"In hospital with a one year old feverish daughter"

My daughter turned one in February 2009. She became poorly and her skin was sore, blistering and itchy. She had a high temperature that was rising and was taken to the out of hours service.

When we arrived they said that they wanted her taken to the hospital and told us to expect to have to stay in overnight. When we arrived we were told that my daughter would be staying 48 hours definitely and would be reviewed regularly.

She had to have a cannula in her hand and had to have 2 different types of antibiotics. We were able to stay with our child and thank god we could. She soiled her bedding and we had to wait for hours and in the end I had to change the bedding myself.

The intravenous drip alarm would go off and when we pressed the nurses' call button we had to wait 20-30 minutes for someone to come. One night when we were there three different people came to look at the drip and they commented they did not know how the machine worked to which I responded I did not want anyone touching anything if they did not know what they are doing.

They gave us food menus to fill in, but the food that came was never what we ordered and when we asked about this they said that was all that was left. This was North Hampshire Hospital. Anyone entering or leaving the room had to wash their hands and they told us we had to ensure we did this, yet the staff at the hospital did not comply with this. I felt they did not regularly monitor my daughter like they should have.