"Hospital Admission"

I was admitted via the admissions ward at pilgrim hospital recently for a hysterectomy. The staff on the admissions ward were excellent and took time to put me at ease. I have fibromyalgia so wear a patch for pain relief permanently. When I saw the anaesthetist he asked me to remove the patch prior to going to theatre so that they could give me adequate pain relief.

When I came round from surgery the pain was very bad and the recovery nurse gave me the maximum of morphine that I could have. Still in a lot of pain I was moved to ward m2. There I was given paracetamol and oramorph. By 9pm I was not only in pain from the surgery but also from the fibromyalgia. I felt like I had been hit by a bus. I asked a nurse to assist me in getting out of the surgical gown and into my own pyjama top. She then saw the soiled sheets and said that they needed to be changed. No one did change them.

Knowing that the patch would take up to 24hours to become effective I begged the nurse to give me one of my patches to put on. I was told that I couldn't as the dr hadn't written them up and all the Drs were in theatre. My drugs were finally written up at 11: 39pm so I could put my patch on and take other regular medication.

I was not given any injection that night to prevent dvt' due to the dr forgetting to write it up on my chart. As per norm I had a catheter in place and this was removed at 6am by an agency nurse and I was given 3 bed pans for me to pass urine in. I was not told to ring for assistance at all. Unfortunately anaesthetics makes my blood pressure drop very low, so I knew I would have to be careful getting out of bed.

After a very unsettled night, I woke and had breakfast, then carefully went to the bathroom by myself. I was so tired that I went back to bed, it was then that I saw how bad the soiled sheets were with blood that I had slept in all night!

I fell back to sleep for a short while only to be woken by a nurse telling me that I needed to get dressed and move to the day room ready to be discharged. This was less than 24 hours following surgery. As I was getting dressed I was crying due to pain and the effects of the anaesthetic. My husband came and he was disgusted when I told him what was happening. I asked the nurse what pain relief I would be being sent home with to be told paracetamol. I explained that that wouldn't be adequate enough as I had fibromyalgia, so pain was bad at the best of times. The nurse then told me that Drs never send patients home with oramorph. I asked to see the dr again. It was then that I explained that I had had my gall bladder removed at the beginning of the year at Lincoln County, I had kept my pain relief patch on at all times, I was given paracetamol and tramadol regularly as well as having oramorph prn. The dr then agreed to send me home with oramorph.

When I next saw the nurse I told her that I hadn't had any injections to prevent dvt, so she brought me the injection and just handed it to me to do myself. I was given no tuition on how to do this.

In the whole time I was on the ward not once did I see a cleaner, the floor in the ward where I was was filthy. One of the ladies bringing round food on the Friday did however wipe my table clean.

The majority of nurses were agency staff that clearly didn't know the ward or the patients.

My husband was disgusted to see that cleanliness has dropped considerably in the few months previously.

I was finally discharged at approx 18: 20 after waiting all afternoon for my oramorph to come from the pharmacy.

I am a nurse myself, and only made that disclosure to a few people whilst I was in hospital. I am absolutely disgusted at how I was treat whilst in Pilgrim Hospital. This hospital has been classed as needing improvement by the cqc.