At the moment due to covid I am allowed to visit my brother once a week for one hour he is allowed one visitor per week.
As I cannot have a conversation with my brother I normally just talk and sometimes I get a one word reply sometimes I am lucky and get two, we watch a movie together and I enjoy feeding him.
On my last visit I was stroking his head and he fell asleep, the nurse had kindly brought him a cup of Milk a yoghurt and some ice cream, I kept saying to him "are you going to wake up and have your ice cream" but he was so comfortable he didnt, I even asked the nurse if he had had any medication as he was so tired. When he woke up I said to him you have slept for nearly an hour, he proceeded to drink his milk all in one go, he also finished his melted ice cream in record time I had just opened his yoghurt when the nurse came in to tell me the visit was over. I asked if I could finish feeding him his yoghurt the nurse went to ask another member of staff and came back saying NO it is 25 to, I had been visiting for 1 hour 5 Min.The nurse kindly said that they would feed my brother the rest of the yoghurt. All in all it must have taken my brother 5 min to drink the milk and eat the ice cream and 3 spoons of yoghurt what would have 2 more minutes mattered where is the Empathy and Compassion?
I was speechless. I left the ward and asked a lovely nurse if they could relay a message to the member of staff that made the decision to not allow me to stay longer on my visit. I would have preferred the response to have been told to me in person rather than having it relayed to me as I left feeling that yet another visit had been ruined.
About a month ago when I visited this same person was on shift, when leaving I asked a nurse if I could collect my brothers watch they were reluctant to look for it saying they did not know anything about it they had just come on shift. I had been asked in a telephone conversation with another staff member to collect my brothers watch from reception. I found these 3 staff members to be quite rude. I pointed to the desk and said the person I had spoken to on the phone had said it would be lying there and they found it right away, seemingly it is called a station not reception.I was going to take a photograph of the broken watch to show that I had received it for my records. One of the members of staff said that I had asked about the watch told me in no certain terms that I should not be taking photographs in the hospital. I put her mind at rest reassuring them that I only took photographs of things concerning my Brother as after not being able to visit for 4 months due to covid a few serious things needed addressed and all photographs I took I send a copy for the wards records.
"Visiting my brother"
About: Royal Cornhill Hospital / Older Adult Mental Health Royal Cornhill Hospital Older Adult Mental Health Aberdeen AB25 2ZH
Posted by Wisteria (as ),
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