Local Guardian News
Woman forced to wait for 12 hours for operation
9:08am Thursday 16th February 2012
A woman who suffered a miscarriage was forced to wait on a hospital ward without food and water for more than 12 hours for a prearanged operation.
In the end, grieving Louise Teasdale was so frustrated at being ignored she left the St Helier Hospital and has paid £2,000 to have the procedure to remove womb tissue privately.
St Helier hospital this week apologised to the 34-year-old travel consultant from Beddington for the level of care they gave to her 'at what would have been a very difficult time.'
Miss Teasdale was five weeks pregnant when she suffered a silent miscarriage which was diagnosed at St Helier hospital on January 19.
She had an appointment to have an ERPC procedure to remove any remaining tissue on Tuesday, February 7 and arrived at the hospital at 8am.
But instead of being taken into theatre for the operation she was overlooked for hours.
She said: ""This whole experience has been so traumatic that I never want to have my life left in the hands of the NHS ever again." Following doctor's orders to starve herself from midnight, Miss Teasdale arrived at 8am on the day of her operation and was told she was second on the list to go into theatre.
Miss Teasdale had not eaten since 7pm the previous day and became agitated and thirsty.
After several hours, she was told twice she needed a drip, however the drip never arrived and she began to suffer from terrible headaches.
At 5pm she complained but was told there were no managers, supervisors or matrons on duty.
By chance, her mother found Sally Sivas, the head of midwifery at about 7pm who also said Miss Teasdale needed a drip.
However, this never happened and distraught Miss Teasdale left the ward just after 8pm.
She said: "You get to the point when you think I can’t stay here any longer; I had been bleeding for three weeks."
When leaving the ward, she was told she might be called for surgery within the next 30 minutes, but if an emergency was to come in again she would still be left waiting.
She said: "Bearing in mind the reason for me having to undergo this operation, to be treated the way that I was, is disgusting.
"It’s not as if my partner and I are not heartbroken enough as it is; we are then expected to be left and forgotten about on a hospital ward where the staff won’t even make eye contact with you when they enter the room and walk away from patients leaving them in tears.
"You should not offer any of these kinds of operations associated with miscarriage if you cannot carry them out on the day you tell the patients."
She returned home, continuing to bleed and has spent nearly £2,000 on private medical care to get her on the road to recovery.
Ruth Bender Atik, the national director of the Miscarriage Association said that the situation Miss Teasdale faced could have been made more acceptable if she had received better care and communication.
This includes updates on what was happening with timing, a kind word, compassion and sensitivity, a follow-up regarding the drip action if it was agreed and overall a feeling that she was being looked after rather than ignored or avoided.
Pippa Hart, director of nursing at Epsom and St Helier Hospital said: "We are genuinely sorry that Miss Teasdale is unhappy with the level of care we gave to her at what would have been a very difficult time.
"Unfortunately, on the day that Mrs Teasdale was scheduled to undergo her operation, we saw a large number of emergency cases that needed urgent surgery. Whilst emergency cases need to take precedent in situations such as this, we recognise that our communication with Mrs Teasdale could have been much better.
"Our Head of Midwifery, Sally Sivas, has spoken to Mrs Teasdale personally and has written to her to apologise. "In addition, we are reviewing the care Mrs Teasdale received to fully understand what happened so that we can help prevent it from happening again. "We are keen to support Mrs Teasdale and her family in any way that we can during this time and we have made that clear in our communications with her."
For information and advice visit the Miscarriage Association at miscarriageassociation.org.uk or call their helpline on 01924 200799.