"Poor care at Aintree University Hospital "

Mum was admitted from her residential home with an irregular heartbeat caused by dehydration. This problem was resolved after a few days of intravenous fluids and mum was fit for discharge. At this stage in her care mum was at a crossroads between Residential care and nursing as she had developed psoriasis during the previous year and this added to her care needs. Due to these changes Mum was kept in the hospital longer than anticipated due to red tape in the transferring from residential to nursing. During her three week stay I personally feel she was not given the correct pressure care as Mum cannot walk and has dementia and therefore was unable to re-position herself for comfort. More importantly I feel mum was not supported enough at meal times as she was a red tray patient and I would visit most evenings at 6-15pm and her tray was untouched and out of arms reach and dinner was served at 5-00pm.

On discharge after three weeks I was informed by the ward manager Mum had a grade three pressure sore which turned out to be actually a grade 4 pressure sore the worst you can have. This was assessed both by her nursing home and Royal Liverpool Hospital after Mum was admitted with a life threatening septicaemia infection from the wound. I am really unhappy with the lack of care from this ward and the hospitals as this has had a major impact on the quality of my Mums life in her latter years. Due to this pressure sore, she is confined to her bed to support the treatment of her sore which can take possibly years to heal or as advised by tissue viability nurse at the Royal Liverpool may never heal.

At present Mum has very limited interaction with people as she is confined to bed. This is in comparison to her time in the residential home sitting in the lounge taking part in organised activities and interacting with visitors, staff and residents which made her happy. Now she is unhappy, bored and sad and deteriorating. During the past week, she was admitted with septicaemia caused by infection of her pressure sore.

On arrival with the Emergency ambulance as a family we were advised of the implications of the treatment and the possibility that Mum could have a fatal heart attack from the antibiotics. I am sad to say Mum came out of the care of the NHS ward with more healthcare needs than she went in with. Would just like to say though this level of insufficient care is not confined to Fazakerley but also to Broadgreen and in the past Royal Liverpool. In conclusion care for the elderly in my experience is appalling so god help us all.