"Care given was very good but could have been exemplary"

Suffered bleed on brain and subsequent stroke on left side of body. Initially admitted to Kirkcaldy, Victoria Hospital and then transferred to ward 57, QEUH for stroke rehab-spent 11 weeks in ward 57.

Care given by staff was excellent although there were occasions when Agency(bank?) staff had had no training in handling patients which was extremely concerning and led to the ‘core’ ward staff being overworked and ‘pulled in all directions’.

The morale of staff generally was good although it was evident that on many an occasion there weren’t enough staff to assist with timely care of patients. The physio and occupational therapy teams were excellent too and endeavoured to provide a tailored service for each patient.

At times the communications between the teams could have been improved, i.e., bathing assessment requested by occ. therapist missed by general nursing staff which led to missed assessments. Usage of family room/day room was limited due to staff using for own purposes, this caused stress/disruption for myself as I had been encouraged to move out of ward surroundings but access to what were  allegedly ’public’ areas was prohibited on at least two occasions.

Another area which could be improved is ‘on arriving’ in the ward it would have been useful to know and understand the rehab focus plus an update of the who your doctor would be and how frequently they would be doing ward rounds. It became very transparent in my 11 week stay that new patients had no idea of the purpose of their admission and who their clinical team would be.

In summary the care given in Ward 57 was very good but could have been exemplary if staffing allocations were improved and the appropriate training had been given to agency staff prior to working on the ward had been given.