"Lack of Communication "

My father was admitted to the PRH on 3/12/20, suffering with several things including confusion, leg weakness etc. Whilst I cannot fault any of the medical attention that he received (that we are aware of) I am extremely upset and frustrated by the lack of communication between the medical team and my family. Considering that my father was suffering with confusion I would expect staff to liaise with his family with regards to his treatment, diagnosis etc. which was not the case. We have had to constantly contact the hospital to get any information regarding my Dad and his condition, we have left numerous messages asking for staff to contact us which have not been returned. This has been an extremely traumatic experience for my family, especially since being in the PRH my Dad contracted COVID which meant that a 1 week stay has now lasted 7 weeks. I have left various messages for people in different departments, I have contacted PALS on several occasions and they also rarely got a response. I understand that it is all a little crazy at the moment and everyone is extremely busy but a prime example of the total lack of care and communication received from the PRH and certain departments is that when we called to check on him on Tuesday (12/1/21) he was due to be transferred to an offsite care home to continue his rehabilitation and recuperation on Thursday (14/1/21). We received a call from one of the lovely nurses looking after my Dad at 10.30 this morning (14/1) to say the transfer was going ahead and he would be leaving at 1.30pm. It is now 3pm and we have still not received a call from the discharge department to inform us of the transfer and to let us know about what care/rehab plans have been put in place for him etc. If it wasn’t for the nurse contacting us to let my Dad speak to my Mum before he left the hospital we wouldn’t even know the transfer was going ahead. This has been an extremely upsetting experience for both my parents who are both in their 70’s. Please please please communicate with the families because in the current climate when we can’t visit loved ones in hospital, we can’t FaceTime because the WiFi signal is so bad or the patient is suffering with confusion and is unable to hold a telephone conversation. This is the only way we can ensure that our loved ones are ok, which helps to ease our stress and anxiety.