"We were so disappointed with her nursing care."

My mum spent 10 days in ward 16 and as a family we were so disappointed with her nursing care.

She required assistance in all aspects of personal care and in particular eating .

She was unable to feed or drink by herself having lost the strength in her arms . Family went in to feed her lunch and tea to make sure she was fed.

Mum would tell us she had no breakfast as wasn’t helped. Mum had been in the ward for 6 days, a staff member informed me that my mum hadn't had breakfast, I asked if she had help and they stated that they didn’t know mum needed help. They were regular staff on the ward. Every day I went in she didn’t have her glasses on or her hearing aids in, not once!

Mum needed to have fluids I asked that she have a straw and rarely was there a straw for her to even try and drink.

Another day I went in she was covered in toothpaste on her neck, face and clothes as she’d been left to do it herself and really couldn’t. Some days I would come in and clean her teeth as they hadn’t been done.

Mum commented to me one day some of the staff were horrible to her and shouted at her and had to wait so long for the toilet she was very upset.

Mum requires insulin for her diabetes and she was having sugar puddings put down to her at times, which the family fed her as they were not aware they contained sugar.

The staff were informing me her blood sugars were high, no wonder and then low when she’s had no breakfast but had her insulin. I mentioned it on the ward and was told it was the kitchen at fault. Surely the staff that is putting the food down to mum knows she is diabetic .

Regarding soiled clothing; on one occasion I was given a soiled bag which contained lots of  faeces on a pad, pants, socks and trousers all heavily soiled and the bag tied in a knot. I opened the bag and was extremely disgusted. I had been given no information on how to deal with soiled clothes . Every piece  of mums clothing I picked  up from the ward was in a soiled bag whether soiled or not .

The most unprofessional experience was overhearing staff speak about another member of staff muttering under their breath and I also saw a nurse coming out from behind a screen and rolling her eyes regarding the patient. 

Mum has dementia and she was so vulnerable and I felt uncared for in the ward. One night she called me at 1am and sounded so distressed .

We all had a very worrying stressful time when she was in the ward.

Mum was in the ward 5 weeks previously and had a positive experience .But she was independent at this time so no issues regarding care.

Some of the staff seemed caring but I still felt the basics of nursing didn’t exist for my mum during her admission. There were some staff members that I was comfortable approaching and others not. On two occasions we were told that my mum was not like this when family were in, it was reported mum was unsettled overnight and not sleeping, however we were never there overnight to affect her behaviour. I was regularly passing on issues regarding my mum’s abilities etc and I felt like I was being a nuisance at times and my concerns almost dismissed. It beggars belief that my mum with dementia was ‘acting’. 

Mum was prescribed a cream , I was told there was a shortage and had to wait for it to come from pharmacy. Two days later still no cream. Was visited by pain nurse who went and sourced the cream within 5 minutes.