"Sub standard and appalling"

What I liked

The staff in accident and emergency were very helpful when my mum was taken in by ambulance on Monday 28th February at 9.30 p.m. However it took until 5.30 a.m.before my mum was found a bed

What could be improved

The level of care was questionable on the ward. My mum was in for a week and was never even offered a bath or a shower. Her false teeth were never cleaned and she came out of hospital with a mouth full of ulcers.

She was not allowed to take her insulin at the times she takes it at home even though she followed the reccomendations given her by her diabetic nurse.

However that pales into insignificance when you consider the state of the food that was served. In a week my mum never ate a hot meal. The food was tasteless and most of the time inedible. I am a professional caterer with over 35 years experience and if the catering staff thought the food they sent out was to standard then they should be ashamed. I understand that catering budgets are tight, however my team and I provide over 500 meals a day using fresh ingredients and a budget of 68p.

On Saturday my mum was offered a corned beef sandwich for lunch. it was so bad that she saved half of it to show me. It was appalling and I have never seen corned beef look like that. It was so bad that I took it into work to show my staff who were as appalled as I was. If anyone in the catering department is interested I actually took a photograph which I will gladly e-mail.

My mum was fortunate that her family brought food in for her but I can understand how elderly people become malnutritioned if they have no one to visit them.

I would love to talk to the catering manager but I don't really expect that to happen

Linda