A man who spent 12 days on a ward in York Hospital today spoke out about the ‘unbelievable and shocking’ things he witnessed during his stay.
Anthony Dunn fears that some patients are “not safe in the hospital any more”.
He kept a log of the issues on his ward, which ranged from a lack of cleanliness, with used syringes littering the floor for days, to “potentially life-threating” medication mistakes to patients in agony being ignored for hours.
Anthony, 35, who lives in Wilberfoss with partner Samantha Bithell and their children, says it shows what happens when you starve the NHS of funding.
He first went into York Hospital for spinal block injections to ease the pain in his lower back caused by degenerative discs.
Anthony says the injections, which he described as “a very painful procedure”, were carried out by a trainee doctor.
As soon as he left, he was nauseous and then suffered severe diarrhoea and became gradually more ill over three days. He was weak, and his left leg, feet and bottom were numb, resulting in a lack of toilet control.
He called the NHS 111 helpline and on hearing his symptoms they sent an ambulance, suspecting an infection.
At York Hospital, Anthony was put on a drip and sent for an emergency MRI scan which suggested his disc was protruding and pressing on his spinal cord, causing the numbness.
‘Absolutely shocking’
He was admitted to a ward while the doctors consulted with specialist neurosurgeons at Hull Royal Infirmary about the best course of action.
“What I witnessed in the 12 days of being there was absolutely shocking, not only the care of myself, but the care of other patients,” Anthony told YorkMix.
One of his biggest shocks was the lack of cleanliness. He took pictures of discarded syringes on the floor. “I believe they were there for the entirety of my stay because I didn’t see them get moved,” he said.
A full cone of sweets was also left on the floor for the length of his stay. The sides of his bed were stained and dirty.
Five other patients shared the same room. Several were bedridden.
After one patient’s drip feed finished, the alarm sounded – but was not sorted by nurses for two hours, Anthony said.
Another patient, who Anthony described as non-verbal, had notes stating clearly that he was not allowed milk or orange juice. Yet, he said, he was regularly served cereal with milk and orange juice for breakfast.
“This resulted in him being sick after each meal,” Anthony said. “On one occasion when he was sick, the nurse came in, turned the covers round so the sick was at his feet, and left.
“He sat like that for two hours.”
He says another patient, again with emotional issues, would sound his buzzer repeatedly at night. “They would actually take his buzzer from him, which I don’t believe is allowed because if he was in a medical need, he wouldn’t be able to alert anybody,” Anthony said.
“This also resulted one night with a staff member threatening to put him in the corridor, which I thought was terrible.”
A patient had his catheter taken out but then struggled to empty his bladder. “The guy was in pain. He was screaming.
“And every nurse that came past, he begged and pleaded – ‘please help me, please put my catheter back in’ – or capacitor as he called it. Seven hours that man was left in agony.”
Double dosed
He also witnessed some worrying issues with medication. At one point, the nurses mixed Anthony up with another patient with the same first name. “This resulted in me nearly being taken for an X ray that wasn’t meant for me, and also resulted in me being handed the incorrect medication.”
He missed three doses of his own medication, designed to boost his potassium levels. He said a nurse admitted he had missed the doses and apologised.
“There were also lots of times where medication was late,” Anthony said. The first drugs round in the hospital was supposed to be 8am but “on numerous occasions, we weren’t receiving our painkillers or prescribed medications till 10 o’clock in the morning, up to two hours late.”
On one day, he ended up receiving two doses of the powerful drug pregabalin within an hour of each other, rather than four hours apart.
“I was double dosed on an extremely strong medication – a controlled drug – which is just shocking,” Anthony said.
“There were lots of medication issues, including the keys going missing to the drugs cupboard.”
These are “life-threatening mistakes,” he said.
Anthony and his partner Samantha have two children aged seven and 13. Their son had to be admitted into hospital during Anthony’s stay with a gastro infection.
His care on the children’s ward was “exemplary”. The nurses there “were fantastic”, Samantha said – which contrasted sharply with Anthony’s experience.
“You were left in your room. The level of care and the level of rudeness was unbelievable,” he said.
“I’ve been in hospital a lot of times during my life, especially as a child. And I’ve never experienced that before – I was just so shocked.
“The room that I was in had patients that weren’t able to stick up for themselves. And I just wondered whether they got used to getting away with stuff because those patients were unable to stick up for themselves.”
Official complaint
He said his own treatment had not progressed, despite a 12-day hospital stay. “Essentially, I ended up coming out of the hospital worse than I went in, with no resolution to my issues, just a referral to another hospital.”
It has now been established that his spinal disc is not protruding far enough to cause the numbness in his legs.
He fears that some of these issues may be due to a misapplication of his spinal injection by the trainee. Doctors have told him that isn’t the case.
Anthony has made an official complaint listing all the problems, via the Patient Advice and Liaison Service.
What needs to be done to fix the situation? “Funding. When it comes to the nurses, they’re hiring anybody they can get their hands on because they’re struggling so much.
“It’s no longer about finding the best. It’s about finding anyone who’s willing.”
Anthony added: “I felt the need to get in touch and let people know, this is what the hospital system has become under this government.”
A spokesperson for the York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundations Trust said: “This feedback is concerning and is not indicative of the standard we expect for our patients.
“Mr Dunn has contacted us about his experience and his concerns will be investigated.
“Any opportunities for learning will be addressed by the relevant team.”