An ex-army paramedic and policeman from Street was left in pain for 20 hours with a blocked catheter at Yeovil District Hospital until his bladder eventually burst, he claims.

Kenrick Fearn, 44, had to leave the army after suffering a spinal injury.

He was made a sergeant at 22 and went to Sandhurst at 23, spending 10-and-a-half years as a paramedic in the army before having to leave as a result of a back injury.

He served in Ireland between 1987 and 1989 and was on the New Year's Honours list twice for bravery.

After leaving the army Mr Fearn joined the Surrey police force but his back injury flared up three-and-a-half years later when he tackled a car thief and he was forced to give up work.

He has undergone surgery on his spine several times and lost the use of his right leg when his sciatic nerve was injured during an operation. His condition has deteriorated and in November he was admitted to Yeovil District Hospital for stomach surgery.

What should have been a one-hour key hole surgery procedure turned into a six-hour major abdominal operation. The next day he was moved to the surgical ward but says he was left in a side room on his own with no buzzer or pain relief for an hour.

Mr Fearn said: "I had to phone my wife at home from my mobile to get her to call the hospital and ask a nurse to bring me painkillers. I was in agony.

"They denied I was there. My wife spent 15 minutes trying to convince them that I was in a side room and eventually someone found me."

Mr Fearn had to be re-admitted 36 hours after being discharged because of complications.

He said his stomach had been disturbed, causing the bag to flood and he had become dehydrated.

Once admitted, he said he was given the wrong drip – potassium instead of saline.

Mr Fearn said: "It could have killed me. It was only because of the taste in my mouth and my paramedic training that I recognised the mistake and switched off the drip myself."

He claims his stomach bag burst while he was in the hospital and he was left covered in the contents for more than an hour, until his wife arrived and changed him.

He said he called her for help at 6.15am as the nurses were too busy to clean him up. She had to drive all the way to the hospital from Street before going to work.

Two days later Mr Fearn had to return to the hospital again when his stomach wound opened up. The hospital discovered a staple had been left in the wound which had not been noticed by nurses who had been changing the dressing.

On Boxing Day morning Mr Fearn's catheter blocked several times.

He went to Yeovil Accident and Emergency department who said it was fine and flushed it out on two separate occasions.

Mr Fearn said: "I told them I know it's not fine. I've had the catheter for several months."

He returned to the hospital a third time on the same day in acute pain and was admitted.

He said he was not given an orthopaedic bed despite his spinal and reflux problems even though there was one available.

Mr Fearn said: "I was left for 20 hours, crying my eyes out in agony, until my bladder finally burst. I thought I was going to die. I said a prayer – God kill me now or cure me – and moments later my bladder burst."

According to Mr Fearn there was no urologist present in the hospital at the time.

He said he was seen by five consultants at Yeovil District Hospital who failed to identify the cause – a blocked catheter.

Mr Fearn said: "The surgeon and several of the staff at Yeovil were brilliant but things break down as soon as you go on to the ward."

A spokeswoman for Yeovil District Hospital said: "We are sorry Mr Fearn is unhappy with some of his treatment. However we would like to reassure him that his potassium levels were checked regularly during his stay and at no time where they abnormal. We would also point out that Mr Fearn's bladder did not burst.

"We have not received a formal complaint from Mr Fearn. If we do we will of course investigate his other concerns to see if there was any more the hospital could have done to make his treatment more comfortable."

Mr Fearn's wife, Rachel, said: "We did not make a formal complaint because we were struggling to get over what he had just been through and cope with daily life."

Mr Fearn said he reported several incidents to the matron but received no response.

He added: "Something needs to be done to make sure more people don't suffer from this repeated failure of treatment."