The NHS is wonderful. As a
patient I dare not say otherwise. Most of it is fantastic but there are small
isolated pockets that are not as good as they might be, that is to say,
potentially or intentionally lethal. Such an area has a queen bee whose
confidence in her own competence is so low that she bullies and shouts and
mocks like the central character of Abigail’s Party.
Such a pocket of terror is the
recovery suite of my local hospital. I have to say it is not their fault. It is
the job of nursing staff there to stabilise the patients wheeled into them
after an operation before sending them on to the ward where the patient’s notes
await attention. I was told that the notes are not accessible by the nursing
staff in Recovery, nor are the medications the patient brought in with
them. The doctor tells the nurse in
charge of their patient of the situation and what is expected of them.
Maybe those nurses are overworked
or have poor memories, or they are just in the jurisdiction of a bully. Some
patients might not come through the operation alive and nurses must face up to
seeing that.
So I was wheeled in there
unconscious after a surgical procedure under anaesthetic and awoken by the
surgeon. I heard him speak to the nurse, heard him tell her that I have MS and
needed to be given the routine MS medication I had brought with me as soon as I
was well enough to swallow. I did the physiotherapy as instructed, asked for
the tablets and was denied them.
Next time I regained consciousness
I told the nurse my left leg hurt more than the shoulder that had been operated
on, told her I have MS and needed the tablets, asking that she fetch them for
me. My voice was still quiet and groggy. She turned away, calling to the other
staff about the silly things people say when they come out of anaesthetic,
“This one thinks she has MS!” Then turning to me she added, “let’s have the
doctor decide that, shall we?” and walked away. My mind could not quite capture
the name of the consultant neurologist who had prescribed for me. Why would
anyone hallucinate about having MS? Oh, how I wish it was a passing delusion!
But it is not and it does deliver seizures if the right tablets are not taken
on time, and after an operation that is enough, apparently, to knock me
unconscious. The bullying nurse told me I was to be kept in overnight because I
was not stabilised, to which I replied that I could not do that, I was a day
patient and had left the rest of my MS medications at home. She laughed loudly,
mocking me as a delusional idiot.
After 5 hours of this a different
nurse, small, smart and caring, asked courteously if there was anything she
could get for me. “Yes,” I said, quietly and coherently. “200 milligrams of
gabapentin, 20 milligrams of omeprazole, 30 to 40 minutes for the side effects
to pass, my clothes, my sister, my handbag, my mobile phone and my discharge
papers please.” She ran off and got my tablets, delivered with a glass of
water. After 30 minutes nobody came to discharge me so I set about disconnecting
all the sensors they had stuck on my body. This set up an alarm that summoned
attention, another bucket of ridicule, and my bed was wheeled through corridors
with the bullying nurse still shouting about me like a corgi biting my ankles.
In the ward I saw my sister, my
clothes and the chance to leave so I ripped off the gown and put on the clothes
with complete disregard to privacy and decorum. A nurse pushed a trolley with a
plate and cover to me saying that was my dinner. “No, my dinner is awaiting me
at home, I now need my discharge papers please?”
After a lot more fuss and
protests from staff I escaped the hospital and my sister drove me home,
flustered at hearing a different story from me than she had been told over the
phone. The Recovery Ward told her I was very ill and wanted to keep me in. I
was telling her I know I’m too ill to be here and need to go home.
Maybe a patient can imagine she
might have MS but I doubt such a delusion could generate all the symptoms of
Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis that have not been quelled by
medication as required.
The operation was a success; the
consultant neurologist’s prescription decisions are excellent and accurate, my
GP’s are brilliant and supportive, and the eye hospital I use is amazing, the
best in the world. But that one bad nurse ruined my regard of that prestigious
hospital and she will resist all disciplinary proceedings as bullies always do.
If the surgeon had written MS on my other arm maybe the nursing staff would
have been more believing of my words but while the system dictates that
Recovery Suite staff must not have access to patient notes mistakes like this
will continue to be made.
Imagine what it would be like for
a patient who does not have a sister to be there for her!
Thanks, Sis! You probably saved
me from becoming a statistic.
Sue Doughty
17/7/13
