"Coventry Walsgrave - dreadful mess"

Coventry Walsgrave feels unsafe. Some staff appear to have been conditioned, to see patients as an inconvenience & have suppressed any caring gene they may have had. Before I go on, I’ll say that, there’ll be some good, talented folk & shining stars working at Walsgrave, but they're hamstrung by the colossal administrative mess. My review is based on a number of visits, for both myself & also assisting an elderly friend. Most of us have paid large sums in tax & NI during our working life, so it is not 'free care' as some suggest.

Latest occasion, my elderly friend had a nasty head injury, & horribly confused at home. (also has heart failure & dementia) I tried to get an ambulance via 999. Was told it was a 9 hour wait for ambulance & it would be quicker to take friend myself. I felt tricked. Got there. It was like Fred Carno’s. No parking available near A&E. Chaos. Signs saying you’d be fined if you park in wrong place. Friend couldn’t walk. Fainting, pain, massive bruises all over her face. Tried to get a wheel chair. None. No-one to ask. A member of public said I could rent a wheel chair from a machine using my credit card. Nightmare to work out (I'm autistic). Receptionist in main area was miserable. Felt treated like a criminal. Told us to go to minor injuries. A rather nicer person took my friend up to A&E. Also porter agreed to return rented wheelchair.

Let me describe A&E-Hottest day of the year. A nurse barking in a stern voice that we all had to wait at least 14 hours to be seen. It was rammed. No spare seats. Got my elderly friend a chair and she was crying. Man, opposite who told us he had a huge hangover was vomiting into a paper hat. A young girl was laid flat out on the floor on a towel. We saw at least two people crash in front of us whilst there. Old folks covered in blood, confused, sat in chairs. I got my friend food & drink from Smiths. Worried she faint again. People with broken bones claimed they’d been there hours with no pain relief. One patient with heart failure, said they'd been there 24 hours waiting for a bed. The cherry on top of this horrible pie is that we seemingly can’t hold anyone accountable. Big hospitals have failed. I used to be an HR Pracitioner in NHS. Not unaware of challenges. But one way to solutionize is to shut Cov down & go back to smaller local hospitals & safe, caring practice.

I’ve used a hospital in a third world country. It was not as bad as Walsgrave.

Nb – Got a text on my phone to say my wheelchair was not returned properly. So already stressed, as they had my credit card, I had to ring the wheel chair rental company. They asked me did I take the wheelchair serial number. Who the heck takes a wheel chair serial number!? I was trying to get really ill patient into A&E.

I've seen Cov Hospital responses in newspapers saying things like, ‘we know it’s frustrating’ Using minimizing language like that to describe dire treatment is gaslighting us & not facing up to safety issues & poor care.