"Poor care of the elderly at Lewisham Hospital"

My father of 91 was admitted with a urine infection, which caused delirium. In the second week they initiated the discharge procedure without our knowledge, to send him home on a care package that was no longer suitable, due to the lack of mental capacity caused by his illness. We had to plead with nurses to keep him in, because we felt he was not well enough to go home.

They tested him the next day and found he had another infection, so they kept him in. We knew that the discharge procedure had been initiated, because several people from the hospital discharge team phoned me about 3 times over the weekend to ask if my father had arrived home safely! It took 2 months to decide he needed to go to a care home, even though I told them that from the beginning.

They do not have enough staff to have a nurse in the cohort bay, which my father is in, at all times. When visiting my father, I was asked a few times to look out for patients who were at risk of falling. 

The communication with relatives is poor. They had no restrictions on visitors, or any visible guidance about how visitors should behave in an elderly care ward. The majority of visitors did not wear masks, there was not enough visible hand sanitiser on the ward.

To have the hand sanitiser outside of the ward door is useless, because you still have to touch the door. A visitor with no mask and a persistent cough was allowed to visit a relative in my father's bay on 2 occasions. I told the ward manager the next day and I was met with rudeness and indifference. She said that she couldn't tell people what to do and that they were following government guidelines. 

My father was ill with a chest infection. My sister and I noticed that our father's breathing was not normal. We told the nurses, who said his observations were normal. It took 3 days for doctors to realise something was wrong, he was then put on antibiotics and oxygen.

They only put in restrictions in the bay my father was in. Visitors were still allowed to visit the rest of the ward with no guidance, with still the majority of visitors not wearing masks. I sent an email to one of the ward managers, pleading with her to take action. It was not until covid had spread to the rest of the ward that restrictions put in place.

The reality is that covid figures started to rise 3 weeks ago and measures could have been put in place earlier. It may not have prevented the virus from getting in, but we will never get a chance to know that.

Older people deserve a lot more respect and care than what they are getting from Lewisham Hospital.