"My poor health"

For a whole week I was struggling with a temperature of 39 degrees to 41 degrees. I was constantly taking seizures when I never had them before in my life, and I was genuinely in a position were I thought I would pass away fairly soon from how unwell I was.

I went to A&E in the Queen Elizabeth university hospital. The way I was treated there was just absolutely inhumane. I was made to wait over 13 hours just to have some bloods taken. I collapsed in the sub waiting room twice, and each time the nurses walked past me, and the 4th nurse to pass just told me to get up in a dismissive manner. I was struggling to take my jacket off for them to take my blood pressure as I was too weak, and I asked for help. The triage nurse said they were sure I could do it myself.

The experience was very dehumanising, and I have never felt so mistreated by healthcare workers. When they eventually took my bloods after several hours, they told me it was a nasty infection in my blood. But because the nurses didn’t feel confident finding my veins, they said it would need to be a doctor, and a doctor would not be free for another 7 hours! I eventually went home because I could not sit in a waiting room for much longer just to get a canula in and get some treatment.

I ended up taking another seizure the following day but this time came to the Royal Infirmary. The experience I had here was breath of fresh air. The A&E nurses and doctors were amazing, the wait time was barely nothing, they went above and beyond and gave me exceptional care. They found the root cause of my infection and decided that for my own welfare I should be kept in and taken to a ward. Everyone was so gentle with me, lifted my spirits and were genuinely amazing.

I could not thank the staff there any more. They done everything to make me comfortable and took all of my concerns into consideration. I advised them that I did not do well on certain anti sickness medications, and they ensured this was taken note off so no accidental administration of the medicine was given.

I know that the QEUH is a busy hospital, but as I mentioned, there is 0 excuse to be treating a sick person like that. The Royal Infirmary staff deserve all good things coming their way, amazing group of health care workers. It turned out I had malaria. At QEUH they said it was gastroenteritis or a blood infection after taking one blood sample. However, the doctors at the royal infirmary done extensive digging and realised the root cause, and diagnosed correctly.