Kayleigh Isbell, 20, was rushed to Ipswich Hospital by ambulance after she started experiencing ‘horrible’ stomach pains at 11pm last Thursday.
She says paramedics handed her to A&E staff as ‘high risk’ yet after eight hours she was still to be seen by staff until a kitchen porter led her to the maternity ward.
Kayleigh Isbell, 20, was rushed to hospital by ambulance after suffering from ‘horrible stomach pain’ (Image: Contributed)
Miss Isbell said: “I was feeling frustrated, I was feeling very upset, anxious and I wanted to give up and go home, but I needed to know if my baby was okay.
“I had to push through and I had to stay there. They made me feel uncomfortable and made me feel like I didn’t matter.”
Miss Isbell – who is six weeks pregnant – spent five hours in A&E through the night without being seen before she took herself to the toilet to vomit.
With the pain worsening and after hours of pleading for painkillers, she was given paracetamol.
Ipswich Hospital is part of East Suffolk and North Essex Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) (Image: Newsquest)
But after seven hours of waiting, Miss Isbell and her boyfriend were told it would be another seven hours before they would be seen.
“I was screaming and crying, I couldn’t take anymore so I tried to take myself to the maternity ward.” Miss Isbell said.
“A kitchen porter found me crying and realised I was high risk and took me straight to the maternity ward.”
The maternity ward realised the urgent nature of Miss Isbell’s condition and began a number of tests.
They found that both her and her foetus were healthy and put the pain down to a large build-up of bowel gas.
Catherine Morgan. Chief Nurse and Director of Infection Prevention and Control at ESNEFT (Image: ESNEFT)
ESNEFT Chief Nurse Catherine Morgan said: “We were very sorry to learn about Miss Isbell’s experience in our emergency department at Ipswich Hospital.
“The concerns she and her partner have raised will go through our formal complaints process. Our teams will now investigate further.
“We will share the outcome of this investigation with Miss Isbell and Mr Arrowsmith as soon as it is complete. They will be fully involved with our findings.”