"Things could have been much better for us at Great Ormand St"

My son spent almost a year at Great Ormond Street. When he was transferred from the local general we were really pleased because of the wonderful reputation of GOSH. We soon changed our opinion. Certain nurses thought they were psychologists and social workers rather than nurses. He was given an out of date medicine, medicines at the wrong time, oral medicines given as IV.

On discharge we were told that we should not call an ambulance if he had a high temperature but should put him on the bus and take him to the local general hospital, this in spite of the high temperatures being life threatening on several occasions at GOSH. It was later denied that this was said.

As parents we felt that we were treated like dirt with no rights. We did not even know who the ward sister was until 4 months into my son's stay and that there was a matron until the week of his discharge. One thing we noticed was that the nurses rarely spoke to the cleaning staff. Some of the nurses were outstanstanding but were let down by the ward being badly organised and demotivated. We saw quite a lot of staff leave some after only two months there.

The junior doctors and most of the consultants were excellent. The play specialists were also excellent. The major issue is poor communication between the staff and, in our experience, appalling communication between staff and parents.