"Problems with staffing levels"

Sorry that I am posting again, my husband has been admitted for the third time since 9th June and this time it looks like his issues which are complex will be resolved so that he may be discharged I am hoping to a community hospital before he comes home this time to ensure he is well and stable and does not have to go through all the anguish that he has.

As usual communication with the ward is difficult as you have to phone and phone to get an answer as the staff do not have enough time to look after patients and answer the phone.  I am upset tonight as I get a call from my husband who is 70 and he is sat in just underpants on a bed with just a sheet and is very cold. he has been treated for a tumour in his throat and has on going issues, he is Peg fed and currently has a chest infection/pneumonia right side, he had issues with a build up of toxins in his system. He has a catheter at the moment again and hopefully it will be left in long enough this time to resolve his issues, anyway he has a number of things to contend with.

My issue is that he rang his buzzer as he needed the commode as he has an upset tummy due to feed and anti-biotics. He got no answer so phoned me at home as he was in great need and cannot make it to the toilet. By the time I managed to get through to the ward by phone and they get someone in to him the poor man has soiled himself. He is cleaned up and left in bed in just underpants and a sheet. He suffers from the cold as the best of times and he needed to have some clothing. So he phones me again and by now time has elapsed and it's coming onto half an hour he is like this. I tell him to buzz for a nurse again whilst I am on the phone after a while we get a staff member who I speak to, stating that he has been left like this for over half an hour now and he's cold, I get told that they are short staffed and cannot get around to patients as quickly as they need to.

I am really not happy at this and request that they get him some clothes straight away and blankets. The staff member goes off to get drugs for him and to arrange this, another 15/20 mins pass and I have stayed on the phone with my husband as he is upset and getting agitated not surprisingly. I told him ring your buzzer again and he did, we get someone back after 5 mins, I say he is still waiting for some clothes and blankets. This time I am told that assistants were told but are in with another patient who had soiled themselves and could not leave them!

Now I am getting a tad irritated not at the staff member directly but at the way they are meant to work, they have told me they are way understaffed and cannot look after the patients as they should be. He is on a medical ward, what if he was buzzing as it WAS a medical emergency? It seems he would get NO response in a timely manner and could come to harm! I said I expect him to be dressed now and given blankets. Also he had his mobile taken away the night before and was told he could not call me through the night or have his tv on. He is in a room on his own so having the tv on should not be an issue and he knows he can phone me at anytime during the night if he wants to and I have told the staff this.

He is feeling degraded and spoken down to abruptly by staff and even though they not be doing so it is coming across that way as they are in a rush all the time and cannot spend time with him to explain things, which he needs as due to the infections he has suffered confusion and also prior to admission he suffers panic attacks, anxiety and depression for which he is being treated for by his GP. 

He needs some reassurance which I feel he is not getting, when I am on the phone with him I hear how he is spoken to and see why he feels that way. The staff are under pressure and seemingly cannot deliver the level of care they should be able to and indeed want to. Also, I asked why he had both side bed guards up as he felt trapped, they did not know why and would have to look into it, he does not need them up and I asked for them to be taken down.

With not being able to visit he feels scared and abandoned not just by me but by the staff as well and I feel helpless being so far from him and not being able to see him to reassure him. This cannot be right can it??