"Left in a very vulnerable position"

My mother was admitted to the Neurological ward for an operation on their pituitary gland as treatment for Cushings Disease. She was transferred to ICU and several of her personal belongings were lost including pyjamas, phone charger and medications which she had been instructed to bring. It took 3 attempts to get these personal belongings back. Her stuff was in several different parts of the ward. Some staff were quite abrupt, and I was thankful that an ICU nurse had accompanied me to fetch her belongings.

Originally, she was supposed to be in hospital for approximately 10 days but was discharged home after 6, even though she had vomiting and diarrhoea, not eating well and was leaking fluid from her nose. After two days her GP suggested we contact her consultant as they were concerned about the fluid still leaking from her nose and she was still very sick and not eating. She was admitted back into hospital where it was confirmed she had a csf leak which required further surgery.

Unfortunately, my mother collapsed when attempting to go to the toilet herself and it was confirmed she had acquired C-diff from her stay in hospital and was not fit for the operation at that point. She was also complaining of pain in her leg which wasn’t investigated for 4 days. They eventually performed an ultrasound and said she didn’t have a dvt. It was also suggested that she may have had a clot in her lungs due to her deterioration and that she had become oxygen dependent. For whatever reason the decision was made to perform the operation to seal the csf leak. While in recovery she had more symptoms of an arterial clot in the leg. This resulted in emergency surgery where the vascular surgeon confirmed it was due to a pre-existing clot and not a new clot that had resulted due to the operation to repair the csf leak.

She was transferred to ICU where after approximately 48 hours it was deemed necessary for amputation of the leg. My mother waited a further 27 hours for the emergency operation to amputate her leg to be carried out which has resulted in more leg needing to be amputated than originally thought.

She was transferred to the vascular ward where she went on to develop hospital acquired pneumonia. She was then transferred from the vascular ward to the diabetic and endocrinology ward where she has now caught covid-19. The hospital ward hasn’t rang us to tell us that she has been moved again and my mum had to ask what ward she was in. Again, on transfer another phone charger has been lost which we have had to replace, as this is our only means of communication due to mum having covid and us no longer being able to visit.

The various hospital wards my mother has been in have all had serious issues. I found it extremely difficult to speak to someone regarding her medical care. My mum was very depressed and distraught. I placed a call with the patient liaison officer to have her doctor ring me to discuss and to date I still have not received a call back. I did speak with the ward sister and they stated that there are no beds available to enable mum to transfer to another non covid ward, she was feeling completely deflated and isolated.

They also suggested that my father and I should visit mum, I find quite shocking given how transmissible covid-19 is. I have had cancer and my husband is diabetic and my father being a vulnerable adult so this is not an option for us.

We found the neurological ward to be understaffed and at one point a nurse handed me bedclothes for me to change my mothers hospital bed myself unassisted. The ward was dirty and unkempt with used cotton swabs with blood on the floor.

The vascular ward was again dirty and a urine sample bottle lay on the floor for 4 days before being lifted meanwhile patients were not receiving adequate care. The water jugs and cups were not cleaned and were not changed regularly, and bed sheets were not changed frequently. At one point a nurse removed a used incontinence pad from my mother and placed it on top of her hospital locker and left it there.

In the diabetic and endocrine ward my mother waited 45 minutes to be assisted to the toilet and was asked if she take long as the nurse wanted to leave her on a bed pan until they came back from lunch. There also was an instance where a nurse stuck a sterile dressing to their tunic before placing over an iv cannular. They were also not wearing gloves, nor did they wash her hands before or after working with my mother.

The standard of care has been extremely lacking and communication with us has been non-existent. When I have asked for an update on my mother’s situation, I have been told no doctor is available and that they were required to ask my mother’s permission before they could speak to me. The staff in charge cannot tell me whether the forms have been completed by a social worker to get mum to a rehabilitation centre. When I tried to speak with the amputee co-ordinator, they said they couldn’t help me as mum isn’t under a vascular ward any longer even though the rehabilitation is to do with her amputation.

The hospital didn’t even have a suitable wheelchair available for my mother to sit in, we have had to hire one from the Red Cross. We were told it will be 3 months before one will become available. My mother is no longer on these wards but is still undergoing care. We are unsure whether she will be sent to a rehabilitation centre but have had it suggested she could return home under myself and my fathers care.  I don’t feel that this is an option, as a family are left in a very vulnerable position.