7:22am Wednesday 14th December 2005
By Matt Hemley
A WOMAN forced to wait two days for an emergency operation says a cash-strapped NHS is to blame for her horrific ordeal.
Claire Docherty, 21, says she spent 48 hours "screaming in agony" because the ailing West Herts Hospital Trust did not have the facilities or staff to carry out a ten-minute operation.
She said a cyst the size of a small football in her vagina caused so much pain that she tried to knock herself out and begged a nurse to suffocate her.
She said: "I think an animal would have been treated better than I was. I have never been in so much pain."
Ms Docherty, a journalist, said her ordeal began when she noticed a lump on her vagina two weeks ago.
Her GP told her it could be an ingrowing hair, but when the lump continued to grow, she suspected she may have a cyst on the entrance to her vagina.
Despite telling her GP she thought this was the problem, Ms Docherty was prescribed anti-biotics and sent away.
By Friday, December 2, the pain was so bad that she was rushed to A&E by her partner, Daniel Marchant. Ms Docherty, who lives in Malden Road, Watford, said: "I cannot describe the pain I was in. I couldn't walk and I couldn't bend my leg."
Ms Docherty was seen by staff in A&E who rushed her to a gynaecology ward, where she was told she would be operated on that night.
Having waited two hours for a spare bed, Ms Docherty was then told her operation had been put on hold.
According to staff, the hospital only had one operating theatre open and one anaesthetist working, who was busy attending someone else.
Despite being in agony, nurses could not prescribe her anything stronger than paracetamol until a doctor had assessed her the following morning.
When the on-duty anaesthetist was called away to deal with another patient on Saturday, Ms Docherty was made to wait another night in pain.
Other setbacks, including lack of post surgery recovery beds, meant Ms Docherty's operation did not take place until the evening of Sunday, December 4.
She said: "By this time, I was screaming the house down. I was in unbearable pain. The cyst was the size of a small football."
Even when Ms Docherty had been operated on, the problems did not stop. When Mr Marchant came to visit her on the morning of Monday, December 5, he was shocked to find her lying in a bed of puss and blood. He had to clean her up and ask for fresh bedding.
Ms Docherty said: "The NHS system is disgusting. There were so many things that went wrong, right down to when I first saw the GP.
"This is not the fault of the staff at Watford General Hospital, they did everything in their power. They are being told to cut back and they don't have the resources to cope."
A representative for the West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust said: "When an emergency patient is admitted to a ward, they are clinically assessed and prioritised by a doctor and the appropriate care is undertaken.
"Because Watford General Hospital receives emergency cases it is sometimes the case that patients do have to be re-prioritised owing to more urgent cases being admitted. It would appear regrettably this was the case with regard to Ms Docherty.
"While we cannot comment on individual cases, patients do have clean linen before and after surgery. Patients would also be assessed by the nursing staff and offered assistance with personal hygiene if required.
"We have a dedicated theatre at weekends for emergencies with anaesthetic staff on duty to cover theatres, ITU and maternity.
"We also have an on-call clinical team which would cover all major emergencies.
"If Ms Docherty would like to discuss any issues regarding her care, she can contact the Quality Assurance Department which will fully investigate her concerns in detail."
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk