"This fall set her back and prolonged her stay"

Mum was admitted to Chesterfield Calow hospital after a fall, resulting in a hip operation. She stayed for a total of 3 weeks during which time many of the staff were caring, professional and knowledgeable.

She was in a supervised room with 5 other elderly ladies [she suffers Parkinsons and all the ladies in her ward were in a state of some sort of confusion or delium]. However, I noticed that many of the health workers who were supposed to be supervising the room were often sat on their mobile phones or sat in the doorway chatting to other staff, leaving blind spots in the room. This meant that for periods of time the room was not sufficiently supervised.

The result of this? Mum attempted to get out of bed [she moved at a snail's pace and had rails on her bed, demonstrating the length of time she was unsupervised!]. She fell, banged her head and bruised her thigh. This fall set her right back and prolonged her stay as she required scans [the results of which were delayed] and further physio.

She also required another operation as her leg was bent prior to her second fall.

Staff should not be allowed to use mobile phones while working on the ward. Not only is it putting vulnerable patients in danger as they are not properly supervised but I feel it is also a safeguarding concern. People working with young children have rules regarding phone use due to the possibility of photos being used illicitly - the same could be said of vulnerable elderly people.