"Staff were busy but still found time to give me a proper update"

My Aunt was admitted via A&E, and ended up in Kerensa ward. I live many miles away, so I needed to call to find out how she was bearing up.  I am her next of kin.  The staff in A&E (majors) and Kerensa were really helpful. They were very busy, but still found time to give me proper information on her state of health and give her excellent care. When she began to improve, their wonderful activity team were brilliant in helping her engage with day to day life each day. A much better option than leaving patients to just sit or lie in bed. When she moved to a community hospital to continue her care, they fully informed me of when, where, and what procedures were in place.

Contrast this with the community hospital that she went to to convalesce.  Whilst she was well looked after, they could not give better information than ‘she’s fine’ or ‘same as yesterday’. She is also being discharged and her care package does not start till the day after she arrives home. She does get some lunch and some meds, but the person who advised me of the discharge couldn’t confirm what arrangements actually were in place as she had not checked them yet.  This is disturbing as this is not what you want to hear when someone who is nearly 93 is sent home on her own.

People always bash busy hospitals, but I feel that the contrast between Royal Cornwall and some of the others is rather dramatic.