"Poor Post-operative care in Gynae ward"

Recently my mother underwent a laparascopic procedure, and her care in ward 208 (I believe a temporary home for ward 211) really fell short of what I expected from Aberdeen Royal Infirmary as we have in the past had much better experiences.

I spoke to her in the evening after her surgery, and could hardly speak to her as she was vomiting. When I then spoke to the nurses I was told that she could not have any anti-sickness as "she had already had that in theatre".

When I also asked the nurses about pain relief, as she said she was sore, I was told "sorry we can't give her anything for pain when she is being sick". I suggested perhaps an injection? and they said they would ask the doctor.

Any time I phoned the ward, it was very difficult to get some-one to answer, and staff frequently wouldn't tell me how she was getting on, suggesting that I phoned her mobile phone and making it clear that the call was an inconvenience.

She was discharged a few days later, however without any instructions about do's and don'ts etc, she was told that all the information leaflets had been packed away as the ward was moving back to where it normally was. Investigations before her operation indicated that she would need to be started on some new medication. She was given this without any instructions on how often or when to take this - it was not labelled either.

Unfortunately only a few hours after discharge, I had to take her back to A&E with vomiting and fever. She could not self-refer to the ward as instructed, as they would not answer the phone, it rang and rang until it cut off. That night, despite assurances someone would call me, no one did, so after a couple of hours I called the ward, only to be told "there's nothing to tell you at the moment, why don't you just call in the morning". This was far from reassuring as I was really concerned about her.

Following investigations, she was discharged 3 days later, still not able to eat or drink very much at all, and when we unpacked her tablets, the anti-sickness tablets had been missed out. Apparently the nurse had told her that if she wanted them she would have to wait for quite some time and this would delay her getting home. She was so keen to leave the ward, she just accepted this, which of course meant her GP had to arrange some later that day.

I would say that she is still recovering very slowly, and both of us are now really apprehensive about any further admissions.

However there were two staff who deserve a mention, as mum tells me they were very kind and their care was excellent. I think one of these nurses might have been the only person to actually update me on her progress once when I called, so I appreciate that.