I had to go to St. Barts because a glass jar shattered onto my foot and my toe would not stop bleeding. I arrive in the hospital with a makeshift bandage around 11pm. I check in and I tell reception I can't walk without getting blood everywhere. He did not seem to care and told me to sit down. Good thing my makeshift bandage was a huge red T-shirt.
I then go back into triage and someone looks at my toe. He takes off my bandage and tapes some gauze onto my toe. I tell him it doesn't bleed if I have it elevated but when I stand up and walk it will bleed and this will not be sufficient. I was ignored and was brought to the X-Ray area. I get out of X-Ray and notice my toe cut has bled through the gauze and I am now leaving bloody foot prints everywhere. Nobody in imaging cared I was getting blood everywhere and I went to some nurse down the hall to get a new bandage. She was very annoyed that I went to her and that she had to change my bandage. I told her I was getting blood everywhere and maybe I needed a wheelchair. She told me there was a shortage and I just had to deal with it.
Finally, I was given stitches. The doctor giving me stitches seemed to be a bit more sympathetic and was told he was looking for me and staff told him to follow "the bloody trail of foots prints". That was a bit funny, even though I was a bit sick at the thought of my blood being all over that particular wing of the hospital. I was embarrassed because people were noticing my blood and giving me dirty looks.
All in all this hospital does not care about sanitation. It is unacceptable to let patients walk around a hospital bleeding over every surface.
My husband had a heart bypass operation last week at St Bartholomew's. The operation went very well and he is now at home recovering. The consultant and all the doctors were fantastic, they explained what was going to happen and what did happen afterwards, they were very caring and informative. The nurses in the wards and in intensive care were very helpful and caring. In fact all the staff, as a team, provided excellent care and put us at ease it what was a worrying situation.
