We landed in London Heathrow at 10:10pm. By 10:30pm I had fallen and my foot was dangling off my leg. Excruciating pain of course. The police came as well as airport officials and called an ambulance for me. The police were extremely helpful and even took our luggage to our hotel for us as my husband wanted to go to the hospital with me. The ambulance took about an hour and 15 minutes to arrive. When they did arrive there were two individuals to transport me to the hospital. They were not EMT's and had no pain medication except for laughing gas. I was transported (basically the ambulance was just a transport service) to the closest hospital to LHR, which is a NHS rule. We were naive and gave this no thought. The hospital was Hillingdon Hospital.
We arrive at the hospital and are in the queue. I am not sure how long we waited honestly. I was eventually moved to a room that looked like a supply room. They put a light splint on my ankle and propped my leg up with a Depends box. Pain control was non existent and they continued with the laughing gas. They eventually added a 5 mg oral morphine every 4 hours. I was in extreme pain and they informed me that this was the amount of pain control the NHS allowed. I was in this supply room/ER room for approximately 13-14 hours.Time is all a bit of a blurr as my husband and I were both extremely sleep deprived. I had surgery the next day at about 4:00pn. My husband was told he could just go back to the hotel as there were no waiting rooms for family members. He was beside himself and walked the halls. After a couple of hours a nurse found a chair for him and told him he could sit outside the door of the operating theatre hall and the surgeon would talk to him after the surgery. This did not happen. He was not able to speak with the surgeon as he went home. I was moved to Med Surge which consisted of a 4 person room which was incredibly small and no privacy. My husband was informed visiting hours were over and made to leave. I was then in a room with 3 other people. One was hallucinating and screaming. The other two were confused elderly people. This was when I figured out I was in real trouble. I asked when I was going to be moved to my room. They informed me this was my room and that this was not the expensive American healthcare I was used to. Wowsa!! I was eventually moved as I became extremely upset and basically hysterical about 11:00 as the screaming continued and I absolutely could not sleep or rest. It was a nightmare. The staff were very angry and rude. I have a cochlear implant on one ear and a hearing aid in the other. I could not hear well and they refused to talk slowly or on my good side. I had to ask them to repeat themselves over and over which made them angrier. I have never been so scared in all of my life. I could actually go on and on. It was a complete nightmare. The hospital and equipment were archaic. When I finally was discharged they could not find a wheelchair to take me to the Uber my husband arranged. We waited about an hour. I finally got up and hopped out on this littlle walker they gave me. The lady about 2 feet from me in the med surge room was incontinent and her urine was seeping to my little area of the room. I couldn't take it any longer.
When looking at hospital reviews this hospital is a 2 star. I am not sure how I could have avoided it as the ambulances from LHR have to go there according to NHS rules. They have an office called Overseas Finances that is in charge of getting the tourists payment. Having Allianz Travel Insurance was the only bright point of this as they communicated directly with the Overseas office.They wanted a credit card. At discharge they also refused to send my records to my PCP as that department is 30 days behind in sending records. My husband went to Legal Services and they printed off some for him, but not the radiology reports which are the most important.
I am still in shock that tourists are unknowingly directed to this hospital and even more shocked that there is bad of a hospital in London. I no longer feel secure traveling internationally. I hope I get over it.
We arrive at the hospital and are in the queue. I am not sure how long we waited honestly. I was eventually moved to a room that looked like a supply room. They put a light splint on my ankle and propped my leg up with a Depends box. Pain control was non existent and they continued with the laughing gas. They eventually added a 5 mg oral morphine every 4 hours. I was in extreme pain and they informed me that this was the amount of pain control the NHS allowed. I was in this supply room/ER room for approximately 13-14 hours.Time is all a bit of a blurr as my husband and I were both extremely sleep deprived. I had surgery the next day at about 4:00pn. My husband was told he could just go back to the hotel as there were no waiting rooms for family members. He was beside himself and walked the halls. After a couple of hours a nurse found a chair for him and told him he could sit outside the door of the operating theatre hall and the surgeon would talk to him after the surgery. This did not happen. He was not able to speak with the surgeon as he went home. I was moved to Med Surge which consisted of a 4 person room which was incredibly small and no privacy. My husband was informed visiting hours were over and made to leave. I was then in a room with 3 other people. One was hallucinating and screaming. The other two were confused elderly people. This was when I figured out I was in real trouble. I asked when I was going to be moved to my room. They informed me this was my room and that this was not the expensive American healthcare I was used to. Wowsa!! I was eventually moved as I became extremely upset and basically hysterical about 11:00 as the screaming continued and I absolutely could not sleep or rest. It was a nightmare. The staff were very angry and rude. I have a cochlear implant on one ear and a hearing aid in the other. I could not hear well and they refused to talk slowly or on my good side. I had to ask them to repeat themselves over and over which made them angrier. I have never been so scared in all of my life. I could actually go on and on. It was a complete nightmare. The hospital and equipment were archaic. When I finally was discharged they could not find a wheelchair to take me to the Uber my husband arranged. We waited about an hour. I finally got up and hopped out on this littlle walker they gave me. The lady about 2 feet from me in the med surge room was incontinent and her urine was seeping to my little area of the room. I couldn't take it any longer.
When looking at hospital reviews this hospital is a 2 star. I am not sure how I could have avoided it as the ambulances from LHR have to go there according to NHS rules. They have an office called Overseas Finances that is in charge of getting the tourists payment. Having Allianz Travel Insurance was the only bright point of this as they communicated directly with the Overseas office.They wanted a credit card. At discharge they also refused to send my records to my PCP as that department is 30 days behind in sending records. My husband went to Legal Services and they printed off some for him, but not the radiology reports which are the most important.
I am still in shock that tourists are unknowingly directed to this hospital and even more shocked that there is bad of a hospital in London. I no longer feel secure traveling internationally. I hope I get over it.
