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Care Opinion

Poor care and facilities

Posted By dancenx55

"Poor care and facilities"

About: Wythenshawe Hospital / Older people's healthcare

(as a relative),

Our mum was moved here from ward A5 at very short notice and in the midst of a Norovirus outbreak at Opal House.

They had not saved an evening meal for her the day she arrived and she was only offered some Chilli (which she doesn’t eat) and a crumble dessert- so all she could have was a desert!

The first member of staff I encountered was on reception, they seemed more interested in their phone than giving me directions to my mum's room.

I was horrified to find her room had had no curtains for her first night and the toilet (she shared with 2 other patients) was faulty, it didn’t flush fully and the doors on either side didn’t lock. She was using the toilet when another patient walked in on her. I checked them and reported them as broken but nothing was done.

On my next visit a stench from the shared toilet was coming into her room.

On inspecting it the collar on the sewage pipe was damaged and there were cloths left on the floor soaking up the sewage that came out of it.

It was absolutely disgusting and considering there was a Norovirus outbreak this was totally unacceptable!

A couple of the staff were nice and helpful but the majority didn’t care less. In my view, with attitudes like that they would have been better placed in a prison - not a care facility!

The room was basic and my mum wasn’t allowed to put the bedside table where she could reach it due to health & safety. But where they wanted it caused a safety issue for our mum.

Her stay here was purely miserable. There are no TVs (like on the hospital ward) and literally nothing to do apart from sit/sleep in a room that smelt of human sewage.

This room and toilet should have been out of use until it was repaired - not used putting patients at further risk of infection!

This was an awful experience for our elderly mum when she was so sick.

Never again!

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Responses

Response from Patient Experience Coordinator., Manchester Foundation Trust 3 months ago
We have made a change
Manchester Foundation Trust

Submitted on 02/01/2024 at 09:52
Published on Care Opinion at 11:02

Thank you for taking the time to share your comments. We are sorry to learn of your mum’s unsatisfactory experience within Opal House and for the upset and distress this caused her and your family, at what must have already been a very difficult time. Your comments have been sent to the Opal House Team to raise at their next team meeting and the ward manager has spoken to the team regarding staff attitudes and customer service.

Our Senior Nursing Team are liaising with the Catering Team, to review the food options available to patients when they transfer to our service after the evening meal has been served. The Senior Nursing Team have completed a walk round at Opal House and confirm that all patient rooms have curtains, all bathroom facilities are in good working order and the current standard of cleanliness is high; however, we are sorry that the high standards we strive to achieve were not met during your mum’s inpatient stay. This continues to be regularly monitored and any action taken, as appropriate, to improve standards.

We are so sorry that your mum’s experience was not a positive one and acknowledge that Opal House does not have bedside televisions. To mitigate this, we have four lounge areas with a television, which many of our patients enjoy using, In addition to this, we have recently employed an activity coordinator, who is able to provide suitable activities for patients who wish to take part.

We hope we can assure you that the Trust strives to provide patients with excellent care and experience, so we are sorry that we did not achieve this for your mum on this occasion.

Should you wish to discuss your and your mum’s experience further, please contact our Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) on telephone 0161 276 8686, or email pals@mft.nhs.uk, quoting reference number PO23/0145, and they will do their best to address your concerns.

Yours sincerely,

Patient Experience Team.

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