"Not taken seriously"

I submit a review here for each time that I attend hospital, and you'll see that they are all glowing praise and feedback, I'm sorry to say that this is my first review where I did not feel able to do that.

I attended the Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy after being sent by my GP suspecting an infection. I was initially placed into SAU2, which was very busy at the time I arrived, there was around a 5 hour wait for admission and bed allocation. The staff were great though, all very friendly and understanding of my needs, I had a pleasant experience overall in SAU2.

I was moved to Ward 44 and again, the staff were wonderful. Unfortunately, though, I did not feel as welcome towards the end of my stay. I have a large number of health/medical conditions and within this I have episodes of memory loss (documented in my Eating Disorder risk assessment), physical body weakness and instances where my speech is stuttered and jumbled-up to the extent I cannot make myself coherent to the person I am speaking to during these episodes. As I have a number of diagnosed conditions and being in active treatment for all of them, trying to communicate all of these conditions and symptoms is difficult. I felt that I was not taken seriously around these conditions and shrugged off. My brain/thoughts/logical abilities are extremely hampered straight after being awake and can seem like I talk nonsense, create speech contradictions or go completely off topic forgetting the conversation I was having there and then. I felt that my conditions/symptoms were not being taken seriously as felt like I shouldn't have brought them up in the first place.

During my 4 night stay, I felt like I was doubted, even though my record clearly states my  involvement from physio, OT, CMHT, Psychiatrist, Psychologist, Dietitian and GP. When I was in one of my 'episodes' I cannot get the correct words over and I feel this was taken as me not being genuine despite my extensive medical history, instead of allowing me to get across what I wanted to, some of the staff would already be walking away. My scrambled words can confuse and contradict things but there seemed to be no thought of helping me clarify them.

A lot of the staff were absolutely wonderful and so very lovely, but the negatives outweighed this for me as I felt it was just about getting me out of there, despite having multiple episodes of muscle weakness in my legs, dizziness, not having moved my bowels in over 2 weeks prior and during my stay. Towards the end of my stay, I felt like I have diagnosed and legitimate symptoms and was communicating these as they were happening and to every team rather than explaining everything at once.

I am giving this account of details as that's how I felt in that environment, feeling comfortable, listened to and welcomed is paramount to recovery and being in what can be an anxious environment. From the surgical teams who are absolutely fantastic to the ward staff that were comforting and friendly on the whole, my feelings out with these wonderful experiences put a grey cloud above it all. It is a real shame as I will undoubtedly be in need of help again from everyone involved, with surgical interventions life-long.

I must reiterate that I understand that this is a tough job and the vast majority made a positive impact.