"A bad experience of Good Hope hospital"

This was the only time since I was a kid I was admitted into hospital. I'm now 39. Boy, how things have changed!

I have never ever been treated so badly by a hospital as bad as Good Hope. I was involved in a serious car accident in France back in October 2010, i was rushed to hospital over there where i was treated like royalty and they couldn't do enough for me. Turns out I had shattered my kneecap, snapped my quadriceps and suffered from broken ribs and the odd cuts and bruises. After they patched me up they informed me that I can go home after giving me strong painkillers to take with me for the journey back.

As I was being collected the next day by another driver, they went out of their way to book me a hotel and arrange transport to take me there. My leg was put in extremely good quality splint which meant i could walk with help. They told me it would be better for me to get treatment back at my local hospital, namely Good Hope.

The next day I arrived at A&E along with my girlfriend and 6 month old daughter. With my leg still in the splint, I reported to reception and was told to wait to be called. Hmmmm. 2 hours later i was eventually called in and examined, x-rayed and diagnosed. They arranged for me to be admitted and that's when the problems started.

Upon arriving on the ward with my girlfriend and 6 month old daughter accompanying me, we were greeted with the words "you can't bring that baby in here". "Tough" was my reply.

My operation was scheduled for the next day, so no food from 7pm. And guess what? yep you guessed it, it was cancelled. So I was starved all day for no good reason. So operation was set again for the following day and yep, it was cancelled again. The next day I finally was being prepped for my operation, it gets worse. The anaesthetist was from overseas and I couldn't understand a word he was saying, I refused to be knocked out by him and ordered for someone else to replace him. Operation a success.

Recovering on the ward nicely till my drip had run dry, I asked a nurse to remove it for me and 4 hours later it was eventually removed. I was given 2 urinals to pee in, both of them I filled in time. Again I asked a nurse to remove them and yep, 3 hours later they were.

I informed the doctor i had glass in my hands and my ribs were possibly broken, what was done? Nothing. My girlfriend took the glass shards out my hands and nothing was done with my ribs. My burns and cuts were not treated on my hands, again my girlfriend did it for me. I felt the nurses I met were extremely unhelpful. The doctors didn't seem interested in anything I had to say and overlooked my other injuries. I waited over 9 hours for my prescription so in the end i discharged myself and got my GP to arrange my medication.

This is the worst I have been treated and I feel I would have been better off getting treated by a vet.

I will never ever go to Good Hope for treatment again. I felt the physio follow ups were just as bad so decided not to go any more. I found it that bad there, I decided to take private medical insurance out for my daughter.