"Unacceptable care"

Mardon Neuro Rehabilitation centre where do we even start! From the beginning it was red flags, no dignity for our family member, curtains were left open while they pulled his bottoms down in front of family members. This was totally unacceptable for not only our family member's privacy, he would of been mortified before his brain injury and they didn't think about his feelings in this situation. Or care about his family being there while doing it, we as a family had to step in many of times and say you need to do this in the bathroom for his own dignity.

Moving and transferring him around by staff members with lack of care resulted in further injuries such as bruises and knocked arms/legs. In our experience, staff members had no respect or care for the patients they were looking after. Many of the staff members didn't even seem to know how to care for him or have even looked at his notes before caring for him. This resulted in them asking family members of how to do their job.

Cleanliness was appalling, the room never got cleaned properly in the 5+ months he had been there. We even had to empty bins and clean. Being in a hospital based centre you would not accept this.

Nursing staff and ward Clarks did not understand about brain injuries. Medication was missed on serval occasions, nicotine patches were left on overnight when they shouldn't have and wasn't taken off.

Rehab sessions: Speech & language, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, psychology, rehab sessions were absolutely pointless. They didn't give enough time for these sessions or focus on what he needed. Lack of encouragement, no enthusiasm, basically blunt to your face. Previously at another rehabilitation where they gave everything to the patients, really happy and enthusiastic. Gave hour long sessions, well planned out and knew exactly what they were doing. Unfortunately, Exeter didn't appear to have a clue.

When it came to staff speaking to our family member due to his brain injury he is hard of hearing. He had to look at a face to either lip read or hear slightly. Unfortunately, staff didn't do this and he couldn't understand what they wanted him to do.

Our family member felt worried and scared when he was in the bathroom with two male HCA's, he shouted to his mum that he just wanted to get out the bathroom and go to bed. This is very unusual for him as he has good hygiene and never misses brushing his teeth. Our family member didn't feel safe with the staff, his mum had to go in and see what was going on. She then took over from then and the other member of staff walked away.

When it came to meal times our member of the family needed his food cut and fluid to drink. Unfortunately when family wasn't there the staff didn't do this. When he asked for a drink the HCA ignored his request and walked out the room. Once he was put back to bed after his lunch he requested a drink again, they ignored him again. This is absolutely shocking for a patient not to have fluids especially on a hot day. Patients can become dehydrated and that's the last thing you would want.

When we had meetings we would always raise our concerns and issues but unfortunately these were never resolved. This is honestly the worst hospital centre we have ever been in throughout the whole journey of 10 months. Every time we asked a question they didn't know the answer. I believe they need further training urgently! That's putting it politely. It just seems like a care home, the staff don't spend any time with patients. Always in the corridors playing games with each other or on their phones. They never seemed to want to be there and always grumpy.

The last straw was when four members of staff went into our family member's room and made him feel intimidated. They started blaming him for lying about asking for a drink even though he took photos and sent to his mum at home about the situation. His mum then had to ring Mardon to ask what was going on. Our family member felt scared and frightened, therefore he didn't sleep that night. This should have never happened, especially to a patient with a brain injury. We had no choice but to self discharge and take our family patient home. 

We hope something gets done about what we as a family have been through. Also to prevent this from happening to any other patients in the future.