Disgusted at the NHS

KittyKate

I went to the hospital yesterday with my mum. Back story - she is currently in remission from breast cancer and she was having an op yesterday to have a biposy on her scar tissue following a mastectomy & some reconstructive interim surgery.

So, the letter said to come to the arrivals lounge at the infirmary at 7.15 am. She did so (my train was running late so I arrived at 7.20). There were about 20 people in the arrivals lounge and all had brought a guest. The letter from the hospital stated that each patient could bring one guest to accompany them.

At 7.15 a 'grumpy' nurse sent all the relatives home - people were crying, begging, but the nurse had none of it saying there was no room (there was - there were about 45 seats). I arrived late, sat with my mum and was told I could stay (which I was glad of, but other patients were understandably upset).

At 9am all patients were made to change into support stockings, open backed gown and dressing gown and go and sit back in the lounge - old men, younger people, old and young women, all sitting in various states of undress. My mum who is quite old fashioned and used to be a nurse at that same hospital was embarrased and horrified.

No one was allowed to eat or drink...so the nurse put her 'favourite' cookery programme on the TV (until some patients complained).

At 12, 2 people were asked to change and go home as there were no beds. My mum was told she was lucky.

She was taken into surgery at 1.15 after a 6 hour wait in a grotty, smelly, old waiting room surrounded by strangers in surgery gowns. I was absolutely disgusted. Is this what the NHS has come to?

My mum served at that hospital for 15 years as a children's burns nurse and this is how her years of service and tax is repaid? By this 'time saving' 'bed lottery'?

When I had to leave, I walked through the hospital to see patients on trolleys left in corridors and one old man in a wheelchair left outside the loo near an open door (v cold) whilst the nurse went for a cig!!!

My mum's OK in hospital now (thankfully due to the nature of her surgery she was at least given a private room) but her 9am departure has been delayed to 'teatime, possibly tomorrow' because the doctor is too busy to check her. She rang me from the room and said she's in a blood soaked gown and her dressing hasn't been changed since surgery and no nurses have checked on her since 9am (she can't walk to find one). I've been calling the ward for 4 hours and no-one answers. I know nurses work hard for low pay but it doesn't explain why every time I've been in the ward the nurses have been sat having a chat, outside having a cig, sat eating, ignoring the buzzer calls from patients.

I called my husband and said dogs get treated better. I don't care how much Bupa costs in the future - I won't have my mum subjected to this again.

lorac3

Gosh it sounds pretty dire. Was it day surgery ? I think it all depends on the hospital. My experience was at Doncaster ( several ops !) and I can only say it was brilliant. A very clean large waiting room with tv and we did'nt have to get into the gowns until about 10mins before the operation and then it was all private cubicles and then walked down to theatre.
I hope that your mum is okay and if you feel strongly you could complain to the local patients council.

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle

OMG - i am sorry i don't have any advice but i think that is disgusting!

A friend of mine was shoved in a storage cupboard to give birth as there were no beds, they left the door open and the whole coridoor (men included) were witness to her birth with FULL VIEW (she told me she remembered screaming at one man to stop staring - poor man was probably in shock by what he saw, not meaning to stare) They still wouldn't shut the door. She was then left in badly blood stained sheets for over 24hrs, it was her brother who (after several complaints to the nurses) set up a new bed for her as one was empty nearby - he then got told to leave for being a nuicence! She was also let home to a week or so later colapse very ill and find out a large amount of the placenta had been left inside her

The NHS is becoming a disgrace!

I am very sorry for what your mum (and you) experienced.

shellsuit

Oh your poor Mum, that is awful!!

And it is not fair for all those other people to have their guests told to go home.

If that's what it stated on the letter, then they should have insisted they were staying ~ I would have done!


Bupa nurses were awfully rude to me and OH when OH went in for a nose op. I couldn't believe it ~ so it doesn't necessarily mean you will get treated better there just because you pay.

Blondetotty

I used to work for the NHS and have now left. There are so many problems in what used to be a wonderful system but I'm not going to go into the politics of it all.

You need to address your concerns and complaint in writing to the Chief Executive of that hospital. Take down the names of the staff concerned, note times and dates. I had a similar problem when my father was in for surgery after a diagnosis of bladder cancer. He eventually walked home to have something to eat and drink and walked back to the hospital and not one member of staff had missed the fact that he was missing from his bed all afternoon. When we pointed out that his op had been cancelled that morning (came to light later) but no-one had bothered to tell him or offer him a drink after being nil by mouth since midnight the day before, they did apologise.

I wouldn't however expect much more than an apology, and even that is unlikely in this compensation culture now. They are more likely to say that they will take your points on board and if problems are found then they will be addressed.

Good luck and I hope your mum recovers well, and at home.

KittyKate

Thanks for your thoughts & comments everyone. This is Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield. I have to say that with Pinders & with Pontefract General Infirmary (where I had to call to a nurse to get someone to clean up a pool of urine left for three hours only to be told 'im on my break and I DO NOT CLEAN' both hospitals are being re-built and therefore the standards are far far lower than the wonderful new unit at Leeds where my mum had her chemo & radio.

I don't want any compensation at all but I don't want that to continue happening to people. It's a terrible way to treat dignified, sick, frightened patients and even the majority of the nurses agree (but in the most part have given up I'd say...one told my mum she was lucky to get a bed, and told me to go to M&S and get some food for when she woke up as she 'wouldn't feed the muck they serve here to dogs'.)

I live in a normal home which at any one time probably needs a bit of dusting and the floor mopping. I certainly don't have OCD but I expect better of a hospital - the waiting room had magazines from 2001 which were filthy (throw them away!!), a fire door which had to be locked with a key as it 'kept going off and it's annoying', a TV which was actually sparking ('the cables a bit broken dont touch it') and a mouse trap on the (filthy) floor. The loo had a broken door and was used as a storage place for vomit pans, and there was no segragation so women would be stripping naked for breast surgery marking separated only by a thin knee length curtain by a man stripping for bladder surgery (for example).

My mum needs the surgery but had it been non essential I'd have taken her home. As a former nurse she knows better than most about how hard it is, but as a former nurse of Pinderfields she can also tell me that it used to be clean, well run and with on the whole, staff who aren't jaded and who understand that a patient has a right to dignity and hygiene. Blood soaked bandages and gowns are not hygenic surely.

Blondetotty

KittyKate

No, blood soaked bandages are not hygienic! Locked fire doors are also pretty worrying, especially with a 'sparking' TV. :eek: I'd get her home as soon as you can if I were you!

I'm sorry if you thought I was implying you wanted compensation, that wasn't my intention. I was just using this as a point that you would be unlikely to get an apology as the hospital wouldn't want to admit any problems existed in case this led to a compensation claim in the future. At least thats what I was told when I worked at a very large hospital in the south(Hospital management PA).

Hope she recovers well at home.

paddy's_mum

Oh dear - that is a dreadful experience for your Mum and it's not as though you are talking about some trivial procedure of little concern. Mum must have been very stressed to start with, I should think.

However, in fairness to those nurses who continue in the profession (many have left or gone into private units) it must be soul destroying to be labouring under the chaotic conditions that are so prevalent now. How hard it must be to remain cheerful and keep up the standards of care you were taught to apply when you are constantly harried, overworked and pressured by a system that is slowly and steadily failing the very people it is meant to serve. Should any nurse be expected to choose between administering much needed medications in a safe and controlled manner or wiping up urine from the floor?

There must be little an individual can do when their vocation is being damaged by 'targets', other than to leave that profession. It's exactly the same in all those professions ruled over by successive governments ie teachers, social workers, carers, NHS staff .

Bring back Matron, I say!

LameWolf

I'm so sorry your mum has had to endure this. I wish her a very speedy recovery and all the best for the future.

bulchy

This has brought tears to my eyes, how awful for your mam. Its hard to imagine how her and the other patients must have felt, as it was a bad experience right from the start, to be left without a guest to support them is bad enough, without having to suffer the other indignities that followed.
Sorry, no advice, but just wanted say that although some hospitals can treat patients this way, not all do, thankfully. My son regularly attends Gateshead hospital and is always treated really well and I hope this continues into adulthood as he has an ongoing condition.
Good luck to you and your mam, hope she has a speedy recovery.
Take care
Sue

jackieb

I'm so sorry your mum had to go through this. My own mum has just finished treatment for breast cancer a few months ago and i'd have been mortified if she'd been subjected to this. Have to say, her treatment from the NHS has been first-class, as it should be for everyone.