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"Shocked by the difference in standards in the..."

About: Ipswich Hospital

I have no fault with the initial treatment of my husband. A&E and CCU were beyond amazing and I truly felt he was being cared for and our unique family situation was respected.( I have medical problems and our son is autistic, husband is our main carer) . If you have a friend or family member needing A&E or CCU, I'd highly recommend those departments. However - a recent transfer to Stradbroke Ward has left me terrified for my husband's welfare and that of our family generally. They don't have a little star box for the real problems or that allows for the massive differences in standards within the same hospital. My husband has been involved with various departments, but you have no option in your drop boxes for 'various'. I have no fault with A&E or CCU. I was humbled by the levels of excellence I witnessed in those areas. I am devastated by the disgusting environment he was dumped in tonight. Up until today I would happily have given every single person I came into contact with 5 stars. I couldn't care less if my husband had been placed in a ward with male or female patients, provided it was clean and the staff had even a vague interest in him, my family and his recovery. Mainly because the ward / hovel ( stradbroke) that he has been dumped into - smells bad and is visibly unclean. My niece was in this ward a few weeks ago, I thought the hygiene was lacking then, she was in for tests, not recovery, so she had no open surgery sites to infect and I still felt it was dirty, overheated and not helping her general health in any shape whatsoever. Tonight, I burst into tears when I saw the dirty conditions in which I was forced to leave my husband, he needs a good, clean, supportive, environment to get well enough to come home. This is not it, not even close! My husband has been seriously ill, he was given only hours to live twelve days ago, yet a patient who was that ill, not to mention, a patient with a history of depression, already had a bad day before the transfer - the depression had been noted by those who did an excellent job in ccu, however, the new ward staff where rude and unhelpful regarding my concerns about his mental health and didn't seem overly concerned with his physical needs. He has an open tracheotomy and given the cleanliness of the ward and the general disinterest of the staff, within a matter of minutes - I have gone from feeling he was in good hands and completely confident he will recover well with the CCU team, to feeling terrified his wound will become infected due to the dirty conditions or his depression will become significantly worse and hinder his recovery... How is it even possible the same hospital has such shockingly varied standards of hygiene and care? Like I said, I am devastated by the change in standards. I am more worried about him on that ward than I was informed he might not make it through the night.

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Responses

Response from Ipswich Hospital 9 years ago
Ipswich Hospital
Submitted on 08/08/2014 at 13:00
Published on nhs.uk on 09/08/2014 at 04:00


I am deeply concerned at your poor patient experience. I know that you are already in touch with our PALs team but please do ring me directly on 01473 702087 - Nick Hulme, Chief Executive.

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