"Good care but a lack of communication"

My mother was a re-admittance after being collected by me from Kent & Canterbury on the Friday prior. The Ambulance staff were excellent in assessing her & getting her to the hospital. When I arrived 20 mins later she was being looked after by a very kind Italian nurse, her blood had been taken for tests & her blood pressure, ecg etc was recorded.

Probably as it was a Sunday we did wait a good 2 hours for a doctor to see her but after my concern on the delay antibiotics were administered & a drip for fluids. As a lay person with the signs mum was showing this was an infection but she was understandably sent for an x-ray to check the op that was actioned on the Thursday was not the problem. The results showed no op issue so mum was to be moved to CDU once a bed was available. From being admitted at approx 6pm we went to CDU at 12. 30am.

(The A & E area had got very busy with patients laying on beds being assessed in the centre area. I was told mum had the last bed on CDU but I think it might have been a bit of a story as the bed opposite her was empty when we arrived).

Mum was moved to Cambridge J mid Monday, for some reason no more antibiotics had been given to mum while she was in CDU although another drip had been administered.

I would like to pass on mine & my mothers thanks to all in Cambridge J who looked after to her, to Doctor fox & the un-named Italian nurse in A&E.

To summarise, was my mother originally discharged too soon? should she have had an extra day in? she was given no prescription for antibiotics on her leaving. This time she was in for 5 days & was given tablets to continue with at home.

Sadly I have had to be part of another family members re-admittance 3 months ago- Canterbury. From my experience there is a lack of communication & co-ordination happening. Everyone seems to be running around doing stuff but there is not enough cross over between departments. Ie: Phamacy - we waited over 4 hours for the drugs to arrive on ward even though all authorisation had been done a lot earlier.

Luckily I ask questions but patients are not kept informed of what is happening next. The doctor never said the x-ray was ok I had to chase up as nothing was said & the same with confirmation of mum being moved to CDU- I had to ask.