"Awful"

We were sent to this hospital after a 3 hour wait at Rake Lane by the nurse practitioner there, so arrived at 1.45 in the morning I had a letter from rake lane which I gave to the moody receptionist, who whilst opening it said 'why are you here' so I explained that I was in a great deal of pain which if they had looked at me they could have seen but they were too busy looking at the computer screen. My husband went and put some hand gel on & the receptionist said 'who's that with you' & not in a nice way. We then take a seat. Then get called by the triage nurse who was rude & if I had got their name I would be putting in a complaint against them. First of all I explained that I had been diagnosed with nerve root pain in my back & normally I'm in pain but the pain was different today & far more severe, they asked me where my pain was on a level of 1 to 10, 10 being like child birth when I said 10, they didn't believe me. Then they started talking about sciatica & how nurses get it all the time. They then asked me if I had any other medical conditions I said yes a regurgitated heart valve to which they said 'someone is pulling your leg there's no such thing, regurgitated means coming back up to which my husband explained yes that is what happens because the heart valve doesn't close properly.

I was in so much pain & having to justify everything was so tiring that to be honest if I wasn't in that much pain I wouldn't have bothered.

We then see a doctor who wasn't happy that rake lane sent us to the hospital because 'nurse practitioners get a lot of money more than them to sort these things out' when my husband tried to say that the nurse practitioner felt that because the symptoms were worsening they needed more investigation we were told 'well we don't do that here'. I was given some pills and sent on my way.

I am still in a great deal of pain with no where to go as it seems to be no ones job.

Overall my experience was of disinterested, rude staff & confused patients who have to justify why they are there.

I have only gone to a a&e once in my life as to be honest I am not one to complain about things but my pain was so bad I felt I was left with no choice next time I won't bother what's the point.