I may have the best medical care but was badly let down emotionally

摘要

The problems started with my mammogram. I was told I would have the scan within two weeks of being referred but, in the end, I had to chase the hospital for an appointment because they lost my referral letter.Following the mammogram, I was diagnosed with grade 3 breast cancer and booked in for a lumpectomy. As I lived a long way from the hospital and I do not have a partner nor drive myself, I would have found it difficult to get to the ward by 7am on the morning of my surgery. My consultant and the waiting list department agreed that I would be admitted to the ward the evening before.When I arrived at the ward I was met by a nurse's station full of unhelpful faces. They told me to go away and come back in the morning because it wasn't hospital policy to admit patients the night before surgery. I explained to the ward sister that I had a letter confirming my bed but she wouldn't change her mind. I told her that she had better find me a comfy chair because I wasn't leaving the hospital.