"Poor disjointed care"

My daughter was a patient in the Royal Infirmary for nearly 3 weeks. Her care was disjointed and not effective. She does suffer from migraines , but had an unexpected  acute  episode. She did have several scans to discount any other issues. The main  problem was the constant headache  barely altered by medication prescribed by a neurologist.

From the receiving ward she was transferred to a respiratory general medical ward, awaiting an MRI scan which she had finally on day 14 .  Her medication remained unchanged till day 17. Then she was advised she was on too many tablets and this also could be having an adverse  effect on her headaches despite the medication being ordered by the neurologist and dispersed by the nursing team . She was changed onto a different medication which despite promises didn't reach the ward till her day of discharge. She was made to feel the excess medication was her fault despite evidence to  the contrary.  The discharge staff member was very dismissive  despite my daughter's obvious pain, saying that she was now in the hands of her GP and a referral to the pain clinic could not happen instantly. She should go to her GP for a further referral if needed.

As the medication wasn't available from pharmacy , we agreed to return in the evening for it. We were advised the nursing staff would phone when her medication was ready. My daughter received no calls despite  the promise, and when l phoned they claimed they had done so. When I arrived the staff nurse went over the prescription only to find the new medication was not available and even in my phone  call I was not advised  that this medication had to be obtained via her GP.

On returning home my daughter said that she was to receive the medication from the medicine trolley. I again phoned and spoke to the staff on duty. She was very apologetic and said if we returned she would happily give me the medication, I was very grateful to the nurse but travelling across the city was not great.

The communication and lack of straight forward  answers were not very helpful, and also the lack of  availability of medication that she had been already taking. Then expecting medication to be ordered the next day in community when  a large  hospital has difficulty is unacceptable. Also being left in a ward for 10 days that wasn't really catering to her needs.

Yes, elements of her care were very good ie acute receiving then the receiving ward. The ward staff in the medical respiratory ward  were okay but poor on so many levels. My daughter is still struggling  and being told it may take weeks to resolve. Given how she is at the moment, this is totally unacceptable. Her discharge letter implying that she was overusing medication was unfounded and totally inaccurate but the implication was very upsetting to her. (this is an abbreviated version)