"NHS= Not Here Saturday ( or Sunday or Bank..."

My dear late Mother ( herself a retired SNO and Ward Sister ) was unfortunate enough to spend the last 18 days of her life at Pinderfields - the majority on Ward 44 - it was a dreadful and distressing experience for us all. There were far too many people involved in my Mother's "care" , lots of relief / cover / agency staff who were not well informed and unable to give accurate pictures of what was happening - I turned to the pink file , which was so full of inaccuracies it could have been written by Barbara Cartland , only to have another relief nurse tell me I wasn't allowed to look at it ! There were so many staff who thought it was acceptable to use the most negative terminology regarding Mum in front of her eg "no potential for rehabilitation" " advanced cognitive impairment" " you do realise your Mother could die in the ambulance" etc etc. My Mother was a very great deal more aware of what was going on than they were giving her credit for and she was very scared at what was happening to her. She spent most of her time on a 4 bedded ward next to a lady who was shouting all day and night - she kept telling me to go and see what this lady wanted - even the priest who gave Mum the last rites at 3.00 am in the morning said " well i would say I'll leave you in peace but ....." I know it wasn't this lady's fault but it did add to the distress.Mum was also terrified when a male patient from somewhere else came and started going through all her belongings - he was taken away but was back 10 minutes later and trying to get into bed with the lady diagonally opposite Mum ! I thought there was a distinct lack of humanity and compassion on this ward - one member of the nursing staff was particularly abrasive and a registrar who came in to see Mum , when this member of staff was being rather vitriolic said " what have I walked in on?" and then stayed to help with Mum - which was good of him. - but I didn't need that so close to losing my Mum !! There were far too many blood tests - My Mother's arms , hands and fingers were black with all the attempts to get blood from her - a physiotherapist also insisted on a head scan and when she was brought back my brother said they hadn't been gentle with her. Eventually we managed to get Mum home and we had her for 3 hours - she slipped away very peacefully holding my hand - but it was in spite of all those people who pontificated about what was right for Mum - they did not know her or what was right for her - if they had had their way she would have died on ward 44 - on her own !!