"Terrible Attitude to Patients. "

My mum was admitted for a routine x-ray on 18 October 2021 and despite needing no treatment the hospital is refusing to discharge her. Initially admitted to AMU on the Monday she was transferred to A2 on Tuesday at ten minutes to midnight! There are admittedly concerns about her mobility but the OT/Physio team are refusing to discharge her. They are insisting on putting in place a care package which would mean two carers coming into the house four times per day. This is unnecessary as I am her full time carer. I had a meeting with the OT today to observe my mum's physio session: I have never witnessed as session like it. There were two people simultaneously giving my mum instruction not realising that this will just confuse her as it would anyone. They believe she needs to two carers because it took the two of the them to manage her but the reality is they were not offering her the chance to do anything without assistance. They refused to take into account little things like the chair she has at home is higher than the hospital chair and therefor easier to rise from. The space they carried out the assessment was cluttered and therefore awkward for my mum to manage. They also (in my opinion) ignored the fact my mum has advanced MS so finds it difficult to stand up straight as they kept insisting. The main problem however is that the OT is refusing to acknowledge other factors: my mum does not like strangers in her home as it makes he feel anxious; she has her own routine which we adhere to which I believe is the correct approach - having outside carers means she would have to work to their schedule rather than vice versa. To put it bluntly - she will have to pay for carers she neither wants or requires simply because the OT has deemed it necessary (it isn't).

There are other concerns. On Wednesday 20 October I was concerned my mum might have a UTI and asked a duty nurse if a urine test could be carried out. On Thursday I asked if it had been done - I also asked on Friday and Sunday and still have no answer. On Sunday 24 mum had been helped into bed wearing just her pyjama top and underwear. On Tuesday she was wearing a hospital gown which was undone and no bra. This is how she had been left all day. Is this really the dignity we should be giving elderly people? My mum is also in a ward where people have tested positive for COVID - am I really expected to believe she is safer in hospital? There is also another patient who is disruptive - I appreciate she is ill but she is constantly shouting and screaming which prevents mum from sleeping.

So to recap: a patient who needs no treating is in a ward where COVID is present and being neglected by the staff in terms of personal care and the one person who can discharge her refuses to do so. This is an appalling hospital with an appalling attitude towards patient care and safety and once my mother is retuned to us I will never step foot in here again.