"Shambles and a disgrace"

Anything else?

My son broke his leg last year and had the bad luck to end up in Derriford overnight. The nursing staff were shocking. They were more interested in Facebook than re-assuring my son who was in pain, and spending his frst night ever in hospital. The doctors were good and so was the cleaner and lunch lady who did take the time to talk to my son.

When we arrived at A&E with my son crying in pain (leg broken in 2 places), i had to go back to my car to find a £1 coin in order to get him a wheelchair, there was no assistance offered. Then i had to go through the paperwork chain with some lady who insisted that i fill in the paperwork to process my son before he could progress. I later found out that this bit could have been skipped if we'd arrved by ambulance and could have been completed later after my son had been treated. So i was penalised for saving the ambulance service a trip. When we did progress to the treatment area we sat in a waiting room for 30 minutes with no-one coming to see us at all. A nurse was busily typing away at a PC in the corner but did not offer any help even though it was clear my son was in pain. Eventually after intervention from my wife and I we got him in to a room to be seen. The nurse practitioner that seen him was, i have to say, very good and the first person to take any interest at all. She arranged for an X-Ray, which confirmed the diagnosis of a double leg fracture. We were then taken to woodcock / wildgoose ward. At this point he had been in hospital since about 1000, it was now around 1 PM and no food or drink had been offered. After assessment my son was moved to a private side room and i must say that the decor, facilities etc were very good, i have no complaints there. He was admitted overnight in order to have pain relief administered. I was also able to stay with him on a camp bed which was also good. It is now late evening and still no food or drink has been offered so I went out to bring some in for him. During the night the nursing care was awful, twice my son rang the bell due to severe pain and no-one came. When they eventually did they offered him ibuprofen / paracetemol even though the reason he was in was so he could have morphine, which the doctor had prescribed to him. There was no offer to help him with his personal hygeine or to the toilet at all. There were plenty of trained nurses on duty but they were too interested in facebook!! Once we were able to leave i asked for a wheelchair, as my son had a broken leg, in a full leg cast, a reasonable request i thought. The nurse told me that we don't do wheelchairs on this ward and no porters were available to help. I had to search the hospital myself for a chair which i eventually found in x-ray. I would like to point out that my sons ward is on the top floor so how the nurse expected me to get him to the main door is beyond me. The equipment, decor etc was good. The nurses were shocking!