"Completely disgusted."

What I liked

I'm writing this review on behalf of my grandfather who through no fault of the hospitals, is no longer with us. However what I witnessed during visiting and calls I liked nothing.

What could be improved

My grandfather suffered from dementia, was also hard of hearing and partially sighted. I understand staff are in demand and very busy but I'm utterly disgusted by the way that he was just left in bed with his buzzer incase he needed any help. He had no idea what his buzzer was for or how to use it or even where it was and I feel that somebody in his situation should have been checked regularly to see if he needed any help or if he needed the toilet. On more than one occasion we arrived for visiting to find him soaking wet through where he had urinated as he had had no help and no one had heard him calling, or worse chose to ignore it because of his dementia! Also on more than one occasion he asked to go to the toilet when we were there and we had to get somebody to help as he was becoming very agitated as he didn't want to wet the bed. I found pushing the buzzer had no effect what so ever as nobody came for ages and had witnessed people in the ward pushing there buzzers and waiting.

Again I understand staff are busy but after I had pushed the button and realised it was achieving nothing I went to get a member of staff myself. On finding one and explaining the situation she then dithered and ambled off in the direction of a urine bottle. At this I asked if she could possibly hurry a bit as I'm sure my grandfather didn't wish to wet the bed again. I get the impression that it's easier for them to just rush round changing beds than it is for taking a little bit of time to check on patients. I also found it almost impossible to gain any information over the phone on his condition and trying to get his after care in place was rediculous. He was actually deemed fit so didn't need to be in hospital but couldn't leave due to the fact that different departments couldn't communicate and sort things out. Due to this he was then kept in hospital over what was to be the last Xmas of his life and not discharged till boxing day.

Anything else?

Unfortunately this is not the only negative aspects I have about the hospital. I have previously experienced bad care on hospital stays I have incurred.