"Wards 28 and 23 also Outpatients 1"

If this is caring at its best, I would hate to see the worst.

I was admitted to Ward 28 of LGH via my GP as an emergency following four months of gallstone pain. I was jaundiced and fainted at home that morning due to pain.

I am a fit and active, mentally alert 67 year old yet I was catheterised the same night by a dour nurse who barely spoke to me. No explanation was given at the time. I thought catheterisation was because I was about to undergo surgery, but it seems it was to monitor urine output. There are easier and less invasive ways of achieving this. Other patients who also had urine output monitored were not catheterised.

I also had an oxygen line and IV fluids so was effectively tethered to my bed for four days. I had to plead with nurses to temporarily disconnect oxygen and IV so I could carry out basic hygiene. I was wheeled for MRI through public corridors carrying a bag of urine. I felt humiliated. Eventually I asked to have the catheter removed as there was blood in my urine. All catheterisation achieved was to immobilise a mobile patient.

I was moved five times in four days, which was unsettling. I got little sleep due to a dementia patient who shouted constantly and hurled anything within reach. Also there was noise from keyboards, printers and staff at night. I was moved to a quieter bay, but a patient with known mental health issues, who threatened to perform her own surgery, was admitted. I was again moved, but moved again within 2-3 hours to Ward 23.

Ward 23 was quieter but it was a mixed ward, which I'm not happy about but there was no alternative.

Whilst on this ward, I had ERCP. I was conscious most of the time. A biliary stent was inserted. Originally the consultant told me I would have a cholecystectomy soon after ERCP, so I was surprised when I was discharged next day without having had surgery.

We waited until 18:30 until querying when my discharge papers and drugs would be ready. Nothing had been prepared and all doctors had left. The nurse in charge was confused if I could even go home.

I returned home exhausted by lack of sleep. The discharge papers took a week to come by post.

In December, I attended Daycare 1 for a further ERCP to clear out more stones and replace the stent.

This procedure lasted an hour instead of the 20-30 minutes stated in the booklet. I kept gagging as the endoscopist continually pushed the endoscope into my throat. A sphincterectomy was performed, but the original stent was 'lost' during extraction. No extracter balloon was available. I now have a foreign object somewhere in my digestive system with the potential to pierce vital organs. After ERCP we asked what would happen next but nobody seemed to know, so I have no idea when I will hear from LGH. There are serious issues with communication between staff and from staff to patients. Procedures were postponed after patients had been nil-by-mouth for some time increasing length of stay. The experience was like a Carry on film but not funny.