"Some very poor practice"

I spent around 4 weeks on the Nithsdale ward recently and the first two weeks were ok, despite me being very ill. During the second two weeks there was a large amount of incidents which led me to completely distrust the whole staff team.

I was never offered access to an advocacy service at any point during my admission, despite me expressing several times that I had complaints and issues about my care.

Staff failed to do extra checks when I expressed suicidal thoughts, I was left for 4 hours in extreme distress and nearly harmed myself.

When I questioned a medication as it made me feel sleepy I was shot down rudely by a staff nurse who told me it was not possible and was I going to take it or not. Which caused me extreme distress as I felt ignored and infantilised. This member of staff was rude to all patients and I never saw them smile.

When I was sat crying in my room about this incident, a healthcare assistant walked in and told me off for crying in my room and tried to make me go into the ward communal area. This was completely inappropriate due to my levels of distress.

The dr tried to end my ward round meetings when I expressed my dissatisfaction about these incidents. The first time they did it I was not well enough to refuse to be sent out of the room like a child, the second time they did it I was able to refuse, politely, and express that I shouldn’t have to leave just because they didn’t like what I was saying. If they had made me leave, I would not have been discharged that day and would have been forced to stay at least another week.

I was repeatedly not given meals and was unable to have what was leftover from other meals due to dietary restrictions. I lost 10lbs. Staff would also on occasion be very late serving meals, with patients sat for up to 30 mins quietly waiting. One HCA stated loudly that they don't serve food.

Staff do not introduce themselves so you have complete strangers barging into your room without notice.

90% of 1:1 conversations with staff were general conversation and not therapeutic, very little support given instead staff would ask - what do you think will help? If I had known then I probably wouldn’t have been so ill.

Staff shared my data with outside services on more than one occasion, despite having no consent to do so. Very little was done about this aside from a brief apology.

Staff recorded conversations with me in my notes inaccurately which led to them sharing information with outside services. I have had to battle to make my own voice heard.

I had 4 ward round meetings and had no say in which staff were attending which resulted in a very distressing meeting where I was sat across the table from a nurse who had been extremely rude to me.

I was not asked to submit my feedback to the ward round meetings (this is supposed to be done ahead of every meeting and typed up on your notes so the doctor can read it before the meeting). The one time I did manage to do this, the staff did not type my feedback up on my notes and the doctor at several of the meetings had clearly not read my notes.

One day I was feeling very upset and could feel the start of an anxiety attack coming so I requested meds to help with this. I was not offered any until 3 hours later at which time the nurse challenged me on why I needed them and made me feel as if I was not allowed medication that I was prescribed. This triggered a full on anxiety attack which lasted several hours.

Staff continually treated patients like children and seemed to have forgotten that they are dealing with adults who are ill.

I was told at one of my meetings that the medication I was given for anxiety would not be available in the community so I shouldn’t be asking for it. This medication is actually an antihistamine which is available over the counter. I could take double the dosage safely with little effect.

I repeatedly told staff that this medication didn’t actually work for me but was never prescribed something that is actually for anxiety.

Activities on the ward are extremely limited and the garden area was more like a prison yard and covered in cigarette butts.

The rooms are sparse and the curtains have been taken from another hospital and repurposed. The ones in my room did not close so I was forced to wedge them closed with a chair. They also did not block any light.

Staff often did not check patients’ bags when they returned from trips off the ward. This is extremely unsafe.

I was not given all of my possessions back when I left the ward and was too distressed about my stay to remember that I had some things confiscated (glass perfume bottle).

Some staff were very sweet but they were still ones who were making the mistakes listed above. The only reason I feel I got better was because my new antidepressants started kicking in and I was able to determinedly dig in and pull myself out of the worst part of my illness.

I feel a serious review of practices on Nithsdale needs to happen. Most patients are too ill to advocate for themselves or understand how poor the care is overall.