The London Clinic — Local services in London

A while back, my father was treated at The London Clinic — specifically at their Hematology department — and to this day, I remain disgusted by the way we were treated. The overall attitude toward us was cold, dismissive, and at times felt outright racist. We were treated differently than other patients—especially locals. What’s listed below are just some of the unacceptable things we experienced there. I’m sharing this so people—especially Arabs and those from GCC countries—can know the truth behind the polished image this clinic presents

My father brought chocolates to the nurses as a kind gesture. One of them responded with, “We actually want money. That’s what the other Arab patients give us.” That sentence told me everything about how this hospital sees Arab patients—as price tags, not people. What’s worse is how comfortable she was saying it out loud. It was disgusting.

My father’s condition required regular blood transfusions in order for him to stay alive. Despite that, he was repeatedly given blood that was about to expire the next day, while I saw other patients receiving much fresher units. Blood that’s about to expire requires more frequent transfusions, and I can’t help but feel this was deliberate. It felt discriminatory, exploitative, and as if we were simply seen as a revenue stream.

When his condition worsened and we went to the ER, we waited over three hours before they started the transfusion. He was visibly unwell and was later moved to the ICU. The delay was unacceptable—especially for someone in his condition. And this wasn’t the first time—on multiple occasions, they made him wait over three hours, fully aware he was a high-risk patient who literally needed blood to survive.

After he was transferred to the ICU, I was told to wait in the family area and that someone would come get me once he was stabilized. I waited more than an hour, not knowing if he was okay or if I’d ever see him again. No one came. The only reason I was finally let in was because he—barely conscious—asked for me. When they brought me in, they casually admitted they had forgotten I was even there.

Later that night, I called to ask how he was doing. Someone from ICU who answered the phone cut me off and said, “We already told you, we don’t know if he’ll get better” then added something like, “Don’t call us,” and hung up. He didn’t give me the chance to say a single word. Every time I tried to speak or ask questions during our visits, I was treated like an inconvenience. Most of the time, they acted as if I wasn’t even there or assumed I didn’t speak English.

One of the doctors, who wasn’t his primary physician, was consistently cold and visibly frustrated with my father—even when my father wasn’t doing anything at all. He spoke to him with an irritated tone every single time, and once even raised his voice while my father was in visible discomfort. That attitude wasn’t new—it was how he always was with him.

This is some of what we went through in this hospital. What they offer isn’t care — it’s business, and bad business at that. Cold, transactional, and utterly lacking in...

Disgusting treatment. It took them 5 days to diagnose me with an ovarian torsion, and they might not have even done so if it weren’t for my insistence that they do not discharge me as I knew there was something really wrong, but they threatened to 'if I do not co-operate', even though my only refusal was to multiple blood tests, which at the end of the day ended up being useless, as I predicted, as I reasonably told them that even if the blood tests suggested an imbalance, only a scan could confirm it, and that blood test results don't change on a daily basis if the symptoms do not. I requested an iron supplement, which they refused even though I said I had anemia, and this is literally available in drugstores, so they had no real basis to refuse it (but were happy to feed me multiple opiates like oxycodone). As I said, only an MRI scan confirmed my symptoms. Up until then, they didn’t believe me and even took me off opioids when I was in the most devastating excruciating pain, and was screaming in agony for countless hours for days, and if no one knows what the pain of an ovarian torsion is like, it is 20x worse than childbirth. The night doctor alia saw me screaming, and shouting in pain for hours and actually seemed to find it entertaining and kept smirking whilst being practically useless saying she couldn't give me anything. When I was out of surgery, I was in a lot of pain, and tried telling the doctors, but they were speaking and joking among each other while I was asking them questions (they were blatantly ignoring me and seemed to have literally no interest in comforting me, or talking to me). I refused another cannula, and the doctor in the ICU put it in while I was sleeping, and put it in incorrectly, and that area was sore for days. One of my blood tests was taken incorrectly and caused a blood clot due to which I couldn't move my arm for 3 weeks. This literally goes against my human rights. I requested ketamine or another milder analgesic instead of the harsh opiates (that ended up causing me faecal impaction), but they refused claiming it was 'worse', when this is simply not possible. Further to this, those painkillers did not even help, and what did was ketamine, which they gave me once and then took away again?? I was sent home with no painkillers, no meds to help me sleep etc. which is practically the norm as the doctor who was treating me didn’t ’believe in them’, even though the nurse promised me that he could definitely make that happen. I couldn’t sleep for days after getting home. A nurse actually thought it would be okay to call me ‘incredibly difficult’ and had no answer for me when I asked how, when I had been nothing but kind and respectful other than reject a blood test as my arm was especially sore. The London...

During my visit 12- 5pm Monday Oct 28 I've had a very BAD experience and need to share details as below :

20 CHECK-IN All paperwork said 20 but when arrived they couldn't find me so sent to 22? They found it amusing, I didn't. I was already nervous and they made it worse.

22 CHECK-IN Really disorganised man on desk, poor communication skills, not friendly. Seemed like a security guard. Found my details and took me upstairs finally.

IN ROOM NURSE Very nice but made too many mistakes, was just not professional or qualified.

Missed up my intolerance for aspirin with an allergy to penicillin! Said it was fine but had me worried the whole day so I had to keep telling everyone to be sure.

Had no idea what surgery I was having and even when I told her more than once kept forgetting.

Can't she READ my chart? Or read in general?

Has no idea how to adjust the bed, I had to help her.

When ready to leave she tried to take out my IV, insisting I had one which I didn't!

IN ROOM MEALS My husband's meal came promptly and I was told very clearly and repeatedly when I was back from my surgery mine would be waiting.

It was not and waited nearly 1 hour having to chase up over and over. I'd not eaten since Sunday early evening and my blood sugar was very low, was not even considered!

Don't even THINK of billing me nor my insurance company for that meal!

PHARMACY I was cleared by nurse to leave but then told my doctor had added on a "prescription" I needed to wait for, this was untrue! I was forced to wait over 90 minutes having to ask the staff over and over to chase the pharmacy.

When it finally arrived it was NOT a prescription at all but an over the counter saline rinse which I can get at boots or Sainsbury's! Ridiculous.

The nurses keep blaming my doctor for making me wait. Very unprofessional and also dishonest, he had nothing to do with the problem with the pharmacy.

22 CHECK-IN (again same rude stupid man)

Asked to pay for the saline wash and had no idea what I was talking about, told me to goto 20. I just had surgery obviously so gave him the wash back and said 3 times I don't want it. He kept barking at me from across the lobby rudely. He has NO idea what he's doing nor should be dealing with patients.

Again don't even THINK of billing me or my insurance for this saline wash, he had it when I left so his problem.

MY doctor and his team in theatre did a good job but YOUR team and the rest of the clinic did not!

Surgery is stressful and mine very painful and YOUR staff just made it worse - the opposite of their jobs.

I'm VERY disappointed and disgusted with the whole experience.

I would like a formal apology in writing and those...