"Humiliated for being in hospital"

I am currently 22 weeks pregnant and the service I received from ARI ward 101 left me humiliated. A very sudden bruise appeared on my leg which I contacted my GP about due to matching symptoms of DVT and after inspecting a picture I sent them they were keen to have me in ASAP to assess this further .

To be on the safe side I was sent to ward 101 for further investigation and if I knew how I was going to be treated I’d have rather continued being in pain. When I arrived on the ward was met with a lovely nurse who explained what was going to happen and I would be there for roughly 4-5 hours once the doctors had seen me. We went over my medical history and noticed I suffer with severe anxiety which is made worse being in situations I find upsetting/stressful without one of my family members with me.

I was admitted at 4.20pm. A phlebotomist then came to take my blood however after already stating that I could only have blood drawn/cannula inserted with Emla cream i was informed that they didn’t have and would have to find on another ward. However from here I was made to feel very embarrassed by needing this.

On several occasions I was the butt of a joke all because I needed emla....as you can imagine my anxiety was already sky high and hearing my name several occasions with a joke and lots of laughing to follow can be really stressful on a person. A nurse came to see me later on asking how I was feeling and why I was there and after telling her she then went to the other side of room and I could hear her whispering ‘oh she only has a bruise’ and once again this made me feel absolutely awful like I was wasting their time. 

Finally at 6.30pm I had emla applied in prep for the blood work...however the recommended 30 minute wait time came and went. I didn’t have blood work done until 9.30 at night (the nurse who attempted this then the 2nd nurse were very kind and could see how agitated I was) and they decided to also put in a cannula.

As the nurse came to do my bloods - a doctor shouted that the nurse should have bathed me in the stuff - saying that then I couldn't worry about any of the pain, whilst hysterically laughing - and then staff asking who they were speaking about and in followed my name which bed I was in etc. I work in HR and I’m very aware of GDPR....and do I feel like my rights were met? No where near. 

Also - when I arrived on the ward I was not informed I had to help myself to water or where this was. I presumed it would be handed out as the other patients in the room had their own jug of water but finally at 8.30 I noticed jugs with water on the windowsill that I presume would need to help myself to. I should have perhaps buzzed but as there had been an emergency happen in the ward the staff were understandably very busy and didn’t want to feel even more of a inconvenience. 

As you can imagine this experience has left me reluctant to go to ARI again in case I’m once again made a fool of...just how you want a 22week severely anxious pregnant woman feeling. I was discharged at the back of 10pm and was very emotional and my family are disgusted the way I have been treated.