"Sometimes a patient knows when something is wrong"

My problems started with what I thought was a simple sore throat in mid December 2012 - yet my GP was extremely concerned and sent me to the A&E. However when I arrived the A&E staff - especially the triage nurse and the doctor I saw were not really concerned and insinuated I was making a fuss out of nothing. I was sent home with a small amount of medicine. For a week it seemed that the A&E team may be right. But as soon as medicine ran out the illness returned. This time I went to Colchester's attached out of hours service. They immediately sent me back to A&E. I was again being treated as if I was wasted time until I felt weak and collapsed. This was the time I was sent from minor to major and had to spend some time in hospital. I had in fact contracted severe sepsis. My white blood count was extremely high - yet during my first visit or until I had gone to ward was any blood test done to check. Once I had gotten on the ward the care was excellent - although I didn't really have any say in my care and felt in the dark about what was going on. The majority of the care was excellent although there was one time when I was left for 4 hours without water while unable to move easily to help myself. Another moment of error came when I was told I was going to go home on Christmas Eve and had arranged for my wife to pick me up only to discover I was being kept in when she arrived. This was because of confusion in regards to my blood test - but considering the day was highly disappointing. Despite these incidents - generally the ward care was excellent and the doctors were caring. The ward was always clean and staff worked well together on most occasions. The one thing I would say that needs to happen is that sometimes the patients know when something is wrong. Previous and since my problems of that December and the resulting operation I required I rarely visit the Doctor's. I just believe that too much antibiotics is bad for you and they should be reserved for when you really need them - like I had in this instance.