"Poor treatment and aftercare"

In September my mother went in to good hope hospital for a routine knee replacement and now its April and she is worse off than she was before she had the operation due to the lack of care and communication at good hope hospital.

My mother has needed a new knee for over a decade and was always being told she was too young, last year the pain became unbearable and finally consultants said a replacement knee is the only option to give her a better life.

she attended knee school and took on board all the information given. she went in to hospital and it went down hill from there. she picked up an infection after the operation which kept her in for 10 days on what should of been a 2-4 day procedure. Her time on the ward was inmy view, depressing and utterly degrading. One time she needed to go for wee she called the nurse as she couldn't get out of bed unassisted at the time. the nurse said she would be a moment, she didn't return my mother phoned her partner who lives in tamworth 20 minutes away. he got to the hospital and still no nurse had come in the time it had taken for him to get there. my mother was desperate for the toilet, in pain and crying.

When the nurse got there after my dad had quite angrily called someone, they put her on a bed pan, my mother said she wasn't on right she was told its fine you are fine just go, she did, all over the bed and herself. she was mortified upset and left feeling shamed and unlistened to.

then when it came for discharge which she forced because in her words, any longer in the hospital I will lose my sanity and self harm! the physio team was supposed to set up the physiotherapy that was meant to happen straight away, this never happened her doctors said they hadn't heard nothing and by the time (6weeks later) she saw her consultant it was too late, her knee had set and she couldn't bend it or bear weight on it. she is virtually housebound now on the verge of having to become full time disabled because of this hospital, not to mention her mental health has suffered since. I am thoroughly disgusted.