"Treated like a number, not a patient"

Having attended A and E once and being misdiagnosed my gallbladder started giving me extreme pain 2 days later. My options were to call for an ambulance and go to A and E Lincoln (26 miles away) or wait until my local A and E opened at 9am.

Knowing the additional pain I was in during the original incident which was whilst on a car journey I decided on the latter due to logistics my wife getting home etc. I was taken straight into A and E but later transported to Lincoln due to lack of ultrasound equipment at Grantham? ?

An Ambulance was requested at 1pm which eventually arrived at 4. 30pm due to other job requests. I had already been booked onto the surgical ward at Lincoln but had to go through the A and E dept to be admitted.

On arrival I was the third trolley patient in the queue just to get into A and E. At this time my pain had increased again due to the journey in the ambulance.

I was then kept in a cubicle until the next morning when I eventually got admitted onto the Surgical ward. Later that day following an ultrasound scan it was confirmed that I had 3 gallstones which had caused the problem. I was then seen by a consultant on Sunday morning who said "we operate on these in the first 48 hours but do due to the wonders of the modern NHS you have been in pain for 4 days so we leave it for 6 weeks before operating".

I was then allowed something to eat having not eaten or slept in almost 4 days or hardly drank anything due to being on a drip most of the time.

My overall experience at Lincoln was horrendous although this is in no way a reflection on the staff who tried their best. I just felt that procedures at Lincoln weren't right and you were a number not a patient.

I have since had my operation to remove my gallbladder  at Grantham and can only give very positive feedback on my experience which started from my arrival to when I was discharged following my operation. The one thing I find difficult is that although I spoke to the surgeon before being discharged there is no follow up on my recovery or any written advice on recovery diet etc?