"what care? in A & E"

I was admitted to Lister Hospital Stevenage June 2004. I had bilateral pneumonia & pleurisy. I was transferred to resus, as my heart was being affected. The young nurses were more interested in talking about their next night out, rather than looking after me. They put an oxygen mask over my face & when I tried to lift it off, they held it back over my face saying it was helping me to breathe. I said I can’t breathe. My daughter who was with me said I couldn’t breathe, so then a young male Spanish student nurse realised that they hadn’t switched on the oxygen & were in fact suffocating me. They didn’t apologise, just switched it on.

When placed on a ward, I asked a nurse to wash her hands before treating me & thereafter I felt I was victimised. It seemed that they made a point of dealing with the patient next to me, who had gastro enteritis, & walking straight over to me to administer intravenous drugs. NO HAND WASHING. I witnessed some nurses reading magazines rather than going to patients ringing for them. They did not appear to be over worked, as they spent more time sitting & talking. I feel that I am lucky to be alive.