"Worrying, annoying, frustrating and hopeful I will..."

What I liked

Very little. There is not a single area of this hospital which I have experienced over the last two months which could not be improved on. Improvements range from from very little to a complete rethink. Staff shortages are an obvious area where most of the problems arise which result in lack of care at the most basic level. Patient relatives have to be on the look out for such things as canulas not being changed in line with hospital policy and instructions, the development of bed sores, a crime in nursing years ago, to the most disgusting food I have ever seen in my life. A greater proportion of the this food is not fit to eat and this fact is acknowledged by the majority of staff some of who actively encourage relatives to bring in their own food. The red tray system is a joke and serves only to produce a piece of paper which theoretically demonstrates that something is being done to allay the fears of relatives that the patient is not starving to death. Today when my relative became obviously dehydrated and delusional was it necessary for me to take it up with the nursing staff. I am not a doctor or a nurse I just used my eyes and ears to realise that something was wrong. Why did this happen? The answer plain and simple, the weekend and to few staff trying to cope with a busy ward. When help did arrive it was professional and procedures were carried out with promptness and efficiency in line with my uneducated but logical thinking. Demoralized staff are dangerous and become used to the situation of trying to cope with too many jobs at the same time to the extent that they don't realize they are in fact operating at a dangerous level. On at least six occasions my wife has been left without her oxygen without which she cannot survive and on a least four of those occasions her oxygen saturation levels had reached or would have reached a life threatening situation had it not been for intervention by myself, an untrained individual

What could be improved

The management staff have little to pat themselves on the back for, too few people who experience Barnsley General Hospital have the patience to contribute to this site, I would suggest to them that were they to listen to patient relative conversations in the car park or in the corridors of the hospital, they would then get a better idea of the esteem Barnsley people

hold for their charge. I could go on, and on, and on, ad nauseum, and I have no confidence that anything will come of my comments other than release to some extent the utter frustration I feel that things could and should be better