"I had to care for my husband at Lyell McEwin Hospital."

My husband was severely ill, he was taken into the Lyell McEwin Hospital by his specialist who I believe told the triage nurse what the problem was. I also believe he told her this was an emergency. When he left, I had to tell the triage nurse what the problem was, and then, in my opinion, she made my husband (who could barely stand & didn't seem to understand what was happening) get up & tell her what the problem was.

He was then taken into a cubicle which didn't seem clean, no pillow & left there. 5hrs later the first person came in to see him & asked what pain medication he had been given. When I told him "none", he asked again, telling me I hadn't understood what he was asking. He seemed to take blood & then left. During this time my husband "messed" himself, & I was left to get him to a shower, find a gown & get him back to his cubicle & find someone to help me change the sheets. About an hour later a specialist seemingly rushed into the room to draw fluid off my husband's stomach. I believe he gave him local anaesthetic & immediately started to push a large bore needle in & pretty much left me & a staff member to hold my husband down. We were then told a bed would be found for him.

He was moved from that side room & left in a cubicle next to paediatric emergency, for 36hrs, with babies constantly crying. From there he was taken to a "ward" (I suggest it was a converted day room) with no natural light & 12 other patients. At the time there was no shower in there & only 1 toilet, & it was behind a locked door. During this time it was left to me to request showers & we'd be taken to another area & left for a shower & were told "don't press the buzzer if there's problems, it's not connected to our area". After 5 days in this ward, I realized that it seemed that the other people who had all been in the same length of time hadn't been taken for showers because there seemed to be only ever 2 nurses to look after 13 patients in that ward. One woman was given a bowl to clean herself & as she moved next to her bed, the curtain kept opening.

Meals in this area also seemed to arrive cold & congealed, if he wasn't awake when they were delivered, I don’t believe he wasn’t wakened & they would often remove the food without him having woken. If he missed a meal like this, there was no food on the ward.

After he left, I put in a complaint to the hospital that took what I thought was ages to be replied to, with the answers being that they weren't worried about his eating because I was bringing food in (because he wasn't being fed there) & that there was now a shower in the area.