"Lack of communcation"

Anything else?

My husband required neurosurgery as he was knocked down by a car. The paramedics were excellent, although assessment in A and E was not as quick as it could be, when they knew what they were dealing with treatment was excellent. Surgery and his time in critical care was absolutely excellent. He was moved to ward 2a and treatment continued to be good. When he moved to ward 2b, he developed low sodium levels and from there treatment of this condition was not clearly explained to the patient or family either when he was in hospital or on discharge. It was spotted after 24 hours of him being very poorly and extremely confused. I was told 2 days before discharge that it could be some time because they were looking into the reasons for the drop and in the morning that he was discharged in the afternoon he was told he may be moved to Blackpool Victoria Hospital on doctors ward round. It was expected on discharge that someone would be available to talk through what had happened and what was needed at home, but the discharge nurse did not know his case and rushed us through the necessary procedures, saying no one was available to discuss my husband's treatment and we should talk to his GP. The discharge letter had no mention of the drop in sodium levels for the GP to understand what had happened until I insisted it was altered so the GP at least knew the levels of sodium to compare at future blood tests. I left feeling a lack of confidence in how to look after my husband and a distinct feeling that he was sent home too soon because the bed was needed. There is no doctor named as the discharging doctor. On this ward also he was moved into a side room to prevent mixing men and women in the same facilities, but no cleaning is done of an area before patients are move to a new area. This has let the hospital down from excellent treatment initially to a distinct lack of care when something happens out of their ordinary dealings.