"An awful experience which has had a..."

What I liked

The hospital appeared clean. My room was ensuite with a tv.

What could be improved

Basic nursing skills and communication were severely lacking. A routine laparoscopy went seriously wrong when my bowel was perforated. I was sent home that day then readmitted 2 days later in agony, with a distended abdomen and peretonitus. I was told throughout the day I had trapped wind. It took 11 hours for me to be sent to a proper hospital, where I underwent emergency surgery. The surgeon failed to report any complications that occurred during the original laparoscopy, and failed to diagnose a perforated bowel 2 days later. The nursing staff seemed unable to carry out basic skills. It took over 3 hours for a nurse to locate a naso-gastric tube and some nurses competent enough to pass it. It then took 3 attempts for them to pass it while they insisted on sedating me. My blood results, pain scores, heart rate, pulse, temperature, guarding of my abdomen and breathing all indicated that I was seriously ill, but the scores were either added up incorrectly, resulting in a lack of warning indicators, or they were ignored. I was pushed in to having medication that I did not want because it had already been drawn up. When a general surgeon did finally make a correct diagnosis, it took another 3 hours for me to be transferred. At no point was I told what was wrong with me. When I arrived at the next hospital, I had my bloods analysed within 5 minutes and was told I was in a critical condition, that my body was in septic shock and was shutting down. I was in theatre 15 minutes later. I had a bowel resection and woke up with a colostomy bag, and suffered several other complications as a result of being left to get so unwell.

Anything else?

This experience has had a massive impact on my life. Emersons green failed me on many, many levels. Had I not been transferred when I was, I'm pretty sure I would not have been here to write this. I felt I had to give this feedback so that others could hear how badly things have gone wrong at this hospital. Yes it is clean and modern, but when things go wrong, the nurses and doctors lack the skills required to diagnose and treat patients properly.