"Patchy care"

My partner was taken to A and E with a head injury and pain to his shoulder and hip after a fall from the result of a seizure on Tuesday evening. The care he received was patchy and not very thorough. The Registrar who stitched the would was was pleasant in manner but when asked questions about aftercare, ie how long should the stitches be in, etc, said that they should really know but didn't. The doctor left and didn't come back with any answers.

The X Ray was only of his shoulder despite him explaining that he had recently had a hip replacement and it was sore. Once it was established that his shoulder had not been injured he was told that he could go home.

He had told them that he had a weakened left side due to a stroke, and couldn't walk without the aid of a stick (which he hadn't brought due to the emergency admission) and that he hadn't tried to stand since the fall a few hours earlier, but that seemed to have been overlooked.

He was told that a nurse would come to see if he could stand, if not they could keep him in overnight but there were no beds available at that time so he would have to sleep where he was in the cubicle.

A nurse came in, we asked about the wound that had been stitched but had not been covered as it was still weeping. The nurse said they would clean it and that the saline solution might sting, however it was more the rough nature applied to my partner's face (bursting a blood blister in the process) rather than the saline that hurt.

The nurse then helped my partner get up, established he could stand and helped him into a porter's chair. My partner was then wheeled at breakneck speed out into reception and was gone.

My partner wasn't given guidance about head injuries despite the face he had fallen from standing onto his head (he had received a booklet in the past about what to look out for), or asked if I was going home with him or had anyone to stay with him. There was no advice about what to do about the stitches, how long they should be left or where to go to get them removed.

It was very haphazard and it felt as if they wanted to get my partner out as soon as possible. Now much sign of care or empathy.