"I am very disappointed in the service that they gave"

In my experience, they have no idea of what they are doing. They came to see my mum to assess her for some equipment at home, she has Alzheimer’s and is very frail. Unfortunately she had had a fall and was up in bed when they came to visit.

My mum has various medical problems. One of which is COPD and chronic heart failure. They immediately looked at her and apparently did her observations and said her stats was 63% respirations were 50, called an ambulance. What they didn’t take into account is that my mum was laid down in the bed, all they had to do was sit her up. And she was fine.

I spoke to them on the phone and said this is normal for my mother, but they didn’t listen and sent her into hospital. In my view, they pressured my dad into making letting her go to hospital. She also had a TEP form that wasn’t taken into an account. The ambulance staff/paramedics didn’t want to take my mum in as she was fine, but they were told they would be complained about if they didn’t.

I saw my mother in the corridor and she was absolutely fine. In my view, they just didn’t want to do their job. My mum already had abnormal blood results. These didn’t change in hospital. She didn’t need to be there, taking up a bed. When she was discharged unfortunately we had to have that team back again.

The OT in the hospital was fantastic, arranged the bed and all the other equipment that was needed. They kept making an appointment and not showing up or telephoning us, when I rang them to ask why they kept doing that I was told my mother was not on their list, they seemed very defensive. As it turned out, my mother was on their list.

The carers that came to do the washes were fantastic, it was the other staff. Then someone came to look at my mum’s skin. My mum had a little bit of a cough, this member of staff said is that normal I said yes, it’s normal. I was out with my father and then they telephoned the doctors again to say that my mum had a respiration rate of 35 and sat low. The doctor spoke to my mother and said she was fine and then spoke to us. We told them this is what my mum‘s like.

It seems to me all they want to do is to send people back into hospital, not listen to the family. Don’t acknowledge when they went through my mum’s medical notes and then saying they weren’t even on the list, which when they were going through them breaks confidentiality at the least.

In my view, the OT nurses and physios do not know how to do their job on that team. They're meant to be about keeping people in their own home. That is not my interpretation from them.  I think that service needs overhaul because I believe they don’t know what they are doing. I was very disappointed and very angry with how we were treated. I don't feel we were listened to.

As for the two nurses or whoever they were that saw my mother the first time, I think they need re-training, as if someone had had respiration rate or 50 and saturations or 63 wouldn’t be conscious or barely conscious, this was not the case. I feel the undue stress that they put on myself and my father and other members of the family because of their actions have to have consequences and repercussions. 

I am very disappointed in the service that they gave. The only good thing was the carers that came in to help her have a wash. I think that’s all that team should be about, because it seems to me they clearly don’t want to help people. My mother was in hospital for just over a week because of them which didn't need to happen. Her blood tests  are still abnormal. so what did they achieve? Nothing.

I would never be able to recommend this service.