medication and fluids iv which made me feel better. 

In the morning I saw a consultant, clearly with a very different outlook and compassion towards patients. Why do I say this? Because when they came to see me I was told categorically I dont have stones just a little inflammation (at this point I felt there wasn't much compassion but if that's how the scan was interpreted then that's completely fine) but the part that left me feeling embarrassed and meant I left the hospital in agony feeling let down was when a registrar said "the other surgeon has her on the list for gallbladder removal" and the surgeon I was seeing that day laughed. As I said I felt embarrassed, let down and like a fraud (even though I was in agony.) 

A few weeks after not leaving my bed and not having energy to give my daughter the attention she needed or deserves I cracked and reluctantly got taken back to hospital by my partner. I was under the first consultant again this time thankfully... I explained how I'd been and they took action and tried their hardest to get me a slot within the admission. That was not possible but I did eventually get done just two weeks after. 

The reason I wrote this review is because I want to highlight that my first surgeon really is an asset to the NHS and is willing to act on what is observed and not purely test results. The operation was done personally and I told them they were the best surgeon I'd ever met and I meant it! 

On the other hand I felt I also had to speak up about the negative experiences because I wouldn't like to think laughing in patients faces is the norm.