"Some areas that need improved"

I am a nurse practitioner of many years and I have very rarely been on the other side of the bed as a patient. My experience begins when I and my partner were visiting some family members and he took ill. He was rushed to the emergency department in Craigavon and he was diagnosed with renal and heart failure. He spent time in ICU in Craigavon and the care he received was amazing, he was then transferred to male medical in Daisy Hill – this was a difficult adjustment for him as he had gone from one-to-one care in ICU to not having his own nurse, I understand that this is no fault of the hospital, it was just a shock to him. He was in a side room for a while, and he felt that he had been left there to die. I informed the nurses of this and they moved him so that he could be seen and not feel ignored. He then later had a jugular access port put in as an outpatient procedure and we were sent home with the instructions to head to Craigavon or phone 999 if there were any issues. Later that night I woke up and I was covered in his blood as the access port had leaked. We were rushed to CAH and he spent 15 hours in resus, after 8 hours they managed to get the bleeding under control and then they sutured the port in so it wouldn’t leak again. He never got what he ordered as he was on a low potassium diet, so I had to bring him in food to ensure he could eat without worrying if it could make his existing conditions worse. He was later discharged and now attends dialysis 3 times a week. This experience was very hard on me and it was a very anxious time for both of us, but any issues that arose were dealt with quickly and effectively and I commend the teams in Craigavon and Daisy Hill for that.

Then a few weeks ago I came into the emergency department with severe shortness of breath, I was in the department overnight while a bed was being organised for me up on the ward. I was well looked after in the department and saw several doctors, they suspected I had pneumonia and started me on antibiotics and other medications. There was a lovely nurse in the red resus who made me feel at ease and she actually came to visit me later on the ward, I really appreciated this gesture.

I was admitted to male medical, and I spent my first few hours in the coronary care unit before I was moved to a different ward. I unfortunately didn’t see a doctor until a few days later, when other patients had seen one. Over this time my breathlessness had gotten worse. I was then moved onto a cardioversion ward, and I was quite freaked out, I emailed colleagues and friends telling them I was scared I was going to die. After this occurred I received an apology from the nurse in charge and some of the doctors over how I had been treated.

I had gone for my first CT and I couldn’t actually get the CT done as when I lay down my breathlessness got worse, I felt that at the time the staff thought I was just hyperventilating due to the confined space. It was then discovered that I had a large amount of fluid in my lungs and this was likely the cause of my breathlessness. I then had a chest tube fitted. With the tube fitted I found my mobility greatly decreased as the drain itself was quite heavy, I then needed help to wash myself so I asked a Healthcare Assistant to help me, but they just brought me a cardboard bedpan and a cloth, left these on my table and then walked off. I was appalled that that was the level of care I received from her and I informed the nurses about this incident and it didn’t happen again. One of my friends came in to visit and helped me wash, that I would say was my breaking point. Later that day I heard the doctors talking about neoplastic syndrome on the phone and saw that there were tumour markers on my bloods form, that was when I knew something was really wrong.

The doctors came and informed me that they had found cancerous cells in the pleural fluid they drained and that they were the cells of secondary metastases, I was then sent down to gynae in female surgical to have biopsies carried out. The nurse there was amazing and sat with me when I got the news. My nurse on the medical ward sat with me and cried when they found out about the cancer. My best friend informed my family and we all cried together.

I want to thank my doctors for the care and compassion they have treated me with, it is truly unbelievable, I’m grateful for them starting me on the cancer care pathway. The pharmacists and cleaners have been so kind (one cleaner left me up a tea cake after the incident with the bedpan). The nurse in charge is honestly fantastic, the epitome of what a nurse should be.

The only things I think could be improved is that the nursing feels very task orientated and that I feel that it would be very beneficial to have a psychologist there when patients are given bad news for patients to talk to

If you asked me a week ago what I thought, wouldn’t have been so positive but this last week has truly made me grateful for the staff here.