A woman who waited in "blinding" pain for 35 hours in A&E said she doesn't blame the hospital for her ordeal.
Sophie Loughlin, 28, a teacher from Liverpool, said she was sat for 35 hours in Aintree Hospital's A&E as she waited to be seen by a specialist in Crohn's disease, a condition she has suffered from for 16 years. Sophie admitted herself to A&E at "quarter to twelve" on Sunday, August 14, after feeling a "severe, blinding" pain in her abdomen.
Sophie said that her Crohn's means she usually experiences a moderate level of pain or discomfort in the area, though the severity of the pain this time was too unbearable to ignore leading her to seek professional help. However, she spent 35 hours in A&E before she was able to speak to a specialist.
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Sophie, who said that she didn't blame the hospital staff for her ordeal, told the ECHO: "I was having really severe, blinding pain that was making me a faint and a bit funny and making me sway. I couldn't keep still. It wasn't nice at all, it was really bad.
"Crohn's is always painful and there's not a lot you can do about it. But when it gets to that stage you know that's an indication that it could be something more than just an everyday pain.
"With it being a Sunday I couldn't get hold of any of the gastro nurses who I would normally speak to. So I got [to A&E] at around quarter to midnight."
Sophie was seen by a member of the triage team, then waited for nine hours sat in a chair at A&E, until around 10am on Monday morning, to speak to a doctor. She said: "I couldn't eat during that time, I was in too much pain.
"I didn't sleep, I kept nodding and waking up and worrying that if I don't hear my name they'll take me off the list. I kept thinking if I was an elderly person in this waiting room that was just been absolute torture."
Sophie said she was told by one of the hospital staff she saw on Monday morning that she needed to be admitted and placed on a hospital bed.
Yet, at 6am on Tuesday morning, when she was finally seen to by a specialist consultant, she discovered it'd been recorded on her file that she 'd been "advised [she] did not have to stay but [she] chose to be admitted."
She said: "One of the previous staff that I'd seen had actually written a note saying that I'd been advised that I didn't actually have to stay. I couldn't believe that because that is not what happened. I genuinely couldn't believe it.
"The exact words from the doctor I saw were that it had been decided I need to be admitted so why don't I go and make some phone calls and arrange for my things to be brought in - that's what I got told.
"I don't think it was done maliciously. I just think that whoever has written that note has had a very different understanding of the conversation we had. Maybe it's a miscommunication, I don't know, but its not what happened.
"I don't blame the staff at all. I actually felt really sorry for them even when I saw that note. When I finally went in and saw the gastro doctor and the senior nurse was there all three of them looked close to tears when they found out how long I'd been there.
"I don't blame the staff at all because they did not stop, they did not have a minute free. I didn't see one nurse go off for a break. I didn't see one doctor go to the shop and buy a drink or anything like that. It was just relentless for them the whole time I was there.
"It's a bigger issue than the hospital. It's happening in the country as a whole and it's a systemic issue. The NHS is just being dismantled in front of our eyes and I think that's why this experience has made me so angry."
David Melia, chief nurse at Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: "I’d like to apologise to Sophie for the nine hours she waited to be initially seen in our A&E department and we have been in direct contact with Sophie’s family to discuss their concerns.
"Our A&E departments continue to experience significant pressure and our teams are working incredibly hard to treat people as quickly as possible.”
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