"Didn't feel that I was provided with safe effective care"

After attending the Walsall Urgent Treatment Centre managed by Malling Health organisation, my experience was that the service is very variable and has alarming ways of assessing patients symptoms and clinical presentations.

I found that one member of staff displays hostile, contradictory and very distressing behaviour never seen before by service managed by external agency in partnership with Walsall healthcare NHS Trust.

I appreciate that service is under pressure and demand from walk in patients and patients who are assessed in emergency department though deemed safe, suitable though this is not happening.

I attended the Walsall urgent treatment centre recently following onward referral from emergency department taken by ambulance with high blood glucose and reduced by a couple of mmols, though still very symptomatic with abdominal pain, dizziness, increased sweating and generally pale.

I was booked into Urgent Treatment Centre and they took clinical history yet had no knowledge of the severity and how different type two diabetes can present in younger patients as I moved onto insulin very quickly due to other other circumstances.

I explained the situation and they questioned the opinion and rational of senior consultants who have a better understanding and detailed background of myself and was very derogatory towards myself being very unkind and advised there should be some type of oral antidiabetic medication in some people this is not effective or the case.

The clinician at Urgent Treatment Centre didn't understand the case of why I was under different secondary care consultants and was making assumptions rather than asking appropriate senior specialist clinicians. They said that they were not concerned by my moderate to severe pain  and was not prepared to prescribe or help with medication from analgesia perspective.

They stated that I needed more blood testing as they felt diabetic review which I already have regularly and I explained I had short acting meal time insulin switch and emergency department colleagues had explained they could refer to acute medicine, or other specialist colleagues and get diabetes nurse or advise on insulin titration. They seemed very angry and confused why they had told me this and explained that they shouldn't do this.

I was in moderately severe abdominal pain and was advised that they could give stronger opioid such as liquid morphine, pain patches or slow release tramadol.

I feel I was given false hopes by Walsall Healthcare emergency department colleagues when having care transferred to Malling Health Walsall urgent treatment centre team and had to wait in waiting room for over two hours feeling dizziness, sweaty, rapid heart beat, and feeling like I'm going to pass out. The staff simply shout for patients to sit down, then move on. I felt very scared, alarmed and the member of staff I saw didn't listen to my explanation. 

The Malling Health staff made me feel very disappointed , scared and very unsafe attending the service as the staff didn't manage my pain successfully and I felt they were very insulting and didn't provide me with safe effective care which is very distressing to me.