The patient’s journey

A couple of days ago I was taken to A&E at Sandwell by para medic. This was the result of a “funny turn” a medical term when they can’t establish what caused it. I accidently tried head butting our kitchen floor from a standing position. When they mentioned funny turn I thought I better get on stage quick before it wears off. I digress. I possibly fainted but when I was lying on my side on the floor I noticed the bottom edge of our sink unit and thought, “that is starting to break up”. The misses quick as a flash dials all the nines then her mate from down the road. It wasn’t long before I was on a trolley in A&E then relatively quickly transferred to Medical Assessment Unit where I was kept overnight for observation. It was early hours of the morning when I got a bed so I was very tired. I was awakened very hour with a bright light shining in my eyes followed by blood pressure, pulse, temp ect. I had difficulty getting back to sleep and this routine continued all night. Come the morning I was, well; knackered. I don’t want to go into the gory details except to point out the good bits and unfortunately the bad bits.
The good bits; they did a very thorough job of checking me out. They were straight and honest throughout even when the news was not particularly good.
The not so good bits. In the morning they took away my bed and never found me another. I was there all day with nowhere to lie down. It is essential I stretch out during the day. Although I asked for a bed and told them why they never took me seriously. So by late afternoon I was in pain and really stressed out. I felt abandoned and neglected. It wasn’t until the wife started to make a fuss that action started. The ward does not have adequate washing facilities and I did not have the motivation or strength at that time to shower.
But the worst bit is the food and the way it is served. I can honestly say lunch was the worst meal I have ever had, in fact it was uneatable. I asked for lamb casserole but got some sort of pie which was almost cold. I got my wife to bring in a sandwich when she came in mid afternoon. At tea time no food at all was served. The service was poor. When I asked for toast at breakfast she said something like toast (with a sneer) you must be joking mate, bread and butter or cornflakes or porridge. I watched the porridge served to another patient and decided against it. As for B&B in the mornings when I’m not feeling well is not an option. I thought the hospital trust had been praised recently for the quality of its food. Not on this performance. More needs to be done.
The good news though is I’m now back home bruised and sore but without any more major damage.
Our PCT used to organise a training course call “The Expert Patient” I’m becoming an expert in all the disciplines and all the departments.
Am I really becoming a moaning old git?
Perhaps if someone from the PCT reads this blog they may want to ask the hospital trust some searching questions on this.