"My lovely Granny"

My granny was admitted to the BGH in October after having a fall. On our arrival my granny was in significant pain and distress. After waiting about 2 hours she was assessed by a nurse, she was finally seen by a doctor 5 hours after arrival, no pain relief was given or offered until she was seen by the doctor! 

She was later moved to ward 7 then moved again to ward 14 in the BGH. 

On two occasions when I phoned in the morning to see how my granny was I was given information about another patient, and I had to bring this to the attention of the staff nurse, she was very apologetic and I just put it down to understaffed and a very chaotic ward. 

But as the days went on my granny was in a considerable amount of pain in her hip, we would ask nursing staff for pain relief for her to be waiting 1 to 2 and sometimes 3 hours later  for the pain relief to be given. 

On one occasion I asked a nurse if they had a minute to talk, for them to put their hand up , as the stop signal and tell me to wait as they were busy!!!! Her clothes went missing, and no one knew where they were, never to be seen again!! 

My granny was diagnosed with bone cancer & lung cancer that day and that nurse made me feel belittled and as if I was wasting their time as they were far too busy to speak to me. 

My granny continued to be in excruciating pain and we continued to chase the nurses along with other family members for her to be given pain relief. I know there’s only so much you can give a patient but my granny was dying and was in severe pain. 

My granny was eventually moved to The Margaret Kerr Unit which was a relief to us as the care she received there was second to none. She was in no pain whatsoever and was very settled and her peaceful. 

My granny was admitted to the Margaret Kerr Unit on the early hours of Wednesday and sadly passed away on the Saturday. 

She was admitted on a Monday, diagnosed with cancer on the Friday and died on the Saturday a week later. 

The only saviour is that I know she wasn’t  in pain for her final 3 days due to the staff at the Margaret Kerr Unit  making her final days as pain free and peaceful as they could. 

Things definitely need to be addressed in ward 14 at the BGH as I wasn’t happy with the care my granny received.  And how some nurses treated family members, the ward is so under staffed and it’s mainly oap’s in that ward which are highly dependent on assistance. They are being made to wait for several hours on assistance. Myself and other family members often helped other patients as they waited too long for a nurse to come.