" Confidence lost in the Northern General"

I went in with diabetes in May 07- I couldn't move my legs, and I was in awful pain. I was given paracetamol patches and morphine injections, and then I lost myself and had hallucinations. My daughter noticed my tongue had gone to one side, and the nurses couldn't wake me. Two days later, they said I had 2 hours to live.

It was my daughter who noticed there were as many as 10 patches on my chest. She notified the nurses, who were horrified - they took them off and gave me an injection, and a couple of hours later I opened my eyes.

They said it was a mistake by a nursing assistant, and then they said it was my fault for asking for more pain relief. Nobody would take the blame for it - they blamed me, the patient, for being in pain. I'm disgusted at that, them blaming the patient when it was their fault; I was in their care.

I'm also not impressed by them blaming the nursing assistant. The first time I went in, the nurses were smashing. Really great, and I trusted them, still do. I know that the nurses, if you ask them for it, they won't give you anything without seeing a doctor about it first.

My whole family was traumatised by this incident, and I think it's fair to say that we've lost faith in the hospital, and in the medication. My GP says I should take aspirin for my blood pressure, but the hospital said that any pain relief could badly affect me after that accidental overdose, so I'm getting mixed messages on top of everything else.

I think hospitals need to communicate more with their patients' GPs, and more with the patients in general - and they need to admit it when they've done something wrong.