The Royal London Hospital — Attraction in London

I recently visited Royal London Hospital due to intense stomach pain, following advice from both 111 and my local GP. My experience spanned over two visits in two days, and I feel compelled to share my journey.

First Visit: Upon my first visit, I was treated by a kind and considerate nurse who conducted a blood test. She consulted with a surgeon, who decided not to escalate my case since no abnormalities were found in my blood sample. However, a GP doctor present during my visit suggested that my symptoms might indicate gallstones and recommended an ultrasound. The surgeon advised me to arrange this through my GP and to return to the hospital if my pain worsened. Following this advice, I booked an ultrasound with my GP, scheduled for 5-6 days later.

Second Visit: Unfortunately, my pain intensified after just one night, becoming unbearable. I returned to the hospital despite it being a busy time, fully aware that I might face a 3-4 hour wait. The difference in treatment between my first and second visits was stark and disheartening.

From the start, the nurse during my second visit was rude and dismissive. She neglected my pain, suggesting it might be due to gas or acid reflax. After enduring the wait and undergoing another blood test, I began feeling extremely unwell and vomited twice in the hospital. Instead of empathy, the nurse handed me a napkin with my local pharmacy’s name and address, informing me that she had sent a prescription for acid reflux medication there as my blood results were fine and dismissed my case without further examination or explanation. I was at awe at her behaviour and wasn't able to comprehend how she conclude it to be acid reflax issue as she didn't know any of my past history. I am well aware of pain caused by acid reflax and have plenty of medicine at my disposal for those if needed. But I was 100% sure this wasn't related to acid reflax.

Her behavior was unprofessional and shocking. She refused to provide details about the prescribed medication. When I expressed my desire to discuss my condition with another medical professional, she curtly informed me that I was already discharged and she can't do anything. She was extremely rude and of poor manner. I met another person in the hospital while waiting and saw them leaving the hospital crying saying that they didn't provide further treatment.

Feeling furious and helpless, I approached the reception. The person there handed me a complaint leaflet but offered no further assistance. I was at shock and almost cried at the helplessness that they dismissed the pain in front of my eyes while I was feeling it as 10/10. I felt like if I died on the street they wouldnt even bother. I was regretting going there and at that point was considering going to another hospital. I went to another hospital and they considered my case and did find gallstone which needed a surgery. After spending whole day I had to wait for another 7-8 hours in this University college hospital.

It’s disheartening to be treated with such disregard, especially when in severe pain and distress. I hope the hospital takes feedback seriously and addresses the issues in their patient care procedures. If you are considering going there, please avoid or make sure to fight against...

On the 13/10/2021 my mother attended the RLH for day surgery to have a hiatus hernia repaired, she was in good health and suffered with no high risk factors other than her issues with the hernia. While in the hospitals care she contracted a virus/bug and this wasn’t picked up by them, she had to stay in over night due to her vitals being low. On the 14/10/2021in the early afternoon she was discharged and had to endure a long car journey home(over 40 miles as the consultant wouldn’t come to her local hospital which is where my mother should have gone)in discomfort. When she arrived back at home I was there to greet her and could see she was in a lot of pain. During a sleepless night she had sweating and complained about her breathing(which she told me over the phone while she was on the recovery ward that it was slightly shallow), these symptoms were taken as post surgery symptoms as the hospital gave no information on what to look out for, they also didn’t check her vitals before leaving the hospital, something I’m sure would have given an indication of her need for help. In the early hours of the 15/10/2021 around 18 hours after surgery she asked me to help change her nighty, while I was helping her she displayed confusion and said she couldn’t breath and felt as if she was going to faint, I told her to lean on me and in a beat she collapsed on the floor, I had to struggle and give her cpr while calling for an ambulance. The ambulance crew and air ambulance service worked on her for an hour but sadly she could not be revived… after weeks of her being with the coroner they confirmed she had died of acute respiratory failure caused by bronchial pneumonia(from whatever virus/bug my mother picked up from the hospital which with her immune system being low accelerated into BP), this caused her lungs not able to provide her body with oxygen and her heart went into cardiac arrest from working/struggling too hard. The hospital investigation took almost a year with them holding back paperwork and ultimately, not accepting liability. Their paperwork showed she was ok to be discharged, this is something I believe was not right. The media continues to report on failings nationally where the NHS and Trusts(in this case Barts)have failed patients with many different conditions, I believe the NHS is sadly full of people inadequate of doing the job and providing the proper care so many need. But things are being covered up. I believe the RLH killed my mother and they should have accepted their failure, because she deserved better. If you are attending this hospital I pray you don’t end up getting the same poor standard of care my mother did, something that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

The NHS is broken and part of that, is certain people working within it.

Rest in peace my...

My wife came into the A&E Monday with a bad cut from a fall. From being checked in, to waiting, to finally being seen and treated, the whole ordeal took about ten hours. To give them a little slack, they were busy, clearly shortstaffed, and we were informed that there is a strike of some kind going on; we're from the states so this wait time isn't uncommon to us, it'a just unfortunate that it was bad timing on our part. They treated us in the waiting room when her cut reopened, got into an exam room for a CT scan, and eventually stitched up in an actual room. It was a bit unfortunate that they told us to wait in the waiting room for discharge, but again... they were busy and short staffed, so I understand. The staff there were very nice to us and helped ease our anxiety on the whole situation, even though they were also dealing with other patients who were not so pleasant.

However... the follow up is why I'm inclined to write this review and give it a lower rating.

We were told to come back on Friday to ensure that my wife would be able to re-take her blood thinners in order to fly home on Sunday. We came back, and they were very confused as to why we were there because apparently we were supposed to get a telehealth call to follow up and not be charged for an in person visit. We were very grateful that they were doing that for us, but unfortunately... they never called us. We called them every few hours on Friday and Saturday and EVERY TIME we were given the runaround: doctors are too busy, doctors are changing, call back in about two hours, etc. We were even put on hold for almost an hour before it disconnected and no one had any idea we were on hold.

So we were put in a very hard scenario where we had to either continue to call and get ignored, or go to the hospital and be seen/charged for the visit for what would likely be a five minute conversation. We also told them the urgency of the situation as we were flying out Sunday, but it didn't seem to matter.

We thankfully ended up getting a hold of our actual doctor who was on call in the states and he gave us the medical advice we needed. We still have not received a call from the hospital and we fly out in about sixteen hours.

The past two days have been filled with so much anxiety and concern for absolutely no reason. All the doctor had to do was call us, ask a few questions, and give us their verdict. I would not have been opposed to doing an in-person visit in order to be sure, but we were reasuured that we would be getting a call and we never did.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that things are going to turn out okay for us, and whatever is going on with these strikes right now, because this was very disappointing and made an already stressful situation...