"Watford Hospital falsifying record of times that patient medication was given "

My mother in law awoke in the night (5am) and realised that she hadn't been given her latest dose of medication that was supposed to be given at 2am. She got out of bed and went to the nurses station where she was told that when the nurse came round at 2am my mother in law was asleep and so she decided not to wake her up to give her her medication! A nurse then gave her her medicine at 5. 30 am. We were visiting the next day in the evening and at 7. 15 pm a nurse came and gave my mother in law her medication. When the nurse left my mother in law commented that this presumably was her 6pm dose. (My mother in law had had a serious operation and the previous hospital had made it very clear that it was vital that this medicine was given every 4 hours. ) I went to the nurses desk and asked to see my mother in laws medication chart. The chart was just being completed by the nurse who had given the medicine at 7. 15 pm and she had completed it saying that she had given it at 6 pm! This was clearly false as we had been at the bedside when it was given and my mother in law had commented on the time. The record for the previous night was also totally inaccurate saying that my mother in law had received her medication at 2 am, 6 am, 10 am, 2 pm etc. I asked if we could speak to the doctor in charge. The doctor came to see us at my mother in law's bedside and we explained what had happened. I asked if he could make a note on my mother in laws record of the times that the medication had actually been administered so that if my mother in law had a bad turn anyone looking at her record would see that she hadn't been given her medicine at the correct time. The doctor said he would do so and that he would ensure that she was given further dosages every 4 hours as required. We left my mother in law with an alarm clock that she set for every 4 hours to ensure that she received her medication at the correct times going forwards. I also phoned the desk in the ward at just after 11. 15 pm that night to check that my mother in law received medicines at the correct time (which she had).

As an aside when my mother in law was discharged from Watford a few days later we found that Watford Hospital had done NONE of the tests that the transferring hospital had requested that they carry out. We subsequently arranged these as out patient appointments at a local hospital and fortunately my mother in law has made a good recovery.

Would I recommend Watford General Hospital to anyone? NO