"poor care in York District Hospital Ward 16"

At a time when I felt very vulnerable and in pain, I did not expect to be left to suffer in silence on Ward 16 which is described as the enhanced nursing unit. My pain meds caused severe itching and each doctor or nurse whom I spoke to gave different advice as to what I should do.

I was told not to press the PCAS anymore, then told off for not using it. Then I was written up for an alternative drug, only to be told hours later (when it still hadn't been administered) that I shouldn't have that drug anyway due to interactions with other meds. Then another hours wait for some paracetemol, then written up for codeine which didn't appear for several hours. At this point someone noticed that my canula had fallen out anyway so I'd been without pain relief, 24hrs after major surgery, for a long time.

When I got upset and started crying (very abnormal for me) I was ignored by the majority of staff.

I appreciate that they are very understaffed and overworked but didn't appreciate being given a filthy look when I called out for a sick bowl, which was then thrust at me and I was left to vomit with no one to help clean me up.

I also felt that my mental health condition resulted in my receiving poor care, with one nurse commenting that ''we'd better make sure you get your anti psychotic hadn't we. Can't have you missing that one!'' in a loud voice after I'd yet again asked for pain relief.

On discharge they had run out of spare dressings for me to take home and no wheelchair or porter was available to help me get to the taxi. In the end a health care assistant carried my bag down for me, whilst moaning about how heavy it was and how they had been doing the work of three people all day.

In addition I believe there were several inconsistencies in my recorded details, phone numbers not updated despite telling them about it 3 times etc.

On the otherhand I feel that my surgical team, the staff in the admissions ward 27 and everyone in HDU who looked after me were fantastic.