"I was in escalating pain for 3 hours"

I was brought to ESH A&E by a paramedic (who did not recognise the medical term TURP) with a blood clot obstructing my urethra which was causing intense pain not relieved by oral morphine - I knew this was what was happening and said I needed a catheter inserting with urgency.

I was delayed by the paramedic taking endless notes by hand on arrival at my home, by the 30 minute car journey from Horsham to Redhill, by waiting outside triage for 10 minutes, by the triage nurse taking the same information given to the paramedic again by endless notes, then the doctor treating me asked many of the same questions before acting - there is no connection between paramedic, triage and attending doctor, it seems.

Additionally, calling 111 was a waste of valuable time - they had no idea what I was talking about and delayed me for 30 minutes eventually passing me to 999 after an unacceptable delay.

In all I was in escalating pain for something like 3 hours. People seemed absolutely intent on logging information (again and again) while appearing to ignore the screaming, writhing patient alongside. I have never endured such pain, it was worse than bouts of prostatitis earlier in my life (and they were bad enough).

No urgency to get me to treatment was displayed at any point. A blood test sample taken at 0020hr produced results only more than 5 hours later.

My wife rang in to see what was happening and sent me a message that was never given to me. The one good happening was that patient transport was laid on to take me home.