"Bad experience while a inpatient at St Thomas..."

Anything else?

I was visiting the area with my family, and was feeling very poorly. My parents took me to the nearest A&E. A&E were excellent, however when I was moved to Sarah Swift ward some of the care I received and witnessed towards other patient was actually unacceptable. I was a patient at this Hospital in the past and couldn't fault anything. After the first night on Sarah Swift ward, I was shocked by the poor care from some night staff. Some of the staff were just terrible and I was very tempted to self discharge due to what I witnessed. The day staff were always professional and compassionate. One member of staff filled water jugs late at night, which seemed acceptable. However I was concerned that they used a few cloudy plastic jugs from the kitchen, originally used for porridge in the morning to fill patients jugs. Instead of emptying the old stale water, they filled it up with the water from the cloudy jugs. Basically old with new water. I assume the member of staff didn't have the time to collect all the jugs and fill them in the kitchen. I couldn't drink the water it tasted terrible, it was likely due to the jug that had been used for food. It wasn't hygienic. The staff member also seemed to ration the water between patients one patient getting more water than another. Alright I didn't drink the water as I was concerned it was not fresh. A few nights later a pleasant elderly lady was in the bay, she asked a nurse in the middle of the night for a bedpan. I turned to my left side and thought at first I was seeing things. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The Nurse was helping the patient go to the toilet in bed, with the curtain open.I could see everything it was most distressing, to see a elderly lady half dressed on a bedpan, and the nurse also wiped and cleaned the patient after the bed pan use with the curtains still open. During one evening I coughed up a large amount of stuff from my chest, by accident some of the stuff from my chest was on the bed sheet. It was horrible. I couldn't lay on my left side. I asked a Nurse if I could have a new sheet. I was aware they were busy, she didn't really listen to me, and seemed reluctant to change the sheet,. She brought me another blanket and I had to lay on the blanket on top. It wasn't pleasant. I told my family when I got home, and they were shocked by the poor care. I didn't want to say anything while a inpatient. I was scared that I would of been treated worse by staff Not all staff on the ward were terrible, there was only a few individuals who seemed to not have been trained correctly. Isn't it just common sense, surely staffed don't need training to give clean water to patient, and respect patients dignity. and not leave patients in a dirty bed. This is the first time I have noticed many failings while a patient at this hospital. I hope this doesn't happen to other patients.