"Poor communication and lack of understanding"

In most cases, patients would normally be able to ask the doctors questions about their condition and treatment and relay the information to their family. However, in cases where the patient has no memory of what's happened and doesn't even know where they are, the family understandably needs to speak to someone regularly for a full understanding of what is happening. It's no exaggeration to say that I was made to feel that it was a nuisance of me to ask and if I requested to speak to someone about my Mum, I was asked what specifically I wanted to know. I asked if I could see her doctor on more than one occasion during a 4 week period and everytime I was asked why. The reason was because nobody was telling me anything on the ward.

This is just a small sample of our experiences at this hospital concerning my 89 y/o mothers stay over a number of weeks. Mum has vascular dementia and has no short-term memory.

Taken by ambulance to A&E. Next morning A&E said medically fit to discharge. I challenged as they hadn't identified why she was dehydrated and not eating and drinking. Moved to Cypress where she sat all day in a chair with IV fluid administered. Later in afternoon a Doctor finally examined her and requested raft of tests as she was clearly in pain on examination. Moved to AMU later that evening. Spent 1 day/night on AMU. Moved to Rowan ward without advising the family. Next day told Mum was medically fit to discharge which again I challenged as no outcome from tests had been communicated with us. Any requests for information (I have PoA) were met with real reluctance to answer. Was told that they would request input from Dietary and Physio teams but that the scans had been clear. Two days later Dietician calls and advises that the scans weren't clear and she has gall stones and chronic pancreatitis - these conditions were previously unknown to us. There then followed a two week debate between the GI and Dietary teams as to the use of Creons while we awaited an assessment for Continuing Healthcare. I regularly found heavily soiled nightwear left unbagged in her cupboard alongside clean clothing. Once Mum found to not be eligible for CHC care she was discharged. The discharge letter makes no mention of the fact that she has gall stones, says the chronic pancreatitis was pre-existing (?) and creon missing from medication list, no ongoing monitoring of her weight loss, which has been substantial as you would expect in someone unable to eat and drink enough. No follow up required apparently for the gall stones either. I have no idea the severity of the gallstones, simply that further treatment not required. Sister had also advised that once found to be 'medically fit' they'd discontinued monitoring her fluid/food intake. While I'm sure there's some very dedicated people (dieticians) attached to this ward, there are some serious lessons to learn in dealing with dementia patients and communication with their families.