"We can work together to make it better"

My GP referred me to Wythenshawe Hospital with suspected Cauda Equina, he gave me a letter to give to the staff at A&E. I waited 7 painful hours to see a doctor. I'm diabetic, and in all that time, no one checked my blood sugar; I have high blood pressure, but no one measured my blood pressure; since I had no triage I believe no one could have known whether I had cauda equina or not. I think this was a dangerous position to be in.

Finally, when I did see a doctor, he apologised to me for not being seen sooner, but he only just started his shift and his predecessor was too busy. He said to me there was only 1 doctor on call for A&E. That made me worried especially since he said to me he only had a beeper to call him off his regular ward. I thought some of the nurses were few and far between after that but some of the nurses showed me compassion for the amount of pain I was in. I hope the ward I was staying in isn’t anything how the rest of the hospital is. In my experience there was a shortage of porters so I saw some of the nurses had to be used as porters. In my opinion this meant that their qualifications were going to waste.

I found that communication throughout my stay was minimal, with departments not keeping relevant me updated as they I believe they should have. I thought there was poor cleanliness abounded there too as I had dirty sheets, I saw un-mopped floors and some dust in places. I think this hospital needs some help, even if it's only volunteers doing little jobs like collecting prescriptions from pharmacy, taking medical folders to the right place, serving the meals to leave the nurses free, and general non medical help for patients.

I'd like to volunteer a couple of hours a week to help out and start the ball rolling. I believe it's the only way to lessen the stress on both staff and patients. When I’m ill and in pain, I think waiting for information or medicine shouldn't be an issue. Can we work together and sort out this state of affairs?