"Patient and Family Care has been pityful"

Anything else?

My brother was admitted to this Hospital on Sunday 23 August 2013. He has been re-admitted a further 4 times since then. Initially he was treated for Viral Meningitis and TB, but the doctors admitted then that they did not know what he actually had, but as the course of steroids was working they would continue. Since then nobody seems to have been able to identify what wrong with him and he has been prescribed one course of antibiotics after another. This has resulted in bladder infections and further admissions. While that is upsetting enough for the whole family. All the staff at this hospital seem to want to do is send him home. He can’t walk unaided because his balance has been affected, he has difficulty talking and really poor diction, his hearing in his left ear is very poor and his short term memory is getting worse. He is so confused he would admit to the murder of the American President Kennedy if asked. When he was first released we were given certain re-assurances that his care plan would be in place straight away and any support his partner needed would be given. This has not happened and we are still waiting. The Social services package fell woefully short of our expectations. health visitors who did not even complete the forms and those that did, the writing was illegible. less than 10 minutes to check on patient care is unacceptable and any concerns raised by his partner because of the lack of visible improvements to my brothers health were ignored. During his latest and still current admission the staff seem totally unable to care for him. He has been left unwashed, unfed, his medication has just been left on the side and his bed left unchanged. If it was not for family and friends visiting who knows what condition he would be in now. The feeble reason we have been given as his family, is that when my brother, who is totally confused and has short term memory loss, a fact that has been constantly overlooked by the staff, if he is asked if he is alright his response to the staff is yes. Our family is becoming increasingly stressed and upset by the consistent lack of care and attention my brother is getting and the obvious lack of patient centred care. Today was the last straw. We were informed that there was going to be a full case review of my brothers care that included social care, which would decide on his care plan going forward. My younger brother managed with some difficulty to get to the meeting after changing his work plans for 11.30 as we had been told and nobody turned up. Nobody informed the family and now they have rearranged the meeting for this Thursday 21 November 2013. I have asked the staff to keep me informed about my brothers care and i am down as a joint next of kin but throughout the whole process no one has chosen to call me. This is simply not good enough. I hope someone takes the trouble to contact me about this issue before it’s too late.