Undercover at City Hospital Page 4

‘A lot?’

  Heath gave a grim nod. ‘Enough for the police to be involved.’

  ‘Really!’ Bella’s eyes widened suitably.

  ‘All the staff were interviewed a few weeks ago and it seemed to settle down for a while, but it seems to have started again. That’s the reason Jayne was so worried this morning when the morphine was unaccounted for.’

  ‘You weren’t,’ Bella pointed out, watching his reaction as Heath gave an easy shrug.

  ‘Because there was a logical explanation. Last night was hell down here. I was called in at three a.m. because the department was stretched to its limits. It’s no wonder Bethany and Hannah didn’t get a chance to sign for the drug, and I certainly wasn’t about to see poor Hannah stuck here filling in an incident report after the night she’s had and Bethany hauled out of bed for a simple, honest mistake.

  ‘Anyway, it’s nothing for you to worry about. Just understand that people are a bit on edge at the moment and, for goodness’ sake, make sure you check and sign for everything.’

  ‘Well, thanks for explaining.’ Bella smiled, but any chance of prolonging the conversation had to be aborted when the senior consultant, Martin Elmes, walked in and Heath, who had been lounging on the couch, sat up just a touch straighter as his boss came over.

  ‘Sorry to do this at short notice, Heath, but would you mind giving the doctor’s talk this morning? I’ve got a slight touch of laryngitis.’

  ‘I’d be glad to.’ Heath beamed.

  ‘Nothing too in-depth. I know I haven’t given you much notice. Just something light and interesting, perhaps generate a discussion. I’d like to hear some of the new interns open up a bit, find out if we’ve actually taught them anything!’

  ‘No problem at all,’ Heath responded as Martin made his way out, the smile rapidly disappearing as the door closed. ‘I’ll give him bloody laryngitis,’ Heath mumbled.

  ‘His voice did sound a bit husky.’

  ‘Because he smokes a pack a day,’ Heath countered. ‘How the hell am I supposed to come up with something “light and interesting” on two hours’ sleep?’

  ‘You could have said no,’ Bella pointed out.

  ‘I don’t think so somehow.’ Heath gave a wry grin. ‘Not if I want to drop the acting part from my job title.’

  Bella gave a sympathetic groan as Heath stood up, recalling her own false enthusiasm when Eddie Bandford had first suggested this role. She watched as he drained his coffee in one gulp then stretched, not even attempting to cover a massive yawn before heading for the door.

  ‘I wonder how many more Celias there are out there?’ Bella called to his departing back.

  ‘Sorry?’ Clearly distracted, Heath flashed her an irritated look over his shoulder as he reached the staffroom door, no doubt wondering if this blessed nurse ever stopped to draw breath.

  ‘I was just sitting here wondering how many more patients there are ordering drugs from the internet or delaying coming to Emergency because they’re self-diagnosing on the net.’

  ‘Hundreds probably,’ Heath muttered, that hand raking through his hair again, those dark green eyes creasing endearingly as his mind ticked over. ‘Thousands even.’ A smile crept over his lips. ‘And if it does nothing else, erectile dysfunction always raises a smile.’

  ‘Light and interesting.’ Bella grinned back, picking up a magazine from the couch and settling in for the five minutes before she was due back on duty. And normally she’d have devoured it, normally she’d have flicked straight to the back and scanned the pages for her horoscope before turning to the fashion section, but instead she just held it, staring blankly at an ad for deodorant, feeling a vague fluttering in her stomach that hadn’t been there for almost as long as she could remember.

  She liked him.

  Really liked him.

  Liked the way he’d stood up to Jayne, liked the way he’d spoken to Celia, liked the way he’d put down his paper and spoken to her when all he’d clearly wanted to do had been to read…

  She really liked him.

  A trembling hand came up to her lips and Bella screwed her eyes closed for an uncomfortable moment, wishing she could somehow erase that thought, guilt stinging the edges. She didn’t want to like him, didn’t want to complicate her world that way. She was here to work not just one but two jobs, here to concentrate, to make sure the thief was caught. Heath might even be the thief.

  But all that she could deal with, all that she knew she could take in her professional stride…

  Her guilt was solely reserved for Danny.

  ‘Still no better?’ Bella asked sympathetically, checking Mr Evans’s blood pressure. She frowned in concern when he shook his head, his face screwed up in pain.

  ‘Maybe a little bit. That second injection you gave took the edge off a little, I guess.’

  ‘That was Voltaren—it’s an anti-inflammatory,’ Bella explained.

  The pethidine hadn’t helped at all, and after discussion with Jordan, the registrar who was looking after him, it had been decided to give the patient an anti-inflammatory. But Mr Evans was still in a lot of pain and clearly not in a fit state to go home. ‘The orthopaedic doctors are going to come and have a look at you, but in the meantime our consultant has decided to give you some more pethidine.’

  ‘It didn’t help at all.’

  ‘I know, but you are quite a solid build…’

  ‘That’s a polite way of putting it.’

  ‘Look, we’ll get a urine sample from you just to check there’s no renal damage.’

  ‘I already did one.’

  ‘Well, it can’t hurt to check again,’ Bella said in a matter-of-fact voice, producing a bottle from the side of the trolley for Mr Evans. ‘I’ll just wait outside.’

  ‘What’s going on?’ Heath asked as he strolled past, doing a double-take at the groans coming from behind the curtain.

  ‘He’s just doing a urine specimen, then I’m going to get him that pethidine.’

  ‘Jordan’s already said the urine’s clear,’ Heath answered briskly, clearly already versed in the case. ‘Come on, Bella, the guy’s in agony. Can we, please, just get him the pethidine that Jordan ordered and hopefully get on top of his pain some time today?”

  ‘Can you check it with me, then?’ Bella asked, ignoring his rather sarcastic comment. ‘Everyone else is tied up at the moment.’

  Heath’s drug checking wasn’t anywhere near as thorough as Jayne’s, tapping his foot impatiently as Bella counted the drugs, signing his name in an impatient flurry then practically galloping across the department to get the job done.

  ‘Let’s hope this helps,’ Bella said sympathetically as they rushed through the ID checks, Heath darting outside before the needle was even in the patient in a race to get back to wherever he might be needed.

  ‘There’s that specimen you asked for.’ Ben gestured to the bottle on the locker by the trolley. ‘I couldn’t do much, I’m afraid. Will there be enough?’

  ‘I’m sure there’ll be plenty.’

  CHAPTER FIVE

  ‘SHOULDN’T you be at home?’

  Rummaging through her bag for a stethoscope, bracing herself for her second day on duty, Bella caught sight of Hannah puffing on a cigarette in the tiny courtyard outside the staffroom. Pushing open the door, Bella popped her head around.

  ‘I should be, but I just wanted to have a word with Heath when he arrived about Mrs O’Keefe. I promised the poor woman at midnight we’d soon have her vomiting under control, and the poor thing’s only just stopped retching.’

  Bella gave a sympathetic smile, perching herself on the white plastic seat opposite and deciding that, given the department was quiet, no one would miss her for five minutes or so and to spend that time trying to get to know Hannah a little bit better. ‘She’s the woman with the breast cancer and secondaries in her lung.’

  ‘Poor darling.’ Hannah nodded. ‘She’s just finished her final round of chemotherapy and has come over from Ireland with her children
to spend some time with her sister. Dr Jenkins, the oncologist, has told her that she ought to think about going back to Ireland early.’

  ‘He’s discharged her back home to her sister’s, hasn’t he?’ Bella checked. ‘Her husband’s just taken the tram home to fetch the sister’s car.’

  ‘He has.’ Hannah grimaced. ‘But I’m still hoping we can do something more for her. She’s only forty-five, the same age as Ken. My husband,’ Hannah added, by way of explanation. ‘He’s got MS.’

  ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘Not half as sorry as I am. He’s a miserable old git at times.’ Hannah gave a wry smile. ‘But I love him to bits.’

  ‘Is that why you do nights?’ Bella ventured. ‘So that you can spend the days looking after him?’

  ‘Heavens, no!’ Stubbing out her cigarette, Hannah rolled her eyes. ‘I do nights purely for the extra money. Ken’s pretty right during the day, he’s got the district nurse coming in, and a couple of days a week he goes to a support group at the community center. I hate leaving him in the evening. It’s the one time of the day we can actually forget for a little while that he’s got MS. The nights I’m off we sit in bed watching a movie, drinking hot chocolate…’ She gave a fond smile. ‘Mr O’Keefe just struck a chord with me. Apparently her specialist wasn’t very hopeful about his wife’s chances. She hasn’t had a follow-up CT scan yet but I think deep down he knows that she might only have a few weeks left and he just wants them to be as normal as possible for her and to really enjoy this holiday. He wants her to be able to have an ice cream with her daughter, take her along the pier in her wheelchair. It shouldn’t be too much to ask.’

  ‘It shouldn’t,’ Bella agreed. ‘But at least they’ve stopped the vomiting.’

  Hannah shook her head. ‘For now. They’ve given her some Kytril.’ She watched as Bella frowned at the unfamiliar name. ‘It’s an anti-emetic and,’ she added, ‘a wonder drug at times, it can eliminate nausea and vomiting in some cancer patients, you wouldn’t know it unless you worked on the oncology wards. It costs a lot of money and Dr Jenkins has given her a script for it, but there’s no way they can afford to get it dispensed and their insurance doesn’t even begin to cover it. Apparently they had a lot of trouble getting travel insurance to come away and anything related to her cancer treatment isn’t covered. I asked Dr Jenkins if we could get a course dispensed from the hospital pharmacy, at least enough to get her home, but he said no.’ Hannah gave a tired sigh. ‘I can understand where he’s coming from, of course, there have to be guidelines and we can’t just give expensive drugs out like lollies, but it just seems such a shame, that’s all. I guess it all comes down to money in the end.’

  ‘So what can Heath do?’ Bella asked.

  ‘Bend the rules.’ Hannah shrugged. ‘He’s a good egg usually. I know a few people would say otherwise…’ She smiled at Bella’s obvious curiosity. ‘He went a bit off the rails when his wife left him. Stood on more than a few toes around the department.’

  ‘In what way?’

  ‘He forgot that there isn’t the letter “I” in the word “team”. He’d been turned down for the consultant’s position and took every available opportunity to prove what a mistake they’d made.’

  ‘Heath?’ Bella checked, surprise evident in her voice.

  ‘You know how fragile men’s egos are.’ Hannah winked. ‘His wife had left him and I guess Heath thought his career was in the toilet…’

  ‘I hear that you’re after my wallet!’ Bella jumped as Heath came to join them outside. His blond hair was damp, undoubtedly from his shower, and a heavy waft of the aftershave he didn’t believe in rationing preceded him. ‘Is it for Jim’s leaving present?’

  ‘I’d forgotten about that.’ Hannah fished in her bag and pulled out a rather tatty brown envelope. ‘I’m actually struggling a bit with this. I think people gave a lot for Dr Ramirez’s present when he went on extended leave. Jim’s our night porter,’ Hannah added for Bella’s benefit. ‘He’s part of the furniture actually. He’s been here for forty years, since the very first day the department opened!’

  ‘Here.’ Peeling a very generous note from his wallet, Heath dropped it in. Hannah duly noted it on the front as Heath went to go, but Hannah halted him.

  ‘It wasn’t actually Jim’s present that I wanted you for, Heath.’

  ‘Why don’t I like the sound of that?’ Pulling up a chair, he sat down. Glancing at her watch, Bella knew that she really ought to be heading outside, but this was exactly the type of conversation she needed to listen to and, deciding to risk Jayne’s wrath, chose instead to stay. ‘Is there a problem with Ken?’

  ‘For once, no.’ Hannah smiled at Bella, still taking care to include her in the conversation. ‘I’ve called on poor Heath for a few favours in my time. Actually, it’s about Lucy O’Keefe, the terminal patient in cubicle four.’

  ‘I’ve just spoken to Dr Jenkins about her. She’s going back to her sister’s, isn’t she?’

  ‘With a script for Kytril that she can’t afford.’ Hannah stared almost defiantly at Heath. ‘There’s a drug that works for the poor woman and we can’t give it. It’s the same with Ken…’

  ‘Let’s not get onto a cannabis debate,’ Heath groaned, and from the way he said it Bella had the feeling it wasn’t the first time they’d discussed it. Legalizing cannabis for treatment in terminal patients and certain diseases was a topic that reared its head every now and then but, despite common consensus that it did have some merit, currently in Australia it was still illegal. ‘They are doing trials in New South Wales, Hannah, but at the moment it’s still an illegal drug and you and I alone aren’t going to change that fact!’

  ‘Even though it works for MS patients,’ Hannah responded hotly. ‘Even though it’s the one thing that actually gives my poor Ken…’ Her voice trailed off, but Bella’s ears were agog! That innocent cup of cocoa in bed with Ken at night was taking on a whole new slant now!

  ‘Let’s keep to the point,’ Heath said gently, but Hannah had the bit between her teeth now.

  ‘The point is, Heath, there is a legal proven drug that can help this woman, give her a chance to finish her holiday, have a few more dignified days with her family before she heads back to the UK to die, and because of budgets and bureaucracy all we can give her is a single dose. Lucy could bend the rules. She could come back every blessed day vomiting her head off and you know as well as I do that we’d have to give it to her.’

  ‘No doubt you’ve told her that.’

  ‘I have,’ Hannah admitted. ‘But unlike some of the timewasters we see in this department, hospital is the last place poor Mrs O’Keefe wants to be. If you write the script on the back of the casualty card, we can get it dispensed…’

  ‘And the emergency budget will have to cover it,’ Heath pointed out. ‘There have to be limits, Hannah.’

  ‘Do you think I don’t know that, Heath? I work within the rules four nights a week, but you know as well as I do that every now and then…’

  ‘We break them.’ Heath finished for her, but Hannah refused to buy it.

  ‘I’m not asking you to break the rules, Heath, just bend them a bit.’

  Letting out a sigh Heath read through Doctor Jenkins notes carefully before pulling out his pen and writing the scrip on the back of the casualty card. As straightforward as it might have looked, Bella knew it wasn’t an easy choice. Every last cent had to be accounted for and Heath would be questioned for this later, but at the end of the day the three people sitting at the table knew he was doing the right thing. ‘I’ll give her ten days’ supply, but no more, Hannah. Pharmacy isn’t open till nine so I’ll have to ring the on-call pharmacist and explain, and no doubt he’ll want a registered nurse to go and collect them.’

  ‘I’ll go,’ Bella offered.

  ‘Well, dodge Jayne,’ Heath warned. ‘She’s like a bear with a sore head lately. You’d think it was coming out of her own purse sometimes.’

  ‘And watch your back.’
Hannah laughed, clearly elated that Heath had listened to her plea and gone that extra mile. ‘I might just mug you on the way back. They’d more than pay for my car battery.’

  Wandering through to pharmacy, Bella was met by the grid-iron roller doors and pushed the intercom button, giving her name and department, before the iron rollers were lifted and a pharmacist who actually looked like a pharmacist unlocked the door, peering over his half-rimmed glasses at her, grey hair sticking up all over the place.

  ‘This is for the doctor’s mother, I assume?’

  ‘Excuse me?’ Sure she’d misheard, Bella frowned in confusion.

  ‘Or is he just a really nice guy?’

  Realizing he was referring to the rather generous prescription, Bella gave a nod. ‘The latter, at least I think that’s the case, but this is only my second day.’

  ‘Well, don’t just stand there—come through.’ He waved cheerfully and Bella smiled at his slight eccentricity, waiting patiently as he locked the doors behind them. ‘Ignore the mess. I’m afraid we can’t get the staff these days.’

  He wasn’t joking. Bins were overflowing and the floor was sticky as Bella walked along.

  ‘As it’s only me here, you’ll have to check them with me,’ the mad pharmacist called out to her, jangling keys and pulling open cupboards as Bella peered around, realizing in an instant why no drugs went missing from Pharmacy. Everything was behind metal grids, not a single pill or ampoule in sight, and the pharmacist carefully locked the cupboards behind him before bringing the precious cargo over.

  ‘Sit down,’ he said. ‘I’ll need you to sign for them. ‘OK, Kytril tabs…’ he said, as Bella sat down. Peeling open the box, he showed her the contents and Bella nodded her agreement, signing on the page he offered. ‘I need your initials here as well.’ Peeling off a label, they both initialled it, before it was stuck on the box.

  ‘Signed and sealed,’ the pharmacist boomed, handing over the box.

  ‘Well, then, I’d better deliver it.’