"Doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, ..."

What I liked

Doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, catering staff and cleaners treated my mother with high degrees of professionalism, expertise, dedication and kindness. They respected her dignity and did all that they could to make her more comfortable and to relieve her pain.

What could be improved

The behaviour of patients. See below.

Anything else?

As I sat at my mother’s bedside in AM3 on the day of her death, two patients were behaving deplorably. A male patient complained loudly that he had not been allowed to sleep overnight in the day room. For more than 30 minutes he shouted threats and a prolonged stream of obscene abuse at female staff. Simultaneously, a female patient threatened to urinate on the ward floor and then did so, deliberately, after refusing to be assisted to the toilet. Nurses, doctors (and security staff, in the case the male patient) responded gently and with respect to both patients. Neither patient showed any consideration whatever for the seriously ill patients around them. The contrast between the exemplary conduct of staff and the disgraceful, loutish behavior of patients could not have been greater.