"What an introduction to D-Day!!!!"

My name- Ken Joyce. On short visit to UK I fell ill and was admitted to the Gloucester Hospital on 28th May. The treatment in every respect in what I think is called A&E was excellent, the advice from Doctors was first class. On being taken by trolley to I think the 9th floor, I was confronted by a group of 3 Nurses. They were asked which room/ward I was to go into, I must l admit to poor hearing but sniggering and laughing was followed by "put him in there" In there was a room with four men, one of whom was continually shouting and yelling. I asked the Nurse if this was some kind of punishment ward, I told her that I although I had come from Australia I was not a foreigner bludging on the UK health system but an 88 year old Disabled British Ex-Serviceman who had seen service in Normandy, Burma and Java and had a medal for each. There was no response to this and I was left on a bed that was set up for sitting rather than laying down, I had no tissues for my heavy clearing of my lungs. I lay for a while, then went outside asked them to help me with the bed, the answer was they would be along later.The noise went on for hours even though one of the patients kept shouting for him to shut up. I was helped by the patient next to me to straighten out the bed around 11.30 pm. He also gave me tissues for my spitting. The team of Nurses came on the scene close to midnight and I asked if the poor noisy fellow couldn't be moved to a single room so that the rest of us could sleep. No response. I must admit to telling the nurses that I had never been in worst ruin hospital since the War, the three of them seemed to be definitely overworked and surely the poor chap could be moved to one of single rooms. I made the grievious mistake of speaking of one nurse by describing her as a girl instead of nurse when I thanked her for giving me a basket in which to put my dirty tissues and was roundly reprimanded, I did apologise to her. The noise went on all night till I went to one of the three available toilets or more likely store rooms at 5am for a rest. I was asked to go back to bed but sorry, I ignored this instruction. In the morning a Specialist Doctor came to review us all and looking at my neighbour he said something like, You seem very tired, when he came to me I told him that it was no wonder we looked tired as there had been little or no sleep for any of us. Answered by a grunt. Before leaving I told the nurses that I would report what happened to both the Press and the Minister. The response of one of them was, "good, we'll watch that space." In any event thinking of the wonderful treatment on the ground floor and of how just before the new team came on, one of the 3 nurses had kindly taken care of my ruptured dressing I have decided not to broadcast the matter but let those, if any, who are in authority to know and maybe rectify the position.