"A handful of the nurses were ok. ..."

What I liked

A handful of the nurses were ok. The ward was understaffed though. They did let him wear their pyjamas when he'd soiled his own.

What could be improved

The service. We waited hours to get a bed, were seen by three doctors, all asked the same questions (lack of communication between departments), I also had to b with my father or else they would not have elicited the right information about him.

I was not informed that my father was to have a catheter put in place nor that it was permanent. The consutant talked to me about it after it had been done.

The food was unhealthy, some days he was given pureed food which he did not eat and other days he was given food from the normal menu. It was not high in nutrition.

The floor by my father's bed was not cleaned very well. Often I noticed orange peel left from the day before.

My father was not cleaned properly, only bed baths in the 5 weeks he was a patient. I would visit nearly every day and some days he was sat in urine and blood stained clothes.

They were going to discharge him without checking if he could do simple things like put his trousers on. On the day he was due to be discharged I asked him to put his trousers on, he sat half naked in the chair for 5 mins trying to put one leg into his trousers. I brought this to the attention of the nurse who apologisd for getting his hopes up that he could leave after 5 weeks. A social worker was called, she arrived three days after the initial call. The occupational therapists gave him a kettle tipper but no one came to see if he could walk at home or do things for himself. No one assessed to see if he could wipe his own bottom, or put his socks on - he could do neither of these things.

Anything else?

The hospital was not very clean, and I would not recommend it anyone. The amount of student doctors in the wards made it feel unfriendly, none of them asked who I was even though I was sat by the bed when they took his blood and asked him questions. He was discharged without referral to a rehab clinic. Since leaving hospital he has fallen 5 times, been unable to get up off the toilet and now cannot walk due to his muscles becoming very weak. He sat in his chair in the hospital and saw the physio a few times. I'm disappointed in the care and aftercare he has received, the social worker was not helpful when I told her he needed extra help apart from the home careteam. Before his admission to hospital he could walk, go to the shops and make himself basic food. Now we can do none of those things. He is now in West Heath Hospital were I hope he receives much better care and hopefully he can be rehabilitated to the level he was before his admission to Selly Oak Hospital.