"My mum"

My mum was first admitted to the Queen Elizabeth hospital having broken her right hip and was eventually discharged to Gartnaval Hospital for rehabilitation after receiving a partial hip replacement. My mum is 89 years of age and has Vascular Dementia. Unfortunately my mum suffered two dislocations and the Doctors advised against a third procedure. So it was back to Gartnaval for a further rehabilitation assessment.

Whilst in Gartnaval my mum tested positive for Covid.  Prior to the Covid outbreak I visited my mum most days wearing PPE to help feed her however after the outbreak visiting stopped and was replaced with anxious phone calls regarding my mum's health! I have full Guardianship and have always taken a very active role in my mum's care! However it became apparent during the course of these phone calls that accessing the information that I needed was not forthcoming! Extracting information  other than the perfunctory "you're mum's fine but her appetite is very poor"  from staff was like pulling teeth! I felt like I was an irritant holding staff back from other duties and when I did press for further information it was vague, contradictory and inaccurate! Giving the impression that their was little collaboration with colleagues!

 I was losing confidence in their ability to look after my mum! Despite the fact that up until this point my mum had received excellent care! I am all too aware of the heroic efforts and sacrifices being made by hospital staff at this challenging time.  However I   I would have thought effective and accurate communication would be a crucial component in all steps of the health care process especially during a pandemic when families only means of communication is limited to phone-calls.