"The clinical care I received was second to none, however there was zero personal communication."

I have worked in customer service all my life, and in my opinion the communication and bedside manner at Wishaw general is at crisis point.

The clinical care I received was second to none, however there was zero personal communication.

I understand that the NHS is overstretched, but my experience at Wishaw General was awful.

I visited A&E after visiting an out of hours GP, who told me I needed to go to A&E, but did not give me a referral. I felt like I was not taken seriously. I was constantly asking when am I next, as in my eyes I was an emergency, but still was not seen. Finally, I got seen, and I was transferred to the emergency recovery ward, where I had a ECG. I found out I had a heart problem, and my heart rate was racing and then dropping. However, none of my test results were communicated with me.

I went on to have a chest Xray and a CT. I did not have a cannula in my arm, and had to wait for a nurse to come and give me one before I could have my scan. There was no explanation of what a CT was, or what it involved, and I felt like I needed an explanation or given a presentation on what it was. Again, there was no communication.

I was seen by a junior doctor, who said that I needed an ultrasound, and that I would have one the day after. When the ultrasound staff member came to the ward, they did my neighbour, and I said that I was next. They told me brusquely that was not likely and I was really shocked that he would speak to me like that. I went out onto the ward, where I saw the junior doctor and said that I was supposed to be getting an ultrasound, and they said yes. The ultrasound staff member then came out and said to the doctor not to make promises that can't be kept, and told me to go back to my bed and they would do the ultrasound. They gave me my ultrasound like they were in a temper. I said that they didn’t have to do me when they were in such a temper. It’s very unprofessional.

I felt like I cooperated with staff, but they did not communicate with me, I was not treated with urgency. My condition was very serious, and I felt staff were dismissive. Staff said they knew I had this condition all along, so why didn’t they tell me?

I was transferred to the cardiology ward, and was seen by a cardiologist who gave me medication and said I could go home.

The communication was diabolical, I felt that I was a laboratory case, not a patient. Medical practitioners would talk about me if I wasn’t there, they had no feeling. I was given a bag of medication and the nurse just walked away. I said to them to explain what was in the bag first!

Patients are treated like cattle. I feared I might have carbon monoxide poisoning, had a blood test, but was never given the results. Apparently, no results mean everything is okay! I understand that funding is tight, but it’s no excuse for poor communication, there is always room to say one or two words to join up the dots.