"Banned for making complaint about poor care "

I have had a long battle to pursue a complaint against this Trust. My story begins with me trying to access the care I needed for my medical conditions which require careful management from different clinical teams.

Because of all the difficulties I made a lot of attempts to contact the hospital to resolve crucial questions about my treatment. The hospital reacted by labelling me with "unacceptable behaviour" and putting in place a management plan to manage my attendance at the hospital. This letter made reference to violent and aggressive behaviour, which was completely untrue. It would be hard for me to sum up all the impact this has had on me both in terms of sorting out my treatment but also the psychological impact of it all, which is still going on for me. As a result of this management plan information was shared with other agencies including the police and I suffered from very negative attitudes and verbal intimidation from staff and others in my local area.

I followed through a formal complaint and also took my case to the Ombudsman who upheld my complaint. It has been a really hard road to get there, and my story has been featured in the HSJ and also in the local press because I have been determined to make sure the issues here were addressed.

It transpired in all this that I was sent a letter which was not accurate by the trusts own admission. This letter was sent to other agencies and I still am feeling the impact of these actions. Also the trust restricted unfairly my access to the hospital.

So I would urge trusts to ensure that where issues arise about accessing treatment, they do not as in this case default to a process which did not address the individual circumstances and resulted in significant damage psychologically as well as great cost to the trust and time taken up with other agencies. I lost all services at Milton Keynes Hospital, all referrals made by my GP were declined, it was extremely dangerous when urgent treatment was required. I travelled miles to another hospital for emergency treatment, anyway from friends and family. My parents always supported me during these difficult times. It seemed that a standard type letter was sent out without checking it was fit for purpose.

The trust insisted there was an ongoing police investigation, after discussing my concerns I have been told by local police force this was not sure. The trust lied and caused distress. I never thought a hospital that cares for patients, could ban a patient for making complaints. The CEO said they have learnt a lot after receiving a letter from Ombudsman. I should of never been banned.

I hope this does not happen to anyone else if they make complaint about poor care.