Warwick Hospital 2023-01-31 Person 1 5 0

My wife was brought in by ambulance at 5am on 19th Jan and taken to ambulance triage. At 5.30 she was moved to "Fit to sit". At 6am I was told to leave because "the manager will be in soon and won't be happy" if relatives are there. The pain which was the reason for admission returned, and although pain relief was offered it was never given. The last offer changed to "you'll have to wait until you're on the ward". My wife was in the same chair, with minimal information and no treatment, for 6 hours. The pain of her condition worsened throughout that time, and was even worse because of having to sit up in a wooden chair, and not even lie down. The pain returned three days later, after discharge, and she was afraid to return, instead hanging on hoping Ambulatory would see us the next day, which they kindly did.

The nursing staff in "Fit to sit" could have offered compassionate nursing care, asking about pain, comfort and emotional wellbeing - rather than merely doing the most minimal basic physical observations. It would have helped if staff had permitted me to stay and support my wife, rather than being forced to leave her to cope alone. When I was told to leave we had been sat in silence, and there were two other patients and multiple empty spaces, and the suggestion of leaving when space was an issue was rejected.