My mother was admitted to Oak Ward following a fall and diagnosis of a urinary tract infection. She's now been there for 2 weeks. They have been treating her for the UTI but neglecting the fact that she is experiencing severe pain in her abdomen. I told the night staff about this who gave her pain relief and promised to write some notes to pass on to the day staff as my mother is unlikely to complain of her pain - she doesn't want to cause any extra work for staff and doesn';t want to be a burden (typical of many people of her generation). I talked to the Doctor who apologised for the lack of communication and examined her. Doctor thought it was a prolapse and sever constipation - have an enema and arranged for Gynaecology to see her. This is now in hand but nobody this weekend could tell me anything at all. She's still in pain, is still constipated and could do with more pain relief and help to go the toilet. My experience has been that, when prompted, nurses will do things but why should we need to prompt and what happens to the people who have nobody to prompt for them. Nobody hels the patients to eat. My mother is too weak to do it herself and if I wasn't there, I doubt that she would eat at all. The weekends are worse - there are not enough staff and those that are there know nothing. It took me 2 hours yesterday to find out that my mother had a scan in the morning. One nurse told me that she wasn't allowed to read patients notes and another told me to wait for the senior nurse - I waited 2 hours while the senior nurse was "on a break" (I wish I had breaks that long!!) Can somebody please tell me what a nurse's role is? Is it to care for patients? If so, what does good care look like in your books? And what about dignity?
"Oak ward staff"
About: University Hospital Lewisham University Hospital Lewisham London SE13 6LH
Posted via nhs.uk
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