"Poor staff."

I hate giving negative reviews about the NHS, but I feel I must speak out regarding my dads stay in Brentwood Community Hospital on Thorndon Ward. He had two stints in BCH over the last seven weeks and during this time, both myself and my sister came close to discharging my dad. The first time he was in he was moved late in the afternoon from Basildon Hospital and so missed his dinner, all he was offered was an egg mayonnaise sandwich. Overall the food was very poor, on one day my dad was offered the same meal twice in one day! Dad is not a fussy eater, but he was not given any choice regarding his meals, he ate what he was given. What if he had any food allergies or dietary requirements? He also has a number of pumps to help his breathing, the nurse who admitted him wanted to take them away from him but my dad wouldn’t allow her two take them and she became rather abrupt towards him. Overall his first stay in Brentwood was not good, the food was very poor and staff were rude and noisy. He was then moved back to Basildon where his care was exemplary and they looked after him well, he was then unexpectedly moved back to Brentwood for physiotherapy. The physio he got here, in their defence, was very good and the physios did encourage dad well. But again the conduct of the nurses was very poor. Whenever I used to call dad on his mobile, the ward was so noisy, because nurses were shouting down the corridors to each other. This is very unprofessional and not fair on the patients who are in hospital to recuperate and get better. As for trying to get through to the ward to speak to a doctor about my dads care, that was near impossible. There were times when I’d be calling and letting the phone ring for 4-5 minutes. Yes, I understand that the NHS is overworked and understaffed, but when I am informed that nurses are sitting at the desk chatting and letting the phone ring, this is very unacceptable.

Dad was eventually discharged and was allowed to come home, and he was so relieved that when he was told he was coming home, he cried. But the straw that broke the camels back came last night, when I was putting dad to bed, when his catheter came out. While he was in Brentwood he asked for his catheter to be changed as it was due to be changed. The nurse who did it was inexperienced and was being supervised by a doctor, I can only assume it was not done correctly, as when the catheter came out, the baloon hadn’t been inflated to stop it coming out.

All in all, my family are not pleased with Brentwood Community Hospital one little bit. If you can avoid staying here, do so.

Avoid.