"A&E experience - Good turned Bad"

I unfortunately severely damaged my back whilst working in the Borders area about 1.5 hours from my house. I was helped by 2 excellent paramedics who administered morphine and helped me get to A&E.

Once there I was treated to more pain relief and checked over by two lovely nurses.  The a&e doctor was wonderful, and encouraged me to try and move and tried to relieve the pain with more morphine however it did not help the pain at all.

After several hours of agony, I was told I was being admitted and go for scans. Another hour passed and another doctor came in. Unfortunately they were in no mood to check on my progress. The doctor barged in and without looking me in the eye or asking me anything just said, I have good news and bad news. The doctor said the good news was that we don’t think there is anything broken, and that the bad news was that I was not important enough for a bed and please leave as soon as you can. I was gobsmacked. I explained I had no transport and was unable to sit, my friend had a van and the doctors advice was to take some pillows and try and get comfortable in the back of the van for the hour and a half journey in the back of a van!

When I asked for the doctor's name, they waited around 10 minutes and came back with a piece of paper with their name, and at the bottom was a smiley face emoji. Not once did they look me in the eye and I can only presume the smiley face was an indication that they did not care in the slightest at the thought of being reported nor the fact I had an agonising trip ahead of me.

I was issued with paracetamol after the previous doctor told me I was already given enough pain relief to knock out a horse and the pain had still not subsided. I had heard stories of terrible and unprofessional NHS staff before but this was the first time I had ever encountered it.

I am so grateful to the paramedics and staff who looked after me for the hours I was allowed to stay in. I am also grateful that the other doctor was not around longer than they were. I felt their attitude to the a&e doctor I saw first was disgusting, who wanted to monitor me and give me scans to ensure nothing was broken.