"Emergency admission and surgery"

Unfortunately this experience was traumatic and having long lasting effects on mental health. 

Whilst I was in hospital there seemed to be a lack of staff, lack of beds, lack of compassion and kindness and lack of awareness of how to care for an autistic person. This all played a part in me becoming much more unwell than I needed to be and inflicting unnecessary trauma on myself and my family. 

I was left on the floor of the waiting room of Theatre direct for 6 hours awaiting a scan and an available bed, unable to have any support from loved ones and staff hardly had time to provide me with pain relief. During admission questions the nurse confirmed with me that I had a diagnosis of Autism but nobody in my entire stay mentioned it again or asked how it impacts me or if there were any adjustments needed. I did not have access to my carer or family at any point and was not offered any support at all. 

Once transferred to St Mawes ward I was stuck in a side room and left without being seen by a doctor for 2 days while I continued to deteriorate unable to eat, drink or move. Unable to get IV access or take blood meant I was not receiving the fluids or drugs I needed when I needed them.

On one night the care I received from the nurse on the night shift was so horrific I would have left if I could have stood up, they caused me so much pain and trauma by insisting on forcing a cannula in which they did but into an artery causing a lot of pain and bleeding. They collapsed my only functioning cannula by pushing 3 separate drips through it at once which caused my arm to swell up so much I couldn't move it, this nurse was rude, rolling their eyes and tutting at me then left me covered in vomit and stuck half off the bed for over an hour, I was unable to move or reach the call bell. I was so traumatised I had to make the nurse the next day promise me they wouldn't care for me again. 

While i was in nobody checked if I had any supplies with me, which were limited due to the emergency nature of my admission, nobody helped me wash or change my clothes, nobody contacted my family or asked if I need support to connect with them, I was so unwell I was unable to contact them properly, nobody asked if I had access to the internet or explained what was happening. By day three I genuinely thought I was going to die lying alone in that room and nobody would know. 

There were a few really kind staff members who did their best but had so little time they were not able to offer appropriate care. Once I finally received surgery after I was seen by a doctor and rushed immediately to theatre after some panic that I still did not have a functioning cannula and nobody could take blood from me, I woke up with an unexpected drain coming out of my stomach and no idea what happened, nobody could explain what had happened and I was told to wait for doctors rounds in the morning, which didn't happen.

Eventually almost 24 hours after my surgery a doctor appeared and explained how unwell I was and what had happened then told me I could go home and needed no further follow up. I was discharged without any information or support and without a proper medication review. All in all I am continuing to have to process the trauma and this is the first time I have been able to even think about what happened as it causes so much distress, I really want to complain but currently I don't feel able to put myself through reliving the trauma.