"Not a lot! What I disliked was: - ..."

What I liked

Not a lot! What I disliked was:

- Several of the staff were friendly but, despite my relative having been located at the hospital for several weeks, seemedrelatively uninformed about her condition and treatment at any one point in time.

- Nurses could be approached but were considerably less that proactive when communicating with relatives/carers.

- At a Case Conference to decide upon the future treatment of my relative - arranged days in advance of the event - 3 of the 7 hospital staff involved declared themselves to be unfamiliar with the case being considered. Despite this unacceptable situation the outcome of the Case Conference was positive.

- On discharge the Ward Sister's involvement was marginal. She was busy conducting a handover - I was discourteously discouraged by the Ward Sister being handed over to when I attempted to communicate with the Ward Sister (when her discourtesy was pointed out to her she apologised) - and this activity was obviously her priority.

- The Discharge process effectively amounted to providing me with my relative's medicines (I had to remind her that these would be required) and ensuring that there was a HCA available to assist in the process of getting the patient to my car!

What could be improved

The Discharge process should be more structured and should involve providing the Patient / Relative / Carer with written instructions.

Anything else?

Where very elderly, disorientated patients who are known to be suffering from a degree of dementia are being cared for nursing staff should take whatever opportunies they are offered to communicate with relatives / carers to ensure that they are as fully briefed about the patient's condition as is reasonably possible.

It is unreasonable to assume that the relative / carer will proactively seek out the nursing staff to ensure that they are fully briefed about the patient's condition - personalities differ!