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"Hit and miss with caring staff"

About: Heartlands Hospital

My mother was brought into a and e following a fall from blacking out with fractures to her face and wrist and heart arythmia within a and e department the care and attention given was amazing compared to other a and e departments have been too a nurse and a young doctor were excellent in the care and assessment provided and explained everything along the way.we were then told she would be moved to ward 20 where on the first night was amazed again at the care and attention provided nurses on the second night didn't stop observing patients at all times and very attentive as was the health care workers however on the third night a different type of care was observed where then staff would sit around the desk chatting loudly laughing and joking not observing patients or recording any information even heard a nurse answer the phone on desk of a relative of a patient trying to find out how their relative was doing to hear the nurse say there were no nurses to check so to call back in half an hour even though there were about 6 staff members sitting chatting put phone down and said they couldn't be bothered to go and check on their father this didnt expel confidence in the care being provided.she was moved to ward 22 the next day where once again very hit and miss day time staff very observant friendly and hard working as were doctors however night time staff once again a different story after speaking to the doctor in the

Morning iv medication had been changed to tablet form so I was shocked the then hear a nurse about to give iv medication on the night to my

Mother I asked the nurse to go and check this out as the doctor had informed us different when the nurse returned an apology was given that the prescription hadn't been updated and it would be changed and tablets given it was extremely worrying that if I hadn't been there this would have been given to my mother incorrectly I feel feedback to new staff coming onto duty is rushed and not clearly explained as observed on ward 20 where you saw nurses walking around explaining each patient in detail to the new nurse taking over this was reassuring compared to ward 22 which was not!!!a heart monitor was then taken off my

Mother who asked for it to be left on for the last night as at night it is very high compared to when they check it (rarely and chart it as low they don't ever see it when high as don't bother looking) a nurse replied how would you know it was high at night anyway to a reply given that the alarm goes off most of the night alerting high pulse rate which is ignored by nurses to chat by the desk what is the point in the minitor alarms if ignored and not recorded regularly?the nurse laughed and said well how are you going to monitor when you discharged home you can'tthere is no point it was explained the doctor has already told us to monitor at home incase drug doses too low the nurse walked off.caring staff that stand out and ones that

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Responses

Response from Marie Helebert, Patient Services Officer, Patient Services, Heart of England Foundation Trust 8 years ago
Marie Helebert
Patient Services Officer, Patient Services,
Heart of England Foundation Trust

Work with patients & families to highlight and address any issues relating to patient experience.

Submitted on 20/01/2016 at 12:02
Published on Care Opinion at 22:24


Dear Anonymous

thank you for your detailed post regarding your observations of care whilst your mother was an inpatient in our hospital.

I am very sorry that you found the care to be of a very good standard at times, and then at others for it to be not so good.

I am concerned at some of the observations made and would appreciate it if you could contact me at your convenience so that I may obtain some more information. I can then highlight your experience appropriately to senior management of ward 20 and ward 22 so that they can address the instances of poor care and communication.

I hope this is acceptable and I look forward to hearing from you. My contact number is 0121 424 0808 and my email is marie.helebert@nhs.net.

Kind regards

Marie Helebert

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