"absolutely appalling care"

What I liked

able to use the lift to get to ward

What could be improved

my mother was i this hospital to have an above knee amputation think it was acute ward C18. A lot of problems due to lack of communication between staff. One nurse approached my mum 3 days after amputation to assist in transfer back into bed, when mum found it difficult she asked 'well how have you been transferring at home ? lack of communication skills , not knowing your patient, not actually communicating with patient (not expecting every nurse to know all patients but could have asked a few questions beforehand to find out about her patient. Whilst on the ward at different times two health care assistants voiced their issues to me regarding patients 'demanding demanding'. Health care assistant approached mum to take glucose readings, no communication whatsoever and then proceeded to walk off without relaying the reading to mum. There were other incidents but the final straw was when mum was being transferred which incidentally was held up due to previous night nurse dropping a B12 injection and waiting most of the next day to get this injection, she finally arrived at the community hospital at 10pm by which time she had hypoed and was extremely fatigued. The icing on the cake was they threw my mums brand new tailored made .shoe out. This shoe took a long time for my mum to get and was especially made for her as she has diabetes and therefore her skin is at risk. she required this shoe to have a stable base for transferring since she had had a recent amputation. My view is that this ward is mismanaged and it is clear to me that the support staff have no clear direction or supervision or indeed had the basic qualities necessary for communicating with their client group. This sends a clear message to me that this ward does not have effective hand overs and they lack the basic communication skills to carry out their duties.

Anything else?

I wonder how many people have not complained due to the stress that they are under or the relief that their loved ones are finally out of the hospital. I did raise my concerns on the ward and although it appeared to be taken on board no one has ever got back to me with the outcome. Good practice mmmmm !

COMMUNICATION is a basic requirement for good patient care.