"A little more care & compassion goes a long way"

I was admitted to A&E after a very traumatic experience. At this point I did not know the full extent of my injuries. I was blue lighted by ambulance and initially was in the resus area. Whilst there I was terrified and unable to move due to being immobilised as this was before any spinal/major injuries were ruled out.

The staff in resus were efficient and clearly knew what they were doing, however I felt their communication could have been better. I was very scared and do not feel I received reassurance or clear communication of what was happening. It felt like I spent a long time staring at the ceiling, in pain and with no idea what was going to happen to me. I felt there was nobody around me, was in a state of shock and panic. 

This could have been improved and my care could have been better if communication had been clearer. Throughout this time I was in agony and, although I did receive some analgesia which initially helped, after return from CT I was in pain again and did not get offered analgesia; I asked and eventually was given a small dose. One positive was I was able to have my partner & family come in to see me for a short time, 2 at a time which gave me some comfort. 

After a trauma CT, blood tests and initial ultrasound I was moved out of resus. At this point nobody had communicated my scan results with me and I still did not know the extent of my injuries. I knew that being moved out of resus was a positive as I must have been stable enough. I was initially moved into the corridor on a trolley. At this point I overheard the police telling my Dad part of what my initial scan had shown so I asked them to please tell me as the doctors had not spoken to me to tell me this. I thought this was poor as ideally your results should be relayed to you from a doctor first, not through overhearing a conversation about you. 

I was then moved to a cubicle where I waited what felt like a very long time to be given analgesia. This did very little to help my pain which I voiced but was not given further analgesia for a long time. At this point in my admission I was still covered in blood from a bad forehead laceration and laceration to my eyelid, my hair was matted with blood and face covered. My hand was also covered in blood & dirt with cuts/blistered on my fingers from the incident. Nobody had cleaned my wounds and this was after being in the department for over 2 hours. My sister tried to clean my face and hand with paper towels and tap water as blood was on my eyelids/round my eyes.

I asked a nurse if somebody was going to look at my head laceration and for more analgesia, I then asked a second nurse as had no answer. I wasn’t given pain killers for a long time. It then took what felt like forever for a consultant to come to look at my facial wounds, clean, suture and glue these. I am very grateful to the consultant for doing this; he was very professional and personable.

I was in severe pain at this point with collar bone/rib and spine fractures. I asked again for further pain relief. I was told I was being moved to another area of A&E and would get some there. Prior to this I had been told I would be moved to the major trauma ward but awaiting a bed. I am aware that this does take time and understood this, however, by this stage I was in tears and in agony. 

I was moved to Pod D to an end cubicle and left there. Luckily my parents and partner were with me. I was sobbing in extreme pain and no member of staff came near me. A nurse came over after about 20-30mins with an obs machine, they saw I was crying, looked at me and walked away without saying a word. A basic human response, never mind a nursing response, to a person crying in pain in a vulnerable position would be to ask if they’re okay and ask what they could do to help. Not to walk away without uttering a word and not completing the task they were clearly about to do which was to check my vital signs.

I asked my family to go to ask somebody to get me pain killers as nobody came back to check my obs. My mum had asked a CSW who went to tell a nurse. The nurse that brought this (about 20/30mins later) then said they would get a doctor to come and see me due to my pain. The doctor came after some time, saw I was in extreme pain and said they would get a senior doctor. This never happened. A nurse then came to take my obs and I was informed they’ll sort my pain on the ward. After what felt like hours a porter came and I was moved up to the ward. Thankfully the experience there was much better. 

I feel my experience in A&E was like a nightmare. This was mainly due to the traumatic events leading to my admission, my injuries and pain. However, I felt staff did not communicate well or provide reassurance and my pain was not managed well. I fully understand & appreciate the pressures that A&E are under and the hospital as a whole; but a little more care & compassion goes a long way when you’re in such a vulnerable position.