Woman raises concern about ‘overstretched’ hospital A&E
A WOMAN has praised the NHS for the emergency care she received, but has raised concerns about Accident and Emergency departments being “overstretched” after being rushed into hospital.
Sandra Schofield, 62, of Palmerston Way, Rochdale, was rushed to Royal Oldham Hospital on August 30 after the hernia she had been diagnosed with in June became strangulated.
A hernia happens when the stomach muscles weaken, causing part of the intestines to pop out.
Sandra had previously had three babies within 30 months of each other – Rebecca, 38, Matthew, 37, and Grace, 36.
She added that she is also overweight which can cause the condition. Sandra said: “My stomach could no longer cope with my weight.
“The umbilical hernia became strangulated. I was in absolute agony.
“My daughter Rebecca rang an ambulance said for me.
“Because of coronavirus nobody was allowed in the ambulance with me. I was in a lot of pain and was clutching my stomach around my belly button area.”
Sandra, who is married to Jack, 68, then had to wait over 24 hours for her emergency operation to remove the hernia.
She said: “I said I had come in as an emergency, and the doctor said: ‘There are ten people waiting for an operation and they have all come in as an emergency.’
“I felt shocked about this.
“I was surprised at how many people there were in the corridors in A&E. They are so overstretched - I think they need more funding.
“The nurses are brilliant though - everything they did, they would write it down - they were so organised.”
After her four-hour long operation, Sandra was moved to the orthopaedic ward, before being moved to a gastro ward.
She continued: “I felt very vulnerable and still in pain around my stomach but it was nothing like the pain I had been in before the surgery. I felt that my independence had been taken away because I had to submit to being ill and letting a team of nurses deal with my medical care.
“I needed quite a lot of care for the first few days after my operation and the staff were fantastic at delivering it.
“The other ladies on the ward were in the same boat as me as we were all dependent upon the nurses.
“I spent a week in the gastro ward and I was with the same patients all week.
“Because we were in the same ward together all week we became close to each other and we said that we would keep in touch with each other.
“What we had in common with each other was that we were all ill at the same time and were each others family for a week.
“We had all lost our independence due to illness. When I went home I had the district nurses who taught me to inject myself in the stomach area with Clexine for 28 days.”
Sandra is now recovering at home.