"Accident at home"

Dear Sir,

On a Saturday in July 2020 I had a serious fall in the garden where I landed with a bump onto ornamental wall, causing incredible pain. When my husband and a friend eventually managed to get me upright it was decided that I had better go to A&E in Lincoln at the County Hospital.

I arrived at A&E at around lunchtime. I was then sent to the Urgent Treatment Centre where I was treated by Nurse Practitioner Becky, she was helpful and kind. I was sent for a chest x-ray because of my past history and age. When I returned I was informed me that I had 2 broken ribs and a possible 3rd broken rib. (I had had previous surgery that same side where the surgeon broke ribs in order to get at problem, I had a leiomyoma as big as a large grapefruit I learned later)

At this point I did not have my arm x-rayed. Becky said that I needed a 2 night stay in hospital to get the pain under control because of the risk of pneumonia. It was by now approximately mid afternoon.

Becky said I needed a CT scan and would have to return to A&E for them to arrange this, so she took me there, I waited until called in and the doctor said that they couldn’t see any broken ribs on the x-ray and that after I had my arm x-rayed I could go home.

I waited again and went to x-ray as I had been told, then waited again it was by now late afternoon, and waited and waited. A few hours later a nurse made me a cup of tea and 2 paracetamols, I never saw 1st doctor again, I was informed that he was a consultant and higher up than the ones who said I had broken ribs!

At around 8pm a young doctor called me to a side room, they said they would look at my arm x-ray and to wait back in the waiting room, where again I sat in the only comfortable chair I could find, I never saw this doctor again either.

At approximately 9pm I told the reception that I was tired and hungry and was going home having waited around for nearly 9 hours. I got in the car (my husband had waited in the car all this time) and we started to go home only to be called by another doctor at the hospital asking me to please come back as I had a broken arm, and 3 broken ribs, so we turned round and went back where this doctor called Habid was waiting for me. He was the best person I saw he showed me the x-rays and I clearly saw the damage for myself.

3 broken ribs and broken elbow and a chip of bone floating around it I was put in a sling and told the fracture clinic would be contacting me to plaster my arm in the next few days. I was told to take many deep breaths to try and prevent pneumonia. The nurse asked another nurse to get a collar and cuff, I had no idea what this was, but anyway they could not find one.

I got home at about 10pm exhausted and in a lot of pain, I had to wait to this morning to get the Oramorph.

The only people who were compassionate to me were Becky the Nurse practitioner, the doctor Habib and the nurse with him and the younger nurse who made me tea.

I will just add that I am an extremely vulnerable patient as I have autoimmune liver disease and have to take immune suppressants daily. I also have stomach problems.

I think my treatment, especially by the first consultant in A&E who said I had no broken ribs, was very poor for a high-risk person or for that matter anyone.

I had to return to A&E a day or so later, I saw triage nurse who never ever looked up when I went in, (very rude), I had temporary plaster put on the arm. I saw another nurse, who didn’t seem to believe that a collar and cuff was going to be put on, she said that they don’t put collar and cuff on an injury like this and that there were lots of them in the department at any time, I felt that I was being called a liar.