"Multiple Hospital Visits, Still ongoing issue"

I want to start by saying that the nursing staff at Medway Hospital were all fantastic during my stay and I have no doubt they were doing the best they could with the limited information and resources available..However, I was first admitted to Medway Hospital at the end of January and am still no closer to being told what is causing my severe pain now over 2 months later.

I was told by my GP to go to A&E as I had severe lower abdominal pain, vomiting, temperature and multiple other symptoms and there was concern that it may be appendicitis. When I was eventually seen in A&E they didn't even check my stomach just took a urine sample and told me I didn't have a urine infection (which I wouldn't have gone to A&E for anyway) and sent me round to Meddoc where I then waited a further 2 hours before the Doctor took one look at me and said I needed to go straight to the Surgical Unit because the pain was clearly severe. When I got to the SAU and had a number of blood tests, I finally saw a surgeon who said I would need an ultrasound and then surgery, so I was admitted. At 3am after finally getting a bed at 2.30am I was woken up from my bed in SAU made to climb into a wheelchair and moved to another ward where I then had to have the same tests done again before I was allowed to sleep only to be woken up at 6am! When I finally had my ultrasound I then was told I would have the results after 5 minutes only to not get them until more than 24 hours later having been nil by mouth since 7pm on the Friday! Having been told that a CT scan was not to happen because of my age and that surgery was definitely the next step I was then informed by a different surgeon that I definitely had to have a CT scan. 4 days, 2 ultrasounds and a CT scan later, still in agony, still not able to eat I was told I had to have surgery and signed a consent form. I was told my surgery would definitely be Friday afternoon as I was on the emergency list but to go to my nan's funeral in the morning and they would make sure I was on the afternoon list. Only to come back to the hospital to be told by a doctor "You're not in enough pain for us to operate, go home and come back to the Hot Clinic on Monday". To be told you're not enough pain when you've consistently had a pain score of 8+ for over 2 weeks even when on oramorph was the worst bedside manner I have ever witnessed at any hospital or anywhere in my life. You cannot possibly tell another person how much pain they are in, or how they would cope with pain and to say that to a patient is completely and utterly unacceptable. It made me feel even worse than I already did and made me feel like they thought I was making it up. However, I felt I had no option but to do as the doctor said and so left having been told I would definitely have an appointment Monday morning.

Monday morning comes and the Hot Clinic tell me they can't guarantee that my appointment would be on that day despite the doctor having told me that specifically. Eventually they managed to squeeze me in and I got to the clinic to be told yes you definitely need surgery we'll get you on the emergency list for today, they should have done this last week. To say I was angry is an understatement, more blood tests followed and yet again there was no communication as to what was going on. Even the nurses were being given different information to each other. Yet again, in the middle of the night I was moved to another ward and eventually, after a constant battle to get information I was taken down to theatre at midnight on the Tuesday night. The three days I was in the hospital after waking up from the surgery I had 3 different doctors, who all told me something different was wrong and who all said I should be taking different medications or handling my recovery in a different way and not a single one of them communicated anything to any of the nurses so I never even got the correct pain relief. On one of the days that I was in this ward I was left crying in agony for 90 minutes before another patient's visitor finally convinced the nurses to give me pain relief after my buzzer was ignored twice! I felt like I had been totally ignored and forgotten about the last two days I was in hospital before I was finally told I could go home.

A week later and I was readmitted to the SAU because they feared complications had occurred with my surgery, they attempted to take blood 6 times before finally succeeding and a surgeon informed me I needed another ultrasound. I waited 6 hours to be told by nurses that I was supposed to go for a CT scan but no one had received the paperwork. I then told them I had been told it would be an ultrasound not a CT because it was too soon after my previous one to which I was told I was wrong. An hour later and a different doctor came back to tell me I was correct and it was an ultrasound but it wouldn't be until the following day because it was too close to the department closing, so I could definitely eat and use the toilet. So I did, but half hour later I was taken for the ultrasound and told off for eating and not having a full bladder! Yet again poor communication! When I was discharged I was told I had been referred for an internal scan and a gynae appointment.

Cut to 4 weeks later and I still hadn't received my appointment or even a letter confirming that I needed to book an appointment. So I phoned the imaging department myself, to be told that they had no record of me being referred! I was then told that someone must have misplaced my referral but was booked in for the following weekend for an appointment. I turned up to the scan to extremely rude staff. The nurse that took me to the room was miserable and rude and unwelcoming as was the person conducting the ultrasound. Especially when I was told by them that although I had been referred for an internal scan they would not be doing one "unless we have to". Surprise, surprise they had to! After the scan I was told my results would be with my GP in 7 days and basically just left to leave uncomfortably. I have contacted my GP now almost 2 weeks after this scan for them to tell me they don't have my results and probably won't ever get them and to contact my consultant at the hospital. Well I would love to do that but I was never told who my consultant was or is! I'm still waiting for a gynae appointment, still in the same amount of pain as when I was first admitted and still not being told what is causing the pain!

All in all, the communication at medway hospital is the worst I have ever experienced and I sincerely hope that they learn from this and improve because I would not wish what I have been through and am still going through on anyone!