My husband underwent a Robotic Prostatectomy coming up on 2 weeks ago. The post operative care on his release from the hospital was a disgrace. Virtually no info at all. He was referred to an out of area hospital as unfortunately his local hospital is not yet using the robot. The care, support & understanding from our local hospital who did the biopsies, scans etc has been amazing. The Urology team have been exceptional. Not so the hospital he was referred to for his operation.
No education, no support from Urology nurses at this hospital. Any contact pre op was instigated always by us despite me informing them that when his op was delayed due to Covid how devastated he was. Still nothing. The attitude seems very much that the wife is superfluous. This was from the first pre op consult when the surgeon treated me dismissively. On op day obviously I could not be with him. My husband was missing for nearly six & a half hours & I had no idea what was going on with him. I was begging for information & the response from the ward was '' if anything had happened you would have known about it by now ''
I was a registered nurse for 34 years & the disgust I feel for this hospital & its staff are excessive. I had to seriously draw on my own knowledge & basically do this hospital's staff job for them.
First post op day my husband's wishes were argued with in that when the doctor went to see him, my husband said he was ringing me so I could hear the conversation. Three times the doctor said it was not necessary & argued with my husband, a man who was less than 24 hours from the op, highly medicated & all over the place.
On discharge no contact telephone number given if he needed advice. He was not shown how to give the blood thinning injections. Again I was trained how to do these fortunately. No date for removal of catheter, I basically had to fight over the telephone with one of the nurses to get him a date. Nothing given to help bowels. GP was horrified & immediately prescribed him a laxative. He was given Morphine liquid DESPITE the fact it seriously dropped his BP post operatively. I knew he should not have been given this because of the effects & again GP prescribed him something else. A week after being home he passed a lot of blood into catheter. I was very concerned as it was excessive & was concerned about the blood thinner he has daily. I rang this hospital & the operator had no idea who I should speak with & told me to call 111. I rang for an ambulance . The para medics were fantastic & said he needed assessment & took him to our local hospital. The care & attention was amazing from them. They immediately called the on call Urology doctor who came to my husband, thoroughly checked him with bloods, ecg & ultrasound of his bladder & gave him full explanations of what was happening & why.
The sparse info my husband received is appalling. Had I not been who I was & was not medically trained it would have been frightening. How others cope who have no medical background worries me. No advice given or any Instagel for soreness around catheter. Again I organised that.
To be blunt I would not let this hospital look at my dog now & thankful it is not our local one. The sooner my husband is transferred back to his local Urology team cannot come quick enough. I do not dispute the surgeons skill. He is supposed to be one of the best in the UK. However very badly let down almost to a point of neglect by where he works.
My husband is recovering ok. Very tired & drained & sleeps a lot. . Op sites all healed well & little discomfort & regained his appetite. Instagel gives him a lot of relief.
Edited by member 05 Apr 2021 at 14:42
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