"Not much of anything"

What I liked

Not much of anything

What could be improved

Staff/patient contact

Use of 'care' when dealing with the disabled

Politeness

Empathy

Consistancey between what some staff allowed (Visits) and some didn't

The presence of a doctor would have been good (I never saw one)

Anything else?

I was taken into A+E with suspected swine flu. The ambulance staff were lovely and very considerate of my needs as a badly disabled person and could not apologize enough for the precautions (masks/suits) needed. Unfortunately my good experience ended the second I reached A+E. Once there I was greeted rudely and shoved in a hot, sealed, room with no windows. My 24 hour carer and parents were shouted at for attending and made unwelcome. However had they not have done so I would have been alone for the next four hours with nobody telling us what was going on. In the end my carer kept leaving the room to ask but even this proved fruitless.

I was offered no drinks despite the heat of the room and the fact I had a temperature. I was also needing food as an insulin dependant diabetic and this and my medication was viewed as 'unnecessary and pointless' to those in whose care I found myself. Finally I was curly informed that I had a lack of fluids (can’t think why) and banished to a ward. The next day nobody was allowed near me such as my carer so my 24 hour care turned into brief calls every 4 hours. Again as I was unable to get a drink myself my fluids crashed.

No staff meant no cleaners of course.

Anything could have happened in the room like a seizure, choking, vomiting, falling from bed etc and nobody would have known. (Is it any wonder people are dying due to other health problems when they are confirmed with swine flu?)

Once the swabs came back negative I was still ignored and viewed as a burden by staff that even resorted to hiding the call button so I couldn't reach it. I am happy to be home and know now never to go to KGH (especially A+E) again.