"An unpleasant stay at Ulster Hospital"

I had been booked in to ward 11 at Ulster Hospital for removal of a fibroadenoma and a skin graft.

I rang ahead and was told to come ahead to ward. My hubby and I arrived at ward and were shown to a side room, we sat there for three and a half hours with no communication as to why we were sitting so long. Finally my husband went looking a nurse and I was eventually told I had a bed.

I was told the ward I would be in was mixed but actually I was the only woman, the remainder of the patients being male. I was not seen by the consultant I had met in outpatients but rather a different doctor who was unpleasent to say the least.

I was taken to theatre the next day Theatre staff were very pleasant, they were having some difficulty getting a canula into my arm, this didn't seem to stop "the unpleasent doctor" from beginning to look at my leg. One of the staff did say hold on, excuse me to "the unpleasent doctor", but he was a force all on his own. Most people do prefer to be unconscious prior to surgery but that didnt seem to concern him at all.

Eventually I went back to the ward after surgery, again I met the same unpleasent doctor. He informed me that I could go home but that I needed to keep my leg elevated for the next 3/5 days.

My husband asked him if I needed assistence to the carpark. Despite having told me to keep my leg elevated he said it was ok to walk to the carpark, so four hours after surgery to my leg I had to hobble 15/20 minutes to the carpark. I was in absolute agony and the donor site wound was saturated with blood after the walk.

Whilst I had been well treated by the doctor I had met in outpatients, the stay in hospital was truly awful, and the attitude of that particular doctor was rude and offensive.