"Surgical assessment nightmare"

I was referred to surgical assessment after seven weeks of pelvic pain, fever, nausea, urinary pain, fatigue and light-headedness, which had been treated as a recurring UTI but was not resolving. I had been unable to work or exercise throughout this time and was feeling very unwell. The GP had said I was a mystery and they were out of ideas.

The first half of my visit at surgical assessment was lovely - staff were welcoming, ran some tests, and left me to sit quietly in a bed. However, once the doctor saw me, things changed. They asked me leading questions ‘well it isn’t interrupting your work is it?’ (it was) and said that if I went private I could pay for a scan, but ‘this is the NHS’, so they wouldn’t. I explained that I could not cope with the nausea and dry heaving, and they asked me to leave the bed, and went to speak to a senior doctor.

Around 3 hours into my time on the ward, the doctor came back and said they would not be investigating further. I explained that I had terrible nausea, had been dry heaving in the bathroom, and my symptoms had been ongoing for weeks, and my GP was out of ideas. The doctor came back with sickness pills and told me to take one and wait half an hour. All of this discussion took place in the corridor where there were other patients and I had no privacy.

I took the sickness pill which had zero effect, and waited for someone to come back to me. By this point, 4 hours into my visit, I was feeling extremely unwell and tearful. I ended up crying and telling another doctor that I would be leaving so that I could at least feel ill at home with my partner to support me, and I tried to return the sickness pills to them as they had no effect and clearly could not tackle the underlying issue. This doctor sternly told me that I needed to take the pills and that they would find a senior doctor to come to speak to me.

Another hour passed, bringing my time in the ward to five hours total. By this point I was dizzy, feverish, and constantly dry heaving. A very unwell patient began projectile vomiting at which point I had to leave as I could not cope.

My GP agrees that this treatment was unacceptable. She referred me for an ultrasound which showed an abnormality and I have now been urgently referred to a consultant. I will be seen by them almost two months after I was sent to surgical assessment. Who knows what impact this delay may have had.

I am very disappointed by my treatment on the ward, and I am also conscious that women’s pain, and especially ethnic minority women’s pain, is more likely to be dismissed. I cannot help but reflect on what impact this had in this instance.