A Stitch In Time Saves Nine? (NHS in general)

Name: gothbutterfly

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Product:	NHS in general
Date:	23/05/02 (245 review reads)
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It was a Friday night in November last year and I'd had a little accident with a broken bottle and my arm at a party.Friends kicked me out of the house(there was underage drinking and smoking of er,substances and they didn't want to get caught) and I called an ambulance to take me to the hospital.

I waited about 5 minutes and the ambulance came....or rather drove past.I called 999 again and asked why didn't the ambulance stop?
"We thought it was a prank call"they said,"We'll send it back for you".
By this point I was in considerable shock,as my arm was bleeding quite a lot and was very very deeply cut.Luckily one of my better friends came to look after me.

The ambulance journey was fairly quick and the ambulance men were fairly friendly,then we arrived at the hospital.
The ambulance doors opened.....

I was greeted by about six members of hospital staff and three policemen.Must be a quiet night I thought.

"Oh My Goth",one of them says.
the policemen look at each other and say"Gothics",in a disgusted manner.
Not the nicest way to be greeted when you are still bleeding everywhere and getting quite scared.

They wheel me into a cubicle and thn leave me again.A nurse appears and ask me how it was done.I give her a censored version of the story...some glass broke and bounced up on my arm cutting it.
She disappears again,after resting my arm on some gauze to soak up the blood.Twenty minutes later she comes back again and asks how it happened.I tell her the same story.
"I don't belive you"says she.
"Anyway you'll have to have an extra in case there's any glass in it".

So about an hour after I've been injured I'm sitting in the hospital waiting for an xray ,I know is unnecessary.They take the Xrays,send me back to my cubicle,and don't come back for another 20minutes.My friend tells me that whi
le they were taking my Xray they had asked him if he had done it to me!!!!

The hospital is dead quiet and I wonder what they are doing.

They finally reappear and start to accuse me of self harm.Which is fair enough being as thats
what it was,but my arm was gaping open I wanted it stitched!
I told them my dropped glass story again,and they keep telling me they don't belive it.They tell me I should go to the local psychiatric hospital.I sigh and let their words wash over me.

Finally they stitch my arm up and tell me to go away.
Happily I leave and as I'm walking the three miles home(in completely in appropiate clothes)I realise I havent got a clue what to do with my arm.OK they'd told me stitches out in ten days,but how would I have a shower?Was I allowed to get water on them?What kind of painkillers should I take?
They had left me completely confused and were letting two young people(one badly injured and in shock) walk miles home alone.
Anyway,we got home,end of story?

Fast forward to 10days later(my birthday!)
The nurse looks at my arm.
"You did get that done at hospital?"
I told her of course and she sighs.

Would have been better doing it myself apparently.

She took most of the stitches out and I went away to have a nice bath...the unstitched areas reopened....

Nurse comes back and sticks steri strips on it,telle me I can get the rest of the stitches out in a few days.

6 months on:
The wound took about 3months to heal completely,and I am left with a two inch scar which is very noticable. I feel very let down by the NHS who gave me poor treatment,and left me with a bigger scar than needed.They also gave me no advice on what to do with my wound and let me wander around Inverness in shock.

Summary: