"I must say that I was told before ..."

What I liked

I must say that I was told before admission that this hospital was state of the arc and good but when I had an operation there on the 16th March I had a dreadful experience. When the call bell was pulled it was a minimum of 30 minutes before anybody came to your aid. When they did if you were asking for pain relief you were kept waiting for hours. The care assistants did their best to look after patience but the staff nurses were terrible I was reminded continually that they were under staffed they hadn't had their break and that they were supposed to have gone home hours ago. I took in a list of my medication from my GP but was told I could not have what was listed although I was in more pain and I couldn't have it 4 hourly but 6 hourly,so I was in twice as much pain without as much pain relief. It says in the hospital booklet adequate pain relief is essential to assist in your recovery but although I was in agony I was taken off of the morphine pump the day after my op and when I asked for pain relief I was kept waiting for hours. The moral of the staff was poor and I witnessed nurses arguing between themselves one occasion a care assistant threatened to leave. The 1st day I could get out of bed I was told to go for a wash, without a corset that was supposed to be fitted, I felt faint while in the bathroom so I pulled the emergency cord and sat on the toilet, but no one came for 45 minutes when they did they said its because its hot in the bathroom and for me to just go back to bed. I witnessed one woman she had pulled the cord and was calling for help and no one came then she collapsed on the floor. When I asked to go home a day early as my children could care for me better, I was given no help or post op advise, and noticed on the front of my medical file it says in big yellow letter ( self discharged)

What could be improved

The way that senior members of staff speak to people..the way they ignore the emergency call bells for at least 30 minutes

Anything else?

I will be complaining to the health minister and the NHS. I can not change the way I have been treated but there was a lot of elderly people in the bay I was in so I hope that by me complaining it might stop the same happening to someone else