"We felt judged by the nurse"

My Mother, 82 years old, was discharged from the City General Hospital in Leicester yesterday after being very ill for over three weeks. I had telephoned the ward at 11am to confirm that she was actually being allowed home as there had been some indecision as to which day it would be but I was told they still didn`t know and to visit anyway. On arrival a staff nurse came to my Mothers bed and said that has she had been able to walk with a stick (a short distance, that morning!) she didn`t need an ambulance and infered that this was our families problem now. I told her that none of the immediate family could drive and because we had not been notified earlier then my Mother had only the night dress and dressing gown she was wearing so we couldn`t even get a taxi for her. This nurse said she would have to book an ambulance for her and that it could be as late as nine o`clock in the evening. It seemed to me that her displeasure was obvious.

At the end of visiting I could plainly hear this nurse discussing my family at the desk with another staff member, I was very upset and angry but could not take them to task as I had a bus to catch and a one and a half hour journey home. This nurse has caused distress to both me and my family and I felt she was judging us when she knows absolutely nothing about our family circumstances and as far as we are concerned this situation was of the hospitals making because of their indecision and lack of communication with us. I will be making a formal complaint to the hospital's Matron.