health

Three years ago, I went to the hospital for a pain I’d been dealing with for a couple of years. They tried all sorts of treatments, but nothing worked, and eventually they decided I might need some kind of intervention. I figured this out when they handed me a piece of paper outlining the procedure, along with some horrendous side effects. I felt I had no choice, but I hoped they’d explain more about the situation and the treatment. No one really told me anything beyond what was on that paper. I was in pain and felt stuck, so I went ahead with it. When I got home, the side effects hit me hard — they were awful. The treatment temporarily made me weakly incontinent, which was a horrific experience. You take control of your body for granted, and then suddenly it’s gone. If I’d been given proper information about what to expect, I might have coped better. Instead, I was caught short in all sorts of places, which was frightening, and I started to worry it might never end. No one reassured me, and to this day, I still have anxiety about incontinence because it was so traumatic.

I’m angry they didn’t properly warn or explain the consequences — it felt like they just wanted to get the needle in and see what happened. Today, I had an appointment with someone from the same department, and I told them I’m still struggling with the side effects, but I’m not sure it made any difference.

I don’t know if the poor service I received is down to the fact the health board has been a mess from day one and that the Labour government won’t sort it out. There’s an election soon, and hopefully whoever takes charge will fix it. It’s not right that people here have to put up with poor healthcare just because the government can’t be bothered or doesn’t know how to fix things.

The health board is in the news for the wrong reasons most weeks, and it must cost a fortune to cover all these mistakes. I think the problem comes down to the sheer size of the structure. Betsi cadwalader is just too big.