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THE MAJORITY OF patients treated in Irish hospitals report good overall experiences, but a new survey has identified deficiencies in how healthcare staff communicate with people about their care.
The National Patient Experience Survey, led by the Health, Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa), ran for the second time in May this year. Over 13,000 people participated in the survey and the majority of patients (84%) said they had a good or very good overall experience in hospital.
In the survey 81% said they were always treated with respect and dignity in the emergency department and many of the comments described staff as helpful, friendly, professional and efficient.
Two areas that require improvement relate to waiting times in Emergency Departments before patients are admitted and the amount of access they have to doctors when they are in their wards.
The survey found 69% of people waited for more than six hours before being admitted to a ward. None of the 27 hospital Emergency Departments are meeting the six-hour waiting time target.
One patient in University Hospital Limerick said: “A&E is a complete zoo. Not enough beds and way too much pressure on staff.”
Another in St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin said:
I was on a trolley from my admission right through the night on a corridor until my operation the following day – I had to change from my clothes to a gown with no privacy. The staff were so busy that twice my drip was changed and not switched on, and only on both occasions a doctor saw me checking it – fixed it.
‘Frightening’
In the survey, 40% of people said they did not always have enough time to discuss their care and treatment with a doctor.
“The staff are so used to dealing with head injuries that they forget that this is all new and frightening to the patient and family. More empathy would make a big difference. They talk among themselves a lot,” one patient in Dublin’s Beaumont Hospital said.
Almost half of patients said they could not or could only to some extent find a member of hospital staff to talk to about their worries and fears.
Another patient in Beaumont said there should be someone on each ward to check in with patients to see how they are doing emotionally.
I saw patients in [the] ward crying alone each evening.
Another said they had experienced a lot of kindness from staff and “whatever is wrong in the HSE it is not the doctors or nurses that are at fault”.
Speaking at the launch of the report, Minister for Health Simon Harris said there is a “broader conversation that needs to happen in the Irish health service”.
He referenced recent examples like the vaginal mesh scandal, where patients did not feel they were given all of the information before their surgeries, or the Cervical Check scandal, where there were issues with “clarity regarding open disclosure”.
Harris said that in instances like these there was not adequate interaction between doctors and patients. He said this was not meant to be a criticism of doctors, but it is a sign that the relationship needs to change to ensure patients feel more empowered.
So, I think we’re seeing is a continuation of that theme – patents don’t just want this kind of top-down discussion with medical professionals. They actually want a more engaging discussion.
Patient discharges
According to the survey, 38% of people said they were not adequately informed about the side effects of medication to watch for when they went home. And 40% said their family or home situation was not or was only to some extent taken into account when planning their discharge.
One patient at St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin said: “You need to take into consideration a person’s age and living environment before sending them home. I’m nearly blind and live alone I was given no pain relief or advice on what to do. Why was I released with so much blood in my urine — not good enough.”
Another patients discharged from a hospital complained about having to make their own way out to meet their lift.
“Didn’t seem right as I was in pain and couldn’t even bend to tie my shoes.”
Minister Harris said he was delighted to see that there have been improvements from last year’s survey, but he recognised there is still room for improvement. He said his department is “determined to drive reform” and it is vital patients remain at the heart of that change”.
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In UHL my sister was told she had to have a brain biopsy after a tumor was found. She asked was the biopsy to check if it’s cancerous. Cool as a cucumber doc said “no we already know it’s cancerous” and carried on. Stunned at the heartless way she found out she was terminal. My sister passed away after 11 mths. Her experience in the hospitals was shocking. Ur just a guinea pig.
Well done to all the hardworking staff who have ensured that 4/5 Irish people have a positive experience of their healthcare whilst in hospital
@Sean Armstrong: That’s it, that’s what the incompetents do, reinforce the spin. I take it your a FG’er, in other words, part of the problem.
@John O’Hara: I’m not a FG’er – I just tend to deal with reality
@Sean Armstrong: Reality is that in 69% of cases the hse didnt meet their own targets, not to mention realistic targets.
Your reality seems to consist of believing the spin put out by government and their departments, despite the overwhelming evidence of the decimation of the health sercices. I’m guessing you also believe in faries, Santa, leprechauns and the employment figures. Spare a thought for the thousands that are dying inappropriately in our health service every year. All as a result of the incompetence of those that have resided in power, FF/FG/ and Lab. Dont they and their families deserve better?
I’ve been in many of the cork hospitals for different treatments over the last 7 years & I was very happy … some of the hospitals are out date (Ok) some modern. the only one issue I have ever had was a Nigerian nurse at the Mercy hospital in Cork.
She walked into the rooms and without ever seeing me before said “hello my beautiful my darling etc” not a way to greet a patient !
She proceeded to ask me why I was in as she said “ I’m not interested to read these folders” !
Took a blood test for diabetes but I’m it diabetic as she got me mixed up with another patient! The whole night her Indian colleague kept on telling her which room she had to go to do what!
She was the only nurse making personal calls in my room.. made notes on little bits of paper. How did she get in? #MercyCork
@HybridDsl: you’re not a taxi driver by any chance? I’m not racist but…
@HybridDsl: That was an agency nurse,possibly covering holidays or someone out sick so she wouldn`t be familiar with the rooms and layout, hence the asking of questions. They only do BP, O2, and pulse – your “OB`s” while the experienced nurses prep the night time IV`s for the ward. the “blood test” you got was just a finger jab to gauge blood sugar levels.
I have often been greeted with “hello my darling” etc, and it can be a refreshing change.having someone bounce into your room.
@Earl of Daventry: He`s pure racist, check out his Twitter page…Even retweets Katie Hopkins on the migrant issues
@HybridDsl: Agency nurse probably
@Pixie McMullen: wow. Just wow
@Pixie McMullen: Terms of endearment are not an acceptable way to greet a patient. Whatever happened to asking patients how they’d like to be greeted & using their given names. Not too much to expect.
@HybridDsl: your twitter reveals you like to post racist bs.
@Pixie McMullen: exactly, what a lovely happy person to meet you in a difficult situation!
@HybridDsl: @HybridDsl:Sounds like she was an agency carer like myself sent in to help the nurses out while they do meds etc even the nurse isn’t allowed to take bloods so I’m assuming the carer took your blood sugar which is a harmless. As for taking notes on paper she was probably keeping note of obs like bp temp etc to give to the nurse for her records maybe her greeting was ott but would you rather she said nothing and just started poking at you no. I don’t see how her race is relevant she has been sent in to an environment with prob very little info on your medical condition and is trying to make light of an awkward situation its not her fault that they are under staffed and she has to fill in.
We have a situation in this country where the patient is afraid of their Health Service, and it’s with good reason. To be fair there are those who’ve had good experiences too, however I think when you know there’s a very real possibility, if not a likelihood, of something negative happening you tend to become afraid. The older, the less able bodied you are the more vulnerable you are and, consequently the more afraid you become.
When we think of hospitals in the past we tend to have an idealistic view of starched sheets, patients in bed while a nurse sits by their side patting the back of their hand. That day is gone. I remember hearing that, ideally, there should be 6 patients to each nurse, however it could be three times that in some Irish hospital wards. The staff are overworked, the wards overcrowded, there’s no privacy and no time to spend with their patients. Confidence must be instilled in the Health Service again, and that’s an uphill battle.
@Arch Angel: very well said.
Nobody seems to be in charge of the A&E dept in St Vincent’s, everyone doing there own thing. It’s always overcrowded. Full of junior doctors in training the very few consultants snowed in with to many patients with all different complaints. Just very bad management. All the staff are great but the system is broken.
@Martin Sinnott: My mum was innaproprately admitted to a locked ward in SVUH last year. No risk assessment. No doctors orders. No patient consent & nothing written up in medical chart either. Apparently a unit with locked exit doors that patients were unable to egress through aint a locked & secure unit. There were multiple adverse events, one causing an MI that they neglected to tell us about, & incidences were they omitted insulin. Funnily enough mums feedback was omitted from last years patient experience report.
Stayed in the Mater Public and Beaumont. Filthy, filthy, filthy. Those cleaning contracting firms should be completely overhauled. The “cleaners” I saw were barely pretending to clean.
My mother spent 36 hours on a trolley in UHL before they gave up trying to find a bed for her and transferred to Ennis. I spent some time in a Dublin hospital and shared a room with a unfortunate chap who had been there 3 months and no sign of getting out. Wound from his operation refused to heal. In that three months no one had a conversation with him about his mental health. They were doing their best for his wound but it was obvious that he was struggling mentally with the whole thing. Who wouldn’t, three months without leaving the ward except in a wheelchair to go to another part of the hospital to get the wound dressed and for tests.
It is, unfortunateiy for the patient, and those who genuinely want to help others, a money machine for the greedy.
Generally hospitals aware the last place you’d ever want to end up, but Irish public hospitals are like something out of a 3rd world country!
Not enough trained staff, too many administrators, Doctors are like the Loch Ness monster, everyone’s heard of them but no one has seen it…
@Dotty Dunleary: ever been in a third world hospital ?
@Siobhán Ni Mhurchú: Yes, I visited the Mater, Beaumont and St. Vincent’s before…
Only in UHL once and was amazed. Five star service, couldn’t ask for better.
@Crocodylus Pontifex: What were you suffering from? Naivety or spin syndrome?
These statistics are utterly damming and these are by a government quango. This is the best that they can spin it, which means , in reality the situation is much worse. We all know that anyway. People in the health service, know that thousands of innocent people are dying inappropriately in the Irish health service every year. That’s more, every year than the entire amount killed in the entirety of the troubles in the North.
Where is the outrage for these thousands of inappropriate deaths every year? A lot of people are outraged over the deaths in the troubles, but where is their outrage for the vastly more deaths that are the result of the incompetence/corruption of FG/FF and Lab. It is their responsibility. They were the captain of the ship and they should be held to account for the many thousands of inappropriate deaths that they are responsible for.
But yet who do the electorate put into power again and again? That’s right versions of the same incompetence/corruption. Why do people pay more regard to spin than the loss of tens of thousands of innocent lives? But while these innocent Irish people are dying, big business is thriving. Big business is being looked after at the expense of innocent lives. What warped sense of morality/reality, have the majority of the electorate got?
@John O’Hara: My 13 year old daughter is being kept alive by exemplary care she is receiving in Crumlin. From her oncologist to the HCA’s who work with enthusiasm and compassion. I’ve yet to have to had one bad experience, the wards and rooms are spotless and the entire family are supported by a level of care and compassion that goes beyond it being just a job. You can rant and rave all you want but I’m not swayed by any political party, I just want my daughter to survive. She gets a medical card and we do not have to worry about bills for anything, if this was the states we’d probably have to sell our house to pay for her treatment.
Stay off that soapbox
@Emma Fitzpatrick: If you are genuine and not a FG/FF/Lab troll, then you must realise that your situation is one of the exceptions and not the rule. What do you say to the families of the thousands/annum that are being allowed to die due to the incompetence, lack of management, lack of oversight, lack of direction and lack of appropriate care?
If you are one of the lucky ones, then I’d count my blessings, not rub it in the faces of the majority of patients who suffer, up to and including inappropriate death. The health service is decimated, only those with vested interests or the naive would deny that. Indeed, it is not only the health service that’s decimated. The country itself is in an awful state. But that’s only in reality, not when you believe the blatant spin. Employment figures are a total farce and would not stand up to forensic examination. With the proper marketing/propaganda the majority of the public can be influenced into believing anything. It’s a bit like Alice in wonderland… Anyone can believe anything, but that doesn’t make it right or true. It just makes the public gullible.
@John O’Hara: I’d hardly count myself as ‘lucky one’. My daughter has cancer.
@Emma Fitzpatrick: wishing you and your daughter the very best of luck, hope things improve for you both.
@Emma Fitzpatrick: Would you prefer to be one of the majority who can’t get acceptible treatment for their sons or daughters, because the service has been decimated by the incompetence/corruption and total mismanagement of the health service by FG/FF and Lab? Luck is relative and we shouldn’t have to depend on luck for our health service. We should have good health by good management and design. FG/FF/lab have failed miserably in that regard.
@John O’Hara: I’d just rather she didn’t have it. I suppose the homeless crisis is her fault too? Full of the rage and blame. And to think, you actually thought I’d troll about my kid having cancer. You care so much.
@John O’Hara: have you ever been a patient in an irish hospital? my experiences have been overwhelmingly positive in terms of front line staff…hard working overworked junior doctors and nurses on a pittance with no lunch breaks and no cover for sick colleagues..trying to keep the HSE afloat while administrators earn 100k+ for 9-5….and lawyers are chasing ambulances to 6 figure plus awards in court
@Joan walsh: Yes, I speak from wide-ranging experience. The frontline staff are not responsible for the chaos in the health system. That’s not saying that everyone of them are angels. People are people, in every sector, there are the good, the bad, and the outstanding.
@Emma Fitzpatrick: Despite what I said above regarding the negative aspects of our Health Service I think it’s heart warming to hear stories like yours. Maybe we need to hear more of them. I’ve hear it said that those who have a negative experience will have no issue writing an email, posting a social media comment etc. But the vast majority who have no problem or even a pleasant experience don’t think to write emails, post social media comments or basically tell anyone about it. I’m really delighted to hear our system is working the way it’s supposed to for you and your daughter and wish you both well.
@John O’Hara: It’s ok for someone to disagree with you, however I’ve noticed you politicise almost all you comments and rarely fail to mention various political parties. You can agree or disagree without doing this. Forgive me if I’m wrong, but looking at your other posts and Facebook page you seem to be very anti-establishment and thus anti-government, this gives the impression that your mind is made up before you’ve heard the arguments from both sides.
This lady, for example, has has recounted from personal experience how our Health Service worked as it should for her and her daughter which is fantastic. Your first reaction was to ask if she was genuine or a political troll and then launch into a rant about the state of the country.
None of us are perfect, me least of all, after what I said above if there are significant numbers of satisfied patients out there I’d be delighted to eat my words.
@Emma Fitzpatrick: “I suppose the homeless crisis is her fault too” ?? Who said or inferred that anything was your daughter’s fault? The points that I have made are in relationt to incompetent/corrupt political parties and the consequences of those parties FG/FF/Lab, on Irish society, in this case the incompetence of government in the provision and oversight of the health service. You never addressed what you would say to the families of the thousands of people that die inappropriately every year in the health service at the hands of the incompetence of those in governance, FG/FF/Lab. Do you not spare a thought for anybody else apart from your daughter?
@John O’Hara: Wow….as I said. Rage and hate. Keep the hating going and very merry Christmas to you.
@Arch Angel: Here we go, hunting in packs now.
I am genuine and all my points can be varified. You are speaking from a cloak of anonymity. Why are you afraid to put your name to your comment. Anyone can check my profile, and that’s the way it should be. I suspect you are a political troll, a vested interest, all that is wrong with our media today. If I am wrong, come out of the shadows and prove it.
Justified criticism is quite different than spin. In relation to FG/FF/Lab, my criticism is fully justified. They are the one’s that not only decimated the health service but also the whole country, to the point of bankruptcy. This is the truth of it. There was no other party, just FG/FF/Lab, they were the ones calling the shots and the shots they chose decimated the health service and the country. Their fault, no-one else’s.
It is incumbent on us to help one and other to realise and accept this fact. The next step is to vote in the alternative government and see what they are made of. If they dont deliver at least they shouldn’t bankrupt the country again just like FF/FG/Lab did. Some hope is better than no hope and the conventional parties have indeed been hopeless.
@John O’Hara: Hunting..??? Oh please. This seems very petty, but when you’re checking you’ll notice I commented here before you, who’s chasing whom?
With regard to my anonymity I have explained the reasons for this before and see no compelling reason to repeat myself.
I am not now, nor have never have been a member of any political party nor do I have any wish to be at any time in the future. Frankly the idea is hilarious, none would have me.
You are of course entitled to comment as you see fit, however it’s normally seen as good manners to keep your comments on topic. In that regard you might like to read the article again. Falling back on old favourites of calling people trolls and introducing every political party into your comment, mix it up a bit at least?
@Emma Fitzpatrick: No rage, no hate, just critical analysis. Naivety and shortsightedness by too many of the electorate has led to too many innocents dying, when it could have been prevented. Forgive me for caring…
@John O’Hara: You’ve successfully convinced me to vote FG in the next election. Cheers!
@Arch Angel: What you’re saying might well be true, but how would I know? you’re anonymous. You can’t expect to comment from the shadows and expect to be taken legitimately. If it writes like a troll, comments like a troll, then maybe its a troll. If you are genuine you’ll have to forgive me, but you should accept what it looks like, Mr Anonymous…
@John O’Hara: No problem, these things happen. In my experience trolls are a very, very rare breed. Ejits, not so rare, if you catch my drift?
I think you have may have some valid points with regard to the homeless crisis etc. however you seem to see doom and gloom everywhere. You don’t want to entertain the possibility that patients may be happy with the level of care they receive. Maybe I was a little guilty of that myself, initially, and am happy to say I could be wrong.
However you’re still politicising everything, blaming the government for all the doom and gloom you want to see everywhere. And if others don’t agree with you, they must be a troll, and not just any ordinary one but a government troll.
This is an article about Patient Experiences within the HSE, it’s not about the homeless crisis or political parties, and when people like Emma recounted their experience. Well, come on. Good things happen as well as bad, and we should be applauding that not looking for excuses to condemn it.
@Emma Fitzpatrick: I’m sure it would be nothing new to you. And to hell with the thousands of decent people that are dying in the health service, as a result of their incompetence. You didnt comment about them at all. I wonder why? Hard to believe how there is such disregard for thousands of lives. I guess the term, I’m alright Jack…. comes to mind. I’d have thought somebody with a seriously ill child would have been more sympathetic.
@Arch Angel: You’re obviously good at misunderstanding when it suits your narrative. Where did I bring up the issue of the homeless? Until you come out of the shadows and put your name to your comments, you’re still a troll to me and that just makes your comments propaganda. Coincidence only goes so far… No guts no balls no brains, maybe your a politician.
@John O’Hara: I raised over €20K for the kids in St John’s in Crumlin this Christmas. What have you done other than be a keyboard warrior? Hope to see you there handing out presents on Christmas Day. I can even introduce you to all the hardworking staff there.
@Emma Fitzpatrick: Does 1 swallow make a summer? You seem to have great difficulty understanding the big picture and very little sympathy for the thousands of innocents( and their families) that are dying due to the incompetence of FF/FG and Lab, every year. What is wrong with you? Your comments read more like a government activist than a concerned mother. Do you really only care about your own daughter and not a whit for the thousands who suffer the ultimate fate as a result of the incompetence of FG/FF and Lab? That is shocking… That is the problem with believers, they are out of touch with reality.
@John O’Hara: You’re obsessed. I’ve tried to ignore you for several hours, I really have. What sort of sick pleasure to you get from attacking the mother of child with cancer merely because her point of view contradicts yours? If you disagree, fine, leave it at that.
My name is completely irrelevant to the discussion, for all I know your’s could be a pseudonym too. As I said earlier I have never had any affiliation with any political party and don’t intend to. I really don’t care if I’m a troll or a ballerina in a skin tight pink tutu to you, both are equally wrong and irrelevant – but whatever turns you on.
As I’ve said already the topic of this comment section is the HSE Patient Experience survey saying that most have reported a good experience. If you look back over almost every one of your comments you’re obsessed with political parties, trolls and insulting anyone who disagrees with you. You seem to think that if you state something off topic it’s perfectly reasonable as long as it’s a fact. Blue whale tongues can weigh as much as an elephant, strawberries aren’t berries, all true but completely irrelevant to the topic.(although not one political party mentioned)
P.S. This is probably a bad time to mention I have two family members who work in the HSE, and no, they’ve never been in any political party either.
@John O’Hara: What is wrong with you? Seriously. She said she raised over €20K for the kids in St John’s in Crumlin this Christmas – not how she did so or that she was affiliated to any political party. In fact the only reference she made to politics was to sarcastically say you’d convinced her to vot FG next time. Seriously, get help.
@Arch Angel: Read my posts and maybe have somebody explain them to you seeing as how you are having so much trouble understanding them. You going to out yourself yet or just continue with your propaganda. Go on, man up and reveal yourself. Till then don’t be wasting my time. The usual tactics, focus on the person when you can’t defend the issues.
You cannot refute the facts that FG/FF and Lab are the one’s responsible for decimating this country. Their watch, their responsibility, their failure. How dare they scaremonger, the worst has already happened and they are responsible for it.
So you want to discredit the messenger of this sad fact in the hope it will mitigate responsibility. People are begining to realise the sad truth despite all the propaganda and spin from FG’s spin factory. The spin factory thats had to go back undergroung because of the people’s objection to it. Your claim that trolls are rare, somewhat outs you. No-one is that naive anymore. And you with your false sincerity… Goodbye.
@Emma Fitzpatrick: It seems a post has been deleted, so let me rephrase it.
A peron claims to have fundraised €20k, but there is no mention of the fundraiser on her facebook page. Maybe it’s just me, but I find that unbelievable… I also believe it is disgraceful the depths that trolls descend to, in order to propagate their message.
The Journal and the other news outlets could put in place a verification process to limit the extent of troll participation, but they chose not to. Why? Accountability, that’s for others, not the media. What does the media gain from the inclusion of trolls and anonymous contributors..?
In general, I have had very good medical treatment in Irish hospitals, mostly as a public patient. I’ve spent a fair amount of time in hospitals, so the experience isn’t isolated. They’re not quiet, comfortable & pleasant but I’m often there for potentially fatal scenarios so I don’t mind that much. A&E is rarely great, but I have had exceptional experiences there as well. The record was in and out in 3 hrs with blood tests and a CT done(results included). Not bad value for €100.
Who has the solutions? Unfortunately (for myself) I have been a frequent user of emergency services. Does anyone in HSE have the answers? Systemic changes with more staff are likely the simplest answers but that equals €€€. As a nation we’re happy to complain but not interested in marching the streets. I would pay more taxes (consumption taxes) to generate the revenue to pay for the changes. How about .10 cent on every bottle of water, and the revenue goes strictly to HSE.
@John Flood: We already pay. It is the incompetence and mismanagement of those in FG/Ff and Lab is the real problem. If they had the ability to fix it, they would have already done so. We need new heads and new governance. We also need to disregard the huge amount of scaremongering about SF and really listen to their policies. If you want change, you have to vote for it even if it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. Would you vote for SF if it meant saving thousands of innocent lives by reforming the health service? Voting FG/FF/Lab, is voting for the continuance of thousands of innocent people dying inappropriately in the health service. FG/FF/Lab have completely proven that they are out of their depth. So if there is to be any chance of saving innocent people a different government will have to be given an opportunity. The worst that can happen realistically(disregarding the scaremongering), is that SF and the independents, actually do as badly as FG/FF/Lab.
@John O’Hara: If they fix it, they can’t justify privatising it. And privatising the public health service is the bottom line.
@John O’Hara: professional politicians solve our healthcare system? HSE and its fat beuracracy to solve it? As long as we have a Ministerial system made up of teachers, doctors and lawyers why would you think a solution would be near to hand?
I have just come back from visiting my 82 yr old mother with dementia in hospital and I am talking you all out there with elderly relatives let bringing them to hospital be your last resort. What she has endured and the way our elderly are treated is barbaric. Interestingly my daughter is a 4th year nurse in the same hospital and she also is treated like dirt on her feet since 8am this morn and dealing with violent patients. sometimes I wish my mother was violent because they are the ones that get the attention and the carers. My next mission is to get her out of there asap. They are not equipped to deal with elderly patients. what I witnessed is tragic without going into detail
@Loretta stiletto: What are you waiting for?
@lisa duignan: for them to disconnect drips etc..
I was discharged from St. Vincent’s earlier today and I am satisfied with the service I received but there are some things to improve for sure.
I was referred by my GP to ER last Wednesday with suspected diverticulitis. Ridiculous abdominal pain and high fever, around 40 degrees. After 8 hours of waiting in the reception area, I was invited to ER and immediately seen by a 20 year old doctor who sent me for a CT the same night.
My GP’s diagnosis was confirmed and the treatment begun.
During my stay in ER, I felt I received too much care. My blood pressure and temperature was checked every 15 minutes, sometimes more often, evertime by a different student nurse, I was asked the same set of irrelevant questions over and over, again by a different student.
This was going on for a while and I was kind of tired. Still in my clothes, without a blanket or cushion I waited patiently for a doctor to reappear and give me an update.
The wait paid off, after 40 hours, I was seen this time by an adult doc who told me that I will be admitted to the ward and finally I had my 3 minutes to ask about my condition and the treatment. We were going to get in to more detail when I am transferred.
About 10 hours later I was transferred to super clean, en suite, single occupancy room. There was a clean blanket and a cushion waiting for me. I was in heaven.
After I took a shower, I was really looking forward to finish the conversation with the doctor, especially that we were going to talk about my diet and I didn’t eat for 3 days…so I called the nurse and was told that because it’s the weekend, I won’t be able to see the doctor until Monday but they know what to do and I should rest and wait for the antibiotics to kick in…the next morning the breakfast service arrived, I couldn’t resist so I just had whatever I thought wasn’t going to kill me… on that stage I knew that the diet is in my hands and since I was offered menu to choose my meals for the next day, I was going to be ok. There is a very fast WiFi in the ward so it took mi minutes to find out from the internets what I should eat.
I spent Saturday and Sunday educating myself about my condition. Endless supply of painkillers in to my vains let me forget that I am sick.
Today I was finally seen again by a doctor, not the Professor but by another intern, he wasn’t probably in his late 20’s so not too bad….he asked me how do I fell, pressed couple points on my belly to check if it still hurts and decided that my treatment can be finished at home if I am happy with that. As I was under influence of opiate based painkillers, didn’t feel any pain and with elevated mod I was happy to take his offer. He told me that is something goes wrong, I can come back straight away. We didn’t discuss anything about the diet or about my treatment but on that stage, I was well educated on this subject so I happily went home…he only stopped me for a second when I was leaving as he prescribed me incorrect dose of my antibiotics, at least different from what was suggested by his boss but this was quickly corrected.
Fantastic health service overall. Well done.
@Paul Whitehead: Well done yourself, give yourself a pat on the back or maybe a gold star or then again maybe a wooden spoon would be more appropriate…
@John O’Hara: You’re just getting tedious now. That giant political chip on your shoulder is wearing you down.
@Emma Fitzpatrick: Mmmm, following me now. It’s a sure sign of defeat when you stop dealing with the issues and start getting personal. Mind you, you haven’t dealt with any of the issues, just kept talking about your daughter. Your contribution seems to go beyond concern for your daughter. You seem hell bent on defending the decimated health service. The question has to be asked why? You may well have a sick child, but that doesnt stop you from being a die-hard FG’er.
@John O’Hara: I have a poster of Leo above my bed….
@Emma Fitzpatrick: I wouldnt doubt it and maybe a cheque in the post…
I want my taxes to help these poor people…not the able bodied people milking the system
Cavan – couldn’t be better!!
Third world country
I don’t understand the last complaint. Why shouldn’t patients have a cry if they feel like crying? If I was sick, in pain, enough to spend days camping out in a hospital corridor, I doubt I’d be at my most cheerful either. If it bothered someone else who was feeling well enough to notice, they could draw their curtains, and let the other patients have a good cry in peace. I can’t imagine anything worse than having some clown take it on themself to try entertaining people who are trying to get through their time in hospital and can’t afford one of the few private rooms.
have your say