"We both suffered great, untold stress"

Following a major road accident in January  my husband and I were taken to Pilgrim A&E dept. That day the care was excellent, however, on that night my husband was diagnosed with cancer, seen on the various CT scans we both had in trauma and resuc. I was sent home, in major shock because there were  no beds available. I had injuries and I have MS.

In the weeks which followed my husband needed care urgently. His cancer had become  much worse due to the massive impact we both sustained in the RTA. He had a clot on his lung which needed draining.and had yet had be readmitted  and discharged four times before this was identified and treated...each time resulting in ALL night waits in A&E because NO bed was available.

He was a green card holder too and had the hellish experience of long, long waits telling the exact story every time to A&E, even a letter from our GP asking for urgent re admission to ward 7a and 7b was ignored and he was sent home to an elderly, injured wife for care.

He was finally admitted on the fifth time and a bed was found. The nursing care was caring but the system appalling. We both suffered great, untold stress because of inefficiency and disregard for our medical status. Pilgrim Hospital was a terrible place to have to be if you are very ill. It resulted in long, long waits on trolleys and long, long waits to,see a doctor.

The bed situation sucks and we think patients suffer untold stress and anxiety waiting and waiting when they are clearly very, very ill. I should not have been discharged on the night of our RTA, in shock and having been told my husband had cancer and he should not have had to suffer the trauma and stress of many re-admissions  to A&E when he should have gone straight to a Ward.

He passed away on Friday March 30th only weeks after our accident. I remain very unwell but am terrified of asking for help from A&E at Pilgrim now as I know their routine. The mere thought of going through what he went through and the long, long, long wait in cubicles just to,be discharged home without any real medical care was appalling. Why are we treated in such a disgusting way when we are clearly very,  very ill?  

I felt disregarded after our accident when I was sent home in deep shock and have cried ever since at the care my beloved husband did not get from A&E in the weeks which followed. His care was for a green card holder too!  A patient on the cancer pathway programme. There was never any time in February with these ridiculous re-admissions for him when any bed was found. One time he waited 16 hours only to be discharged later in the morning...then wishing one day he was back having to,have 3 litres of fluid drained from his lung! Even then his stay was short.

I am sure the powers that be will read this in his and my records..what a total, nightmare fiasco it all has been. I detest the memories which I am left with because of the shocking mismanagement of a clearly very ill patient. Shame on Pilgrim Hospital ...no wonder A&E is so congested and packed out of the gunnels when doctors request re-admissions to beds on wards but patients are forced to go though the A&E admission system and then end up being discharged anyway, great nurses but a total fiasco system.

The management need to be retrained and a more cohesive, efficient system found as soon as possible to prevent things like this happening to other human beings. It needs to be addressed urgently. Clearly we both needed a bed overnight on after the RTA. Me, because of the major shock I suffered in the collision and the double whammy of being told my husband had cancer five minutes before I was discharged with MS, and my poor, dear husband for all that he was subjected to in the ensuing weeks as the ruptured tumour in his lung spread like wildfire? Hateful, nightmare experience which will remain with me for the rest of my life.