"Clean Hospital and generally friendly ..."

What I liked

Clean Hospital and generally friendly staff

What could be improved

The entire care package from start to finish

Anything else?

I visited my GP in September 2008 and was referred to Chorley Hospital late in 2009. Following their diagnosis, I found I had a double hiatus hernia (one in chest and one by stomach).

Following collapsing at home one saturday morning this year my husband brought me in in agonising pain and the receptionist was "on a break and eating banana". Instead of dealing with this urgently she glanced up and carried on ignoring us until a nurse brought us to a cubicle.

Following a week stay in despite the condition worsening, nothing was done.

I find it difficult to believe that as hernia surgery is commonplace, this hospital does not have the equipment to conduct the correct tests.

Its May 5th2010 and due to inadequacies in pain management not offered from the due date I visit the hospital once every couple of weeks (sometimes in an ambulance) due to severe agonising pain as its not nbeing managed.

I was in two weeks ago and the doctors clearly knew the problem as my husband and I were regular visitors. And all I needed was pain management - they kept me in and I had an adverse reaction to medication I was given despite the allergies being made clear at the top of my form.

There was light at the end of the tunnel as my operation is due on 06/05/10 (tomorrow) however, the day before my addmittance (today 05/05/10) I was contacted at 18:20pm by the bed management team people to say it was all cancelled (strange that they call some 80 minutes after the people we needed to speak to went home (strange or "convenient" !!). They called to not just say it was cancelled but they could not provide the new operation date.

There is more to this disaster however I'm sure it'll all come out in the local papers and in the formal complaint we're lodging.

One thing that does vex me a little is that NHS guidelines for hernia surgery is 5 months - I'm concerned that I'm waiting more than 8 with no light at the end of this dark tunnel.