"The care my mum had"

My mum was admitted to hospital following a nasty fall. Although the wait time for an ambulance was unbelievable, we are aware of the pressure the staff are under. The treatment from the ambulance crew was great, so, thank you to them.

In ED, the staff are working flat out, I feel they are so obviously understaffed. My mum was eventually transferred to AAU and the staff member who greeted us certainly put mum at ease. Apologies for forgetting her name. All the staff who cared for mum were lovely.

Unfortunately, there was some sickness in the room, someone was violently sick several times! Everyone then had to be moved into isolation as a precaution, and the ward deep cleaned.

Before this happened, my mum hadn’t felt well after having soup. It was tepid. It was nearly cold, but they ate it because they were hungry. I feel it was the soup that made mum sick.

My mum mentioned this when next ordering, and to say they were rude is an understatement! I was there with some of the family at the time and we were furious at their attitude. To speak to anyone like that is bad enough, but to a patient is just not on. They were adamant the soup wasn’t cold and even although others agreed with my mum, they continued to rudely tell them they were wrong. They had used a thermometer and added that they all ate it before leaving. We had since heard there was a faulty thermometer.

The next day, mum was in isolation. The same member of staff asked mum what she wanted for lunch, soup, or a sandwich. Mum said she didn’t want soup and couldn’t eat the bread. They then left and my mum had no lunch.

The following day, the same happened only this time another staff member was with my mum. The staff member was shocked and went out and came back with something for my mum’s lunch for which the family are thankful.

It’s unacceptable for ANY patient to not be offered food. If the staff member was able to get something, it can’t have been so difficult.

When mum was told she was being discharged, it was many many hours she was waiting. We eventually got help from a staff member not connected to the hospital who arranged patient transport and we got mum home late at night.

I will finish by saying the ambulance crew, some staff members we saw, we cannot fault. They are under a pressure they should not be put under. A broken system that so desperately needs addressed before valuable staff are lost.

Our one gripe is with that one member of staff. Totally unacceptable. How many more patients who cannot speak up, or have someone do it for them, are not being given food?