Bad experience at hospital

[Elc1112]

Hi all,

Bit of a rant, I'm afraid, but I need to get this off my chest...

I was in a car accident last week. Nothing too serious, but I was in hospital for a few days. I was taken by ambulance to hospital. Although it is all a bit of a blur, I remember telling both the paramedics and staff at the hospital that I was a type 1 diabetic. They told me not to worry, that they would take care of it. I was given quite strong painkillers so was pretty much out of it for the next couple of days.

When the painkillers wore off I was in a bit of pain, nothing too bad thankfully. I also felt very sick and very thirsty. I was told that this was due to the various painkillers etc that I had been given.

The paramedics ha brought my bag from my car and I knew I had my BM in there. I tested my blood sugars - the reading "hi", which on my particular meter is over 38.9! Over the two days they had administered insulin just once!

I was really shocked by this. I know I had told them I was diabetic and my family had also spoken to the doctors about my medication. I would have hoped that a hospital would have been able to take better care of a diabetic patient.

Anyway, rant over!

 

[janabelle]

That's absolutely shocking, with a BG that high you must've felt lousy.
All hospitals should have procedures in place for diabetics on insulin with regard to BG testing and insulin administration. They have obviously not being following procedure. If you were "out of it" on medication I would have thought you would be on a glucose & insulin drip with regular monitoring.
I really hope you intend to make a complaint. Such ignorance is unbelievable, neglectful and inexcusable and hopefullly making a complaint will draw attention to the hospitals short-comings. Glad you're all right following the accident, but what is wrong with hospitals and diabetes?? that's the one place you'd think we'd be safe:?
take care
Jus

 

[SophiaW]

I agree, absolutely shocking that your diabetes was not taken care of. Definitely make an official complaint, by doing that you will be hopefully raising awareness that there is a problem with the care of T1 patients and it will be looked into. I hope you are feeling better and recovering well from the accident.

 

[Ali H]

That's disgusting, I hope you are feeling much better now. Get onto the hospital first in writing asking them to investigate and hopefully you will then get a chance to meet with somebody and discuss their ongoing protocol for diabetic patients.

Ali

 

[cugila]

I agree.....it's disgraceful treatment from those that should know better. Complain in writing to the Chief Exec of the Hospital and contact PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison Service) who will also have a base at the Hospital. They are extremely helpful in these circumstances, especially with a complaint. I used them in my own complaint regarding overdosing of anti-Cancer drugs.

http://www.pals.nhs.uk/cmsContentView.aspx?ItemID=932

 

[iHs]

When the painkillers wore off I was in a bit of pain, nothing too bad thankfully. I also felt very sick and very thirsty. I was told that this was due to the various painkillers etc that I had been given.

The paramedics ha brought my bag from my car and I knew I had my BM in there. I tested my blood sugars - the reading "hi", which on my particular meter is over 38.9! Over the two days they had administered insulin just once!

Hi

Not sure what has gone wrong here as your bg level shouldn't have been left to get so high like it did without any insulin. An added reason for feeling so sick and thirsty was because of the Hi bg. You must have been developing DKA? How did you get yr bg to drop back to being ok again?

 

[noblehead]

Absolutely disgraceful treatment, as others have said make an official complaint to the hospital involved.

Nigel

 

[RussG]

Yes - agree 100%. Make an official complaint, not just for you, but to hopefully avoid anyone else ending up in the same position or worse.

Not giving a life preserving medication such as insulin surely must be a disciplinary matter.

Glad you have come out of it okay, and what a lesson for anyone else!

 

[Elc1112]

Hi all, thanks for the comments and well wishes. I will be making a complaint and have already vented my concerns to the hospital. Will be interesting to see what comes of it all... Will keep you posted!

 

[AndyS]

Is this the sort of thing to maybe talk to Diabetes UK about?

Surely they have some set channels or initiatives around this sort of neglect.

 

[Patch]

Crikey. You should escalate this to the highest level as quickly as possible.

 

[budgie92]

I am so sorry you had such a bad experience and hope you are on the road to recovery!
I work at a hospital and I ALWAYS make sure my diabetic patients BM's are done, even on admission to my ward. and I always report blood sugar results to the nurse in charge, even with normal readings, so then they are well informed.
Your experience is exactly what I am scared of, being a T1 myelf. I am due for knee surgery at some point this year which will require a few days stay in hospital.

 

[sugarybibs]

i too am scared of hospital.Im due for a simple operation for dupytrons contrapture in my hand supposed to get it last year but am so scared of my diabetes not being controlled (been type 1 for 41 years)or tested by nurses after operation when i am still under influence of anaesthetic.that is why i put this operation off but my fingers are too far gone now i will have to get operation.i told my doctor who is doing operation this and he said i will be fine,but i am still scared.

 

[Lordy100]

Hi Elc1112,

You don't say which area you are in, hopefully not my area!

I too am Type 1 and work in my local NHS hospital. We have Diabetic Specialist Nurses in the hospitals and also a ‘Think Glucose’ programme which is an NHS Institute toolkit that helps
improve the assessment, care and appropriate referral of patients with diabetes admitted to hospital.

Complain, ask if it was written in your notes, ensure they ask for input from the ambulance crew as if you told them they should have written it down on your admittance sheet. If it was the ambulance crew who failed to note down you saying you were Type 1 it is unlikely it would have been passed onto the hospital medical staff as they simply didn't know or suspect. Hence your treatment or lack of it!

Good luck

 

[Lordy100]

Here is a link to the "Think Glucose" website.

http://www.institute.nhs.uk/quality_and ... olkit.html