"Ward 200"

I was recently transferred to ward 200 from another part of the hospital having been admitted as an emergency with a back injury. My treatment up to this point had been just about acceptable. I was delivered to the ward on a hard wheel chair and the effort of having to sit upright with a bad back injury was causing me severe pain that was getting rapidly worse. Upon arrival the nurse in charge instructed the porter to park me at the far end of the ward as there was no bed for me. Despite the fact that I said that I could no longer bare to remain in the sitting position, the nurse insisted that the porter left me in the chair as instructed, this was reluctantly done. My pain became so severe that I had no option but to lower myself to the floor and lay out flat on my back. The nurse in charge walked past me and said "get up, you can not lay there" and continued to walk away. Luckily the ward Matron was just going off duty and came to my aid. The Matron was exceptionally kind and helped me up and walked me out of the ward which eased my pain somewhat. Within a few minutes the Matron had the staff prepare me a bed and saw that I was as comfortable as possible. Things did not get a lot better. They did not have the medication that was prescribed for me, and after a delay of nearly three hours managed to supply me with alternative medication that far from meet my needs. I can not criticise all of the staff as some were only to willing to assist the patients on the ward, but some of them seemed happier sitting at the nurse station discussing every thing from the weight of the contents of a packet of crisps that one of them had brought in to the merits of cycling to work and where they could leave their cycles. The doctors on the ward during my stay were excellent and did all that they could to keep me updated with the cause of my pain and my treatment. So sad that the attitude of one or two individuals should spoil the hard and conscientious efforts of the majority.