"Some nurses were very kind and ..."

What I liked

Some nurses were very kind and professional

What could be improved

My mother had a fall and broke her pelvis just before Christmas, she also had infection issues. She was admitted to one of the 'geriatric' wards and spent a month in hospital. We were in a constant state of stress when visiting - instructions from the urology consultant were ignored, doctors on the ward did not seem to have much knowledge about my mother and did not listen to our concerns which lead to a second fall which they didn't seem bothered about, there were no senior consultants available over the christmas period and at one point no doctors available for three days unless it was an extreme emergency. Her drugs chart was not monitored properly and someone had put a line through her pain medication by accident, she was supposed to have managed fluid intake which wasn't being managed. When I questioned this she ended up getting no fluids and was so dehydrated and her blood pressure dropped dangerously low. Some nurses were fantastic but others were very off hand and I acutally felt quite intimidated. I had valid questions they didn't want to answer and I was made to feel I was just making a fuss.

Anything else?

Luckily my mother left hospital and stayed in a brilliant rehab care facility - she was extremely traumatised after her stay at St Georges but is slowly recovering. If this is the way we are going to treat our older people it is very distressing - most of the issues were around basic nursing care and basic doctor attendance. Communication with concerned relatives who can see things going badly wrong should surely be a priority.