"Spruce Ward - Hinchingbrooke Hostpital"

My elderly mother is currently on Spruce Ward at Hinchingbrooke Hospital having fallen and broken her thigh just below the hip. She was left in traction for 2 days on the Hinchingbrooke S. S. U. before an operation to pin the bone. She remained on the S. S. U. for several days and then transferred to Spruce Ward. Because of ward closures elsewhere in the hospital the bays in Spruce have extra beds in them and as a result mother's drinks have been spilled in several occasions by staff or visitors moving around the adjacent bed. Despite the extra beds there seems to be no additional staff on the ward and the result is that patients have to wait excessive times for their calls to be answered.

Because my mother is elderly and has just undergone major surgery she cannot get up and move about. Her ankles started to swell which I noticed and pointed out to a nurse. Three days later I raised the fact that her ankles were still swollen with the ward sister and it was not until then that it was written into her notes and checks started. The nurse responsible for mothers care that day said that she had not noticed the ankles were swollen.

My mother's memory is not very good and her hearing is also poor. Every time I arrive to visit I can hear feed-back (whistling) from her hearing aids because they are not in properly. The result of this that she cannot tell me what treatment she has had during the day and when I have asked at the nurses station I have had to wait while the staff look for her notes. During these waits at the desk I have seen nursed arrive note a patient call and go to deal with it On arrival at the patient's bed they will reset the call button and immediately another call comes up and this continues until there are no free nurses to deal with the remaining calls.

This shambles, as it was described in a previous post, is most definitely not the fault of the staff on the ward but is due to the lack of sufficient staff to properly care for the number of patients on the ward.