"Great care, poor communication"

My mum had an 8-week stay in ward 7 at the RAH.  The care and attention she received here was fantastic.  Victoria the SCN is so caring and compassionate about her ward and I honestly couldn't fault any of the staff in this ward.  They were all very kind and caring towards my mum.

However, when mum was discharged from ward 7 she was sent to the discharge lounge and I had informed the ward I would be there at 12 noon to accompany mum on her discharge as she was going to a care home for the first time and was quite stressed and anxious about this.  When I arrived at the discharge lounge mum had been taken away by patient transport with no tights or shoes on her.  One of the nurses said she did mention her daughter was coming but despite that they let her go and didn't listen to her.  She is a 92-year old woman who was discharged from the hospital in the month of December with bare legs and wearing only a pair of slippers on her feet.  I was so upset and disappointed.  Mum had to arrive at the care home on her own and when I got there the first thing she said to me was that I had let her down.  What makes it worse is the fact that I work in the hospital and can be easily contacted.  If they had only listened to my elderly mother I would have been there with her.

My mum's red cardigan has also gone missing while she was in the ward.  I never bothered to ask about this because my daughter had a pair of earrings stolen while she was an inpatient earlier this year and no one was really interested when we asked about it. 

While the care in the ward mum was given was great, I feel the communication with the family was poor.  No information regarding what was happening with mum was given unless we specifically asked for an update.  Mum was also upset at the fact doctors/nurses kept telling her she was doing great and then all of a sudden a social worker appears and tells her she isn't doing so well and isn't well enough to go home to her own house.  She cried for about 3 days because of this and said they had been telling her lies the whole time.  I feel they should have been honest with her and told her that she was struggling with the toilet and they don't feel she would cope at home.  This way she may have been prepared for the social worker coming along.