"Contacting my Mum in Hospital."

My Mum is currently in Hospital being assessed. I live several hundred miles away. I rang the Ward direct several times when I heard she was admitted but the phone just cut off saying"user busy". I rang at several different times of the day. Same experience.

I rang the central switchboard number this morning and asked to speak to the ward. I waited on line for ten minutes listening to recorded music...without being reassured by the operator...and gave up then as I had an appointment. I rang again in the last hour, explained my experience to the operator, was put through to the Ward. I received help from a member of Staff and they enabled me to speak direct to my Mother, for which I thank them very much.

Having worked in the NHS for 37 years myself before retiring I am a huge fan, and I do not like to complain. However, if wards are so busy they cannot answer the phone they are clearly lacking staff, both clinical and admin, and this places undue pressure on them and is harmful to those in their care. The infrastructure, that leads to phones in Hospitals being unanswered, is clearly inadequate and those in charge of the Hospital should be raising this at the highest levels.

The Nurse I eventually spoke to was extremely helpful and my Mum spoke highly of the care she is receiving. However the clinical staff are clearly being let down by the support systems around them.