I DON'T BELIEVE IT!!

Why him? I hear you ask.
And what sort of time is that to be posting on her blog? You might also be asking....

Well, listen up and all will become clear.

At about 3:50 pm on Wednesday, B decided to take her temperature as she felt a bit flushed. The benchmark is 37 C. It was high. It was high the time after that and the time after that too.

That's bad cos it means there is a risk of infection and she may need lots of intravenous antibiotics in a protected environment.

She rang the Oncology team at St Georges who said "Come in to A&E. Wave your "I'm a chemo queen" discount card and you'll be fast tracked". I met her at 5:50 at A&E (I'm doing a short contract at St Georges) and sure enough she was triaged, cubicled and seen by the Oncology SHO pretty quickly. They said (eventually) that she'd have to stay in - and got her started on IV antibiotics.

The trouble was it was 9:45 before they decided to move her to a ward. Nearly three hours in with the coughs, sneezes, vomiting masses. When we got the ward, the bed manager had not specified a side ward even though she was suspected of having an infection and needing extra protection.

The Bed Manager was challenged (brilliantly) by a staff nurse but said the 2 (apparently free) side wards were needed so B was wheeled back to A&E where we sat, she getting hotter and hotter and more and more irritated - and then angry - before they finally moved her to a bed they'd known about for about an hour (wait for it) ON THE ONCOLOGY WARD!!! I left her at 11:40 finally receiving the care her condition was supposed to ensure comes as a priority.

I am (and I hate to say this) absolutely fuming at the incompetence. The process was totally inadequate and inept - and when I get in tomorrow I'm emailing my thoughts to the Chief Executive cos I've had enough.

M'off now. More tomorrow :o(