"Ableism at UCLH"

I am a wheelchair user. I can not physically put pressure on my legs as this causes excruciating pain in my pelvic. I was admitted to UCLH because I was in a lot of pain that day for a separate emergency.

I stayed overnight whilst waiting for a bed to be available in a ward. They did not let me take my wheelchair as I came with the ambulance and my mother who is my full time carer was not allowed to come with me to help me. The problem that I had was that every time I needed to use the toilet I had to ask the nurses for a wheelchair. In the first instance after being admitted to the emergency department, I asked for a wheelchair to allow me to use the toilet. The staff told me they didn’t have any wheelchairs available and left.

I then asked for a commode and they told me they did not have one at that moment. I asked if they could give me anything to hold onto and again they said no. I was so desperate that I had to get up and hold the walls and anything around me whilst crying out in pain just to use the toilet. I thought I was going to collapse. That was the most painful thing I have ever had to do.

I was then moved to a different part of the hospital for checks. I thought maybe things would be better from there. I was very wrong. Whilst in desperate need for the toilet I waited around 10-15 minutes each time for a nurse to get back to me. If I was able to walk I could easily walk to the toilet myself when I needed too. As a wheelchair user I needed someone to push me and take me to the toilet and help me. I can not count the amount of times I had to ‘hold it in’ and bare the excruciating pain which is associated with my condition.

When they did finally find a wheelchair for me after waiting another 30 minutes the nurse took me to the toilet and when I was finished and waited for them to push me back to my bed I had to sit in the wheelchair in the toilet for another 10 minutes calling out to someone for help.

Throughout this whole experience the only relief that I had was when they allowed my mum to visit me after begging the nurses and she brought my wheelchair and assisted me as she usually does. I also used a commode twice which was fine until I couldn’t properly clean myself without help. I tried not to drink anything as I knew that I would need the toilet and would have to wait a long time for a nurse to push me.

I have never in my life been more disappointed and disgusted with the health care system. I feel embarrassed and ashamed as a disabled person. My basic human needs were not met and I can not imagine how many more people have and will experience the same thing. It is very clear that being disabled or less abled is a burden that could not be catered to on this occasion in an NHS hospital.