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Outstanding care as my mother's dementia...

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"Outstanding care as my mother's dementia..."

About: Royal Blackburn Hospital

Mum has vascular dementia and was found by us in a confused state at her house.

She seemed like she had had another stroke and was delirious.

Her normal speech patterns had disappeared and we could not understand her.

From the moment we rang 999 for help, her care was outstanding.

Despite a very busy A&E and a lack of beds, everyone tried to help us.

The following day mum was in B4.

What an excellent place that proved to be.

Mum was very agitated and confused for a few days, but all levels of nursing and caring staff dealt with her beautifully.

Immediately the butterfly system was put in place, and I had the opportunity to write all about mum and her life, because she could no longer communicate.

I could tell the staff had read this and were aware of her background.

From the ward assistants, to the HCAs to the nurses - all took time every day to talk to mum and us and to listen to our opinions.

They kept us updated on the results of all her investigations.

The forewarned us when she was becoming fit for medical discharge, so we could make arrangements for her to go into a residential home, which was the only option now open to us.

They even argued for her to stay on the ward rather than be moved to a rehabilitation area because they realized how distressing this would be for someone with her condition, and how this would have had a negative effect on the improvements she had made.

Even at discharge, they did all we asked in terms of her personal preparation for discharge and ensured we were informed that she was on her way to the home we had chosen.

I wish I had taken the note of the staff who cared for her so well, but I do remember one of the senior nurses but some of the HCAs were magnificent too - all offering mum dignity, empathy and genuine kindness.

I got the feeling that the ward was under some kind of scrutiny, but from my experience I would say that the dedication, professionalism and commitment of the staff should never be questioned.

A heart-felt thank-you.

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Responses

Response from Royal Blackburn Hospital 8 years ago
Royal Blackburn Hospital

Submitted on 13/10/2015 at 10:19
Published on nhs.uk on 14/10/2015 at 02:31

Many thanks for your feedback regarding your recent experience of A&E and Ward B4 with your Mum and thank you for taking the time to do so.

It is a pleasure to receive such lovely feedback about the care and treatment provided through the whole of the patient journey. I will make sure that your comments are shared with the relevant teams who will be delighted to hear that your experience was so positive as we always strive to deliver safe, personal and effective care.

If you would like to talk through your experience with one of our Patient Experience team so we can understand the bits of your journey that made this so positve for you, we would really value this so that we can try to make it like this for every patient visiting our hospitals and services.

You can contact me, Helen Ritchie on 01254 734471 or alternatively you can email me at Helen.ritchie@elht.nhs.uk

Many thanks again for commenting and Best wishes

Helen Ritchie, Senior patient experience facilitator

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