"False Carrots of hope"

A relative has been stuck in this hospital for a week.

Yesterday he was told by a doctor in the morning that he may be able to go home over the weekend (probably rather than possibly apparently.)

Today he has heard nothing.

The ward staff (who I'm sure all work very hard considering they seem ridiculously under-staffed) don't know anything about the doctor having said this because the staff in this hospital do not seem to communicate with each other - when he asked for a doctor when he was still seriously ill it took 24 hours to find one - the call bell by his bed has never been responded to in less that fifteen minutes.

All he has left is a cough - a touch of pneumonia which is being treated by oral antibiotics which he could be taking at home - his other symptoms have eased.

I'm not really complaining about a lack of discharge as for all I know there could be a perfectly good reason for it - but no ones told the patient what that reason is so he's hardly involved in decisions about his own care is he?

But more to the point medical professionals with several years training should know better than to take someone who is frustrated and depressed and give them false hope.

He is now convinced having not heard anything today that he will be stuck in until Monday at least because there's no doctors in on Sunday.

Not only is he taking up a bed that could be used by someone who really needs to be in there - he's now more miserable than ever because someone gave him hope that he'd be going home and now he's not.

He won't discharge himself because he's worried that he then won't get the antibiotics he needs to treat the pneumonia.

Thank you Luton and Dunstable Hospital for making one of the most stressful periods of our lives far more stressful than it needs to be by not just letting him come home and recover properly and refusing to tell us why!