"Nine days too long "

In early November 2008, I was admitted to hospital with a broken back. My stay lasted 9 days. I think it was 9 days too long.

It took 3 days for a CT scan, then 5 days for the results. During my stay, though the rest was poor, the food was good, believe it or not. Though cleanliness does not exist. My dignity seemed to go out the window.

1. On one day, a cleaner came in with what looked like a tea trolley, with a bowl of water, j cloths etc. She wiped door handles outside and inside, wiped around sink & taps, waste bin lids inside, as well re-cleaned taps, then she put the cloth back in the bowl. Then nurse comes in refills water jugs with water from tap. This does not seem clean.

2. A man opposite me, called john, had no use in right arm, no use in right leg, limited use in left leg & ia 84 yrs old. The nurses insisted on dressing him in pajama bottoms & underpants. Imagine, with one weak left hand, bursting to go for a wee, how do you get wee bottle to the right place in time - impossible! John was left for 3hrs+ in a chair in front of a open window, very little to keep him warm, he complained a number of times nothing was done. 12 o’clock he wet himself and called nurse. 12.15, dinner arrived - he is still wet and can not get to his dinner.12.30 doctor arrives, tells John that his organs have deteriorated over the past few years & he felt they could not carry out operation. Doctor leaves John on his own, with curtains around him. 1 o’clock ish john gets cold dinner & is still wet.

3. You get woken up at 6 am for blood pressure/tablets etc A cup of tea is next, followed by breakfast. Any time up to 10-10.30 is wash time. Please note, you have in the night used bed pan/wee bottle, put tablets in your mouth eaten your breakfast without washing. Is that right? I don't think so.

4. After 6 days of lying on my back, I had not been for a no2 (you know what I mean). 8.55pm, I asked for a bed pan & was told I could not be given one with out the doctors permission. 9.35pm there was still no sign of the bed pan, 9.45 a very kind & knowledgeable nurse got me a bed pan. Thank you nurse...

5. Sid was another patient. A young 97 year old, he got out of bed at 8am to go to the loo. I rang the buzzer for the nurse, Sid stood next to my bed with very, very bad diarrhea for 20minits. How degrading! Sid was then moved to an isolation ward, what a shame...

6. Just to add, john who could not get out of bed has not hade a proper wash for 1month, cannot watch a telly because his was broken. TV company say they cannot get the bits to repair it. Iif that is the case, scrap the telly and give john a new one. Finally, when John was left by the window his temperature fell nearly to the stage of him getting hypothermia, he now has a bad flu / cold.

7. I can remember one man in our ward having a blood transfusion. The nurse was trying to hook the blood bag on a stand at the rear of his bed, but was missing the hook and dropping the bag on the patient. No one deserves to be treated like this...