Venting......
This has LITERALLY happened today and I'm fucking fuming.

Bassetlaw Hospital, Worksop, is the most corrupt, incompetent and unsanitary NSH hospital in the country. They have repeatedly recieved good reports under examination, despite their known reputation as not knowing their arse from their fucking elbow.

Someone very close to me is a couple of months pregnant, and on a recent scan was told that the baby has no heartbeat and is effectively dead. She has had to carry the 'baby' over the weekend, and today was booked in to have it removed. She is young, frightened and upset. They made her wait for hours with no information. She was FORGOTTEN about several times. Then she was taken to surgery, only for them to suddenly realise that they had forgotten to give her the pre-op meds.

When the Polish doctor came, he barely spoke any English. He then suggested her an alternative. They could give her drugs, so that she can go home and await the horrors of delivering the under-developed still-born foetus of her first child....And they suggest she could do this at home, on her own - so that they can cover for their mistake when they fill in their reports for the week. What's she supposed to do? Name it then flush it down the fucking toilet?

Cunts. I hope every doctor and manager at that fucking hospital go to prison.
( Kung_Fu_Russ ran out of amusing signatures on, Mon 15 Mar 2010, 16:35, 10 replies)

That's truly shit and shocking.
The thing is, you'll need to do more than vent on an internet messageboard for them to go to prison.

Carefully note everything - times, dates, names. Make an appointment with one of the following faces:

www.dbh.nhs.uk/about_us/board_of_directors/default.asp

Their contact domain is: @dbh.nhs.uk, so simply add name combinations to the front. Works a charm.

As an example:

Name: Hilary Bond

[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

One of these will work. The ones that don't work will be sent back as invalid. If you send to 6 email addresses and get 5 "invalid"s back, you know you got through.

If they do nothing, then send a copy of your grievance to your MP.
( Michael Ellis contributes nothing, Mon 15 Mar 2010, 16:57, closed)

the vent is mainly to make me feel better...
..but don't worry, this person's immediate family and friends are already discussing how to get our voices heard. They've managed to get her into surgery in the last 10 minutes. I'm not a total twat, by the way, I'm trapped at work, 200 miles away, and getting constant updates....and it's not my baby, it's someone close.

Thanks for that lnfo, that's going to be useful when we start kicking up a stink. Immediate concern is getting the poor bugger back home with a cup of cocoa and try and get her over the shock.
( Kung_Fu_Russ ran out of amusing signatures on, Mon 15 Mar 2010, 17:04, closed)

Good luck, chap - to all concerned :(

( Michael Ellis contributes nothing, Mon 15 Mar 2010, 17:05, closed)

That's horrifyingly third-world.

( Bob Todd whee, Mon 15 Mar 2010, 18:26, closed)

That's the East Midlands for you.
And if the Tories get in, that's what all state healthcare will be like in 10 years.
( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Mon 15 Mar 2010, 18:40, closed)

Don't be fucking stupid
The NHS works better under a Tory government, as does everything else. Tony Blair and Gordon Brown are a clusterfuck. They've wrecked our economy, sold our gold reserves at rock bottom and employed a load of pointless lefty twats.

They've eroded our freedoms and created many pointless laws.
( disasterprone "Pyjamas caused the Holocaust", Tue 16 Mar 2010, 7:19, closed)

Call a journo
Seriously, a good one. No tabloid trash. People like this need to be disgraced in public.
(tuqueboy has been in a medically -induced coma since, Mon 15 Mar 2010, 21:47, closed)

Haha, christ. You want him to find a good journalist who won't turn it into party propaganda or exploit other people's misfortune for their own personal gain?
He'd have an easier time trying to find right-handed spanners with hen's teeth embedded in the handle.
( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Mon 15 Mar 2010, 22:03, closed)

Call the local /regional paper
They'll have a different view to a national - they care about local issues rather than party politics, and are more likely to run an article.
( disasterprone "Pyjamas caused the Holocaust", Tue 16 Mar 2010, 7:23, closed)

The procedure for miscarriage is unfortunately exactly that, though it's awful that your friend was forgotten about and that's defiintely worth complaining about.
Miscarriage is unfortunately so common - missed miscarriage (where the baby stops growing but the body continues the pregnancy) less so - but considering that about 15% of known pregnancies end in miscarriage, the NHS can't admit everyone to hospital who is miscarrying. What they should do is offer support and compassion and they have evidently failed in your friend's case.

With a missed miscarriage, there are three options: an ERPC (the operation), medical management (drugs to start the miscarriage process), or simply waiting for nature to take its course. None of them are easy. If you opt to wait for nature to kick in you are sent home with advice that it might be like a heavy period and you should get some strong painkillers. You are advised to contact the hospital if "you pass clots bigger than your fist". They like to play down the symptoms so as not to alarm women - for some women it is not physically too bad. For others, it's is extremely painful - I ended up being admitted to hospital for two days because I was having contractions and was haemorrhaging.

But yes, if you don't have the operation then you are left to do it at home unless medical intervention is needed. Some people do flush the gestational sac down the toilet. Others bury it. It seems horrific - it is horrific - but it's not a medical emergency and there's really nothing the NHS can do at that stage. It's very difficult and it's emotionally devastating. If you are lucky, the NHS will provide the compassion and support and kindness and advice that makes the world of difference. Unfortunately, many hospitals simply don't.

Please tell your friend that it's not something you ever forget but it is something that gets easier with time. Miscarriage is so horribly common and yet so incredibly taboo but talking to friends and family friends afterwards, many women will say that it happened to them. Also, just because it happens once does not mean it is likely to happen again (I'm walking waddling proof of that, though a subsequent pregnancy is filled with fear and worry, and relief at each day that progresses without bleeding).

Online support is there - the Mumsnet miscarriage/pregnancy loss forums are an amazing source of information, for example - and there are campaigns for a Code of Conduct to be introduced (http://www.mumsnet.com/info/miscarriage-code-of-practice).

Your friend should definitely complain about the way she was treated. The process is not necessarily at fault here but the lack of respect and kindness certainly is.
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Tue 16 Mar 2010, 9:29, closed)