Please can someone who works in an NHS hospital explain one thing to me? Why do you take my medicines I’ve brought from home and lock them away? Seriously, how does this help anyone? How does this help the staff and, most importantly, how does this help the patients feel like they have any kind of control over their healthcare and recovery? All of the dosage amounts have been agreed on and checked by specialists in their field with years of training about specific conditions.
The times to take these medicines have been agreed after a lot of consultation with my GPs. So why oh why does someone in a hospital think they can take years of work away just because they have a key to a cabinet? I thought I’d made progress during this stay at my “world-leading” cancer hospital. When I arrived at my ward on Monday afternoon I spoke to a doctor who checked through my bag of medicines and said she was happy to leave it with me.
Later that day a pharmacist came to scan all my drugs into the hospital’s system but also left them with me. So imagine my heartbreak when a night shift nurse gave me one tablet from my bag that evening and locked the rest away.
Why was it judged that I was only able to have one tablet when I would usually have at least five?
Who makes the decision at hospital to not ask the patient when they take their own medicines and to instead dish them out at random times?
Yes, I’m obviously a massive fan of having a drug that has the side-effect of making me sleepy just after breakfast instead of having it in the evening (like I would at home).
I’ve only seen a patient successfully have control of a drug once. He had Parkinson’s and explained that he had to take his first pills of the day at 7.30am and would protest in various ways if the staff tried to take his medication away from him.
All of the other patients on the ward, including someone whose left leg was broken in several places, was willing to fight the staff to ensure the man was able to take his drugs at the times he needed them and thankfully he won the battle.
I’m very relaxed about most things in hospital but it does really annoy me when my things are taken from me and locked away.
I wouldn’t mind so much if I was given the medicines at the times I’m used to taking them. Or even if I was asked at what times I usually take them.
When I was first diagnosed with cancer back in the summer of 2023 I was given a Radar key so I could use disabled toilets. What I’d really like this year is a key to access my medicines in the cabinet which I can see, but can’t touch.
I’d also like you all to help the Daily Express’s Cancer Care campaign by signing our petition, to ensure all cancer patients get mental health support both during and after treatment.
It won’t help with my question about why medicines get locked away but it will help improve the lives of millions of people.