"Gall stones"

In the past I was misdiagnosed by my GP with IBS (Irritable bowl syndrome). Recently I was having excruciating pain in the right side of my stomach, in my shoulders and back pain. Violent sickness, couldn't keep down any food or fluids at all. After numerous trips and tests at Russell's hall and an ultra sound scan it was clear that I had gall stones, and the next step was to have my gall bladder removed.

The 4 times I went to hospital because of the pain I was in, no matter what department of the hospital I was in, the staff were terrible, the amount of time I had to wait for the simplest of things even though I had appointments booked with certain things was appalling, and my overall view and experiences of Russell's hall hospital are nothing but bad. I wouldn't even rate them on a scale of one to ten. I had a pre-op because I was due to have my gall bladder removed 2 days later, so I had to have the usual blood tests and what not, this was in the afternoon, I was sorted quickly, which I was ecstatic about and sent home ready and raring to go for my operation.

9 hours later I had a phone call from the ACU unit at Russell's hall saying that my bloods have came back from the pre-op I had earlier on in the day, and they we're extremely abnormal and was told to get straight to the hospital as it was an 'emergency'. So as you would I rushed to get ready and me and my parents and my partner got straight there, all of us thinking the worst, as you would after a phone call that sounded so distressing. So I went straight to the ACU unit, we managed to get there and seen by a nurse, I had my blood pressure taken, temperature, more bloods and a canular put into my left hand. I asked how long it would be before I could see a doctor as we was all concerned as to what could have caused this, I was told I would be seen within an hour. I had a different nurse come round every 3 hours or so to keep checking the same things, and everytime me and my family was told to get some sleep. However 1. sleeping is the last thing on your mind when you've received a phone call like I did. And 2. It was almost impossible with the ridiculous amount of noise coming from the front desk, where a team of 10 or maybe more nurses/doctors were all congregated laughing loudly, eating chocolate and sweets, being over the top loud which was very very frustrating. The staff on that particular shift was nothing but terrible and uncaring for the patients. Myself and I can imagine the other patients seemed to be treated as more of an object rather than a human, I can't say anyone really got a look in.

Almost 10 hours later after waiting overnight I was finally approached by a lovely nurse that told me I was being moved to the discharge unit to see a consultant, so we went. In all honesty they were fabulous and very to the point and fast paced, unlike the staff at the ACU unit. I was spoken to by a consultant within half an hour of seeing the doctor and I was told that the reason I had been called in was due to my blood count being too high on the liver blood test they took earlier on that day. It was supposed to have been between 50-60 however mine showed up as over 1, 600! So I was told due to the circumstances it would be too risky to follow through with my operation the next day and that it would have to be cancelled and rescheduled for a date after they found out what the cause of the high blood count was. After having a canular in my hand for 10 and a half hours I requested to have it taken out as it was getting itchy and sore and no fluids had or was going to be put into my body through it anyway. I had to go through with some more blood tests to see if the results of those we're any lower, which took the lovely lady I was allocated to 45 mins because of how bad my veins are to get blood out of, however the nurse that did it so was fabulous, really friendly and encouraging. So after that I was given a follow up appointment and sent home. Just like that. With no answers as to why this had happened because the doctor/consultant had no explanation for this.

So I after 14 long, pointless hours I was sent home with an appointment to follow for 4 days later on the Wednesday and not another word said. So I left and went home none the wiser than I was 14 hours previous when I received the call. Which understandably would be extremely worrying for me and my family as I'm being hung by a string until it suits them to see me again and give me some answers! I couldn't have been more frustrated as I was that afternoon leaving the hospital. I think that Russell's hall need to learn and grasp the meaning of an 'emergency' as I certainly was not treated as one, so felt like I had to real purpose to be there. I should have faith and hope in my local health system. But instead I feel nothing but dread and hatred towards them for the way that I've been treated by 99% of the people I have come across since all of this started. It really is the worst hospital in the UK as far as my opinion counts. And I would not recommend anyone to attend unless it's absolutely life threatening and you've got no other alternative. I dread my next visit🙄