"Treatment at Manchester Royal Infirmary & Trafford General"

In July this year, I had a fit at work. The ambulance came out to me and said I’d be ok.

The next day, I had stomach pain that was so bad I was rolling around on the floor and I was vomiting luminous colours. I went to Trafford General A & E and was told I was constipated, they shoved tablets up my bum and gave me an appointment for a scan the next day.

When I went for the scan at Trafford General, I was green, (my whole body), and my stomach was massive. The Doctor who saw me rushed me onto a ward but they discharged me, saying that they couldn’t help me and I would have to be transferred to Manchester Royal Infirmary.

I had to wait 17 hours to be transferred to Manchester Royal by ambulance and I was coughing up blood by this point. While I was waiting I went back to A & E.

At Manchester Royal, they said they thought I had problems with my gallstones. I was still in pain, vomiting and coughing up blood but the staff just left me.

Three days later, on a Sunday, in Manchester Royal, they said they were taking me to theatre to have a camera put inside me. I wanted to ring my parents to let them know but because it was visiting time in an hours time the staff wouldn’t let me. They said they would take me to theatre at 6pm and I would be back on the ward by 8. 30pm at the latest. When my parents arrived to visit me the staff wouldn’t tell them where I’d gone.

During the operation I woke up to find the Doctor was hooking sick out of my mouth. I had to wave at them to show them I was awake. They just put me back to sleep, no-one reassured me that everything was ok so I fought going back to sleep.

I woke up on the ward at 3. 30 am the next day, Monday, with an oxygen mask on. I was freezing because I’d been left with no clothes. I asked if I could ring my parents but wasn’t allowed to. I asked what had happened to me and why I was feeling so sore. The nurses wouldn’t tell me and said I had to wait to speak to the doctors later that day.

When the doctor arrived, he was with a group of medical students and was asking them what they thought was wrong with me. I got no answers or information about what had happened during the operation. I finally found out on Tuesday evening.

They wouldn’t let my Dad stay overnight with me and the nurses told me they were too busy to help me go to the toilet, they said there was a two hour wait. I was told to use a commode by the side of the bed. They didn’t empty them though.

By early the following Tues morning, the veins in my arm were really raised and I was sweating so I rang the buzzer by my bed. It took 45 minutes for a nurse to come. My mum asked them to stop the morphine they were giving me and both my mum and dad told the nurses there was something not right with me. The nurses response was that there was a two day wait to see the doctor. The doctor only came in the morning to see patients with problems. So I waited and saw the doctor on Wednesday.

On Thursday I was told I was being discharged because they needed the bed for other patients. I was still vomiting and the veins were still raised in my arm. My Mum asked if I was well enough to go home. They said I hadn’t had any drugs the night before because the nurse with the key to the drugs cabinet had gone home. I was given no aftercare advice or anything.

The next day, my GP came out to see me (I still couldn’t move). I had bleeding from my vagina, nose and ears. The GP took a blood test and rang me the next day to say I had septicaemia and that I needed to go back into A & E.

I went back to A & E at Trafford General. They sent me home and said come back if you don’t get better in two days. They couldn’t get my records up from my treatment and operation at Manchester Royal and didn’t do any tests on me.

I ended up going to Salford Royal A & E where they treated me and rushed me in straight away. They told me I had to go back to Manchester Royal Infirmary and that it was too late that get rid of the septicaemia, it could only be treated. I refused to go back to Manchester Royal but had to go back for a week in the end.

My Mum had to take time off work to bath me and look after me in Manchester Royal. They didn’t look after me and they had the wrong person on my bed records. Because they’d got the wrong notes, I was told I can’t moan because I'm on benefits. The staff were really rude. They did give me fluids.

I’m still getting septicaemia shots now at Manchester Royal, now in September. They don’t talk you through the process and have left me after I’ve had a fit there because of the pain of the injections.

Nothing was good about my treatment, everything needs to be improved, especially the nurses caring attitude, friendliness and helpfulness. I feel really frustrated; I’m working and paying taxes for these services.