"Serious gaps in communication"

My grandfather who I support was admitted to ward 23 after becoming unwell with a chest infection. I didn’t receive any communication from ward 23 on the day of his admission, but planned to call the next day to see how he was. 

The next day I attempted to call ward 23 on four occasions. On each of these occasions the phone rang for around 5 minutes with the call then ending before I was able to speak to anybody. As a result of this, I came into the hospital the next day to try and speak to someone. 

The next day when I arrived I got a brief update from a nurse to tell me that my grandad had a chest infection. I was grateful for this information and asked to be kept up to date with any updates. 

Two days later, my grandad was calling me telling me he was being discharged. This concerned me as I had received no communication from the ward, so again I attempted to call. I phoned three times at different points in the day. Twice I was hung up on, and on the third occasion I was transferred to the charge nurse, where the phone again rang for a few minutes before hanging up. 

Finally, at just after 9pm that evening I got through to a nurse on the ward. I expressed my concerns, and the nurse told me that there were no plans for my grandad to be moved, and we chatted about how his delirium could be the reason that he was saying these things. She reassured me that someone would have contacted me if they were going to move him anywhere. I thanked the nurse for this information and felt reassured. The nurse said that the actual nurse looking after my grandad would give me a call tomorrow with an update. 

The next day, whilst making my way into the hospital to visit, my grandad called me again telling me he was sure he had been moved and all his belongings were bagged up next to him in this new ward. I called ward 23 whilst driving, and a different nurse told me that he had indeed been moved to ward 6 last night, around 10 minutes after I had been on the phone. 

I queried this as I couldn’t understand why I had been told he wasn’t moving, and then he had actually been moved 10 minutes later? I was told that they couldn’t really give me a reason for this as they no longer had his notes. 

When I arrived at ward 6 and explained the situation, they said they had received a handover for my grandad at 8pm. So ward 23 must have been well aware that there were plans for him to be transferred, and for some reason gave me a completely different story. 

This was a really frustrating experience, and caused anxiety and distress to an already anxious, worried, and confused vulnerable man. He was telling me he was in a new ward, and on advice from ward 23 I was replying to him telling him not to worry, he was just a little confused, and that he was still in ward 23. This caused him so much distress as he knew this wasn’t true, and I didn’t believe him. 

I previously worked in a hospital so I can totally appreciate that sometimes when the phone rings there is simply nobody to answer it. However, something needs to change. To not be able to receive any kind of update over four consecutive days of trying is not okay. There is also clearly a lack of communication between nurses on the ward, as one told me he wasn’t moving whilst another was clearly packing his things for him to go.