"Poor communication on the ward"

My young son was due in for a colonoscopy so we were due the afternoon before to ward 1b.  

He was due his infliximab infusion which I thankfully called to check when it was planned for. They had not organised this for his time at the ward. I managed to get this sorted for the arrival day. However when we arrived at the hospital they were not prepared for this and there was no room available either. 

We were sent round to another ward to get his gripper needle in which we waited over an hour and a half for. When we then got back to ward 1b the room was still not ready and we were sent to the play room. We didn't get into a room till early evening when they finally hooked my son up for his infusion.  Due to the delay getting a room we had missed dinner and they could only scramble together some lukewarm left overs for us. Considering my son was due bowel prep and was having to fast for his afternoon colonoscopy, I feel this was disgraceful that he did not get a proper dinner. 

We were then left and advised bowel prep would start later in the evening. As I was getting my son ready for his usual 7pm bed time I went to heat up his bedtime bottle which settles him and was told no, he should have been fasting from 6pm. No one had told us that fasting was to begin at 6pm and it further makes less sense why they did not ensure he had a good dinner. They allowed him to have half a bottle and started the bowel prep at 7:30pm.

The following day the anaesthetist came round in the late morning and seemed shocked to find out he had nothing since 6:30pm which was around 15 hours of fasting already. They advised he would be 1st on the list for the afternoon. Due to the previous patients running on, my son was not taken till after 18 hours of fasting. 

The procedure went without issue and he was back on the ward mid afternoon. He was very happy to have food and recovered very quickly from the anaesthesia. The consultant came round to discuss and we were advised we could leave after 4 hours. The nurses were aware of this as I discussed getting his gripper needle out at in 2 hours in preparation. I was told they would get that sorted shortly. Time ticked on and on with no one coming to sort this out. After 3.5 hours I asked again to which they said no one on the ward was training to take out the gripper needle. I was shocked that this was not mentioned previously or that they had not arranged for someone trained to be on the ward given he had one in. They had to arrange for another nurse from a different ward to come over and remove it. 

It was 8:45pm before we were able to leave the hospital which is disgraceful for a young child who had been under anaesthesia and wanting home which he should have been at 7pm. 

The communication between staff and myself was terrible. Better management on the ward and understanding of what each patients needs and care plan / follow-up is could have eliminated many of the issues encountered. 

Unfortunately we have had multiple stays in the hospital with both our children so we are fully aware of the time constraints and pressures that they are under, however I am very disappointed in this experience.