"Dreadful service"

Mid May- MRI scan requested by my chiropractor as treatments were not changing my pain levels.

GP received scan results & I had to call them to find out. I was allowed to talk to the practice nurse who said I did not need to see a GP, they prescribed me Gabapentin with no information on the drug and no information on serious signs to watch out for with my condition. They were aware that I had experienced urinary tract problems over a number of months like UTI, not emptying bladder fully which I now know were warning signs. I believe had I been given an appointment with a GP, I would have got the information I required and the help needed in a timely manner.

At the beginning of June I attended doctors on call with ongoing, severely painful back problems spreading right down my left side. Had private MRI 3 weeks prior which showed herniated disc, nerve compression & 2 bulging discs. Doctors on call could only administer a pain killing injection which would last 4 hours and offered no other solution. The injection did not touch the pain at all. They then watched me leave with my husband bearing my weight & having to stop and lie down on the corridor floors until spasms subsided.

The day after this my son took me to A&E at Ayr hospital as I found I could not walk, talk with the pain.

Told we would be waiting a long time…I had to lay down in the waiting room floor as was in such unbearable pain. I could not sit or even kneel over a chair. 4 nurses/receptionists came over & told my son to move me and that I had to sit in a chair. He said I could not be moved & needed urgent attention. He asked for a pillow for my head and they said no. A kind person got me a pillow from his car.

The staff told my son they’d be back in 10 minutes and to get me moved from the floor. All in all, I spent 3 hours on the floor and once I got an examination bed, I was then blue lighted by ambulance to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Glashow for further MRI & emergency surgery on my spine. The treatment by Ayr staff was appalling and lacked in compassion. I have had 5 kids and I can tell you…the pain I just experienced was 100% worse than child birth pain.