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"Some wards are ok some abysmal"

About: The Queen Elizabeth Hospital (King's Lynn)

My 95 year old grandfather has recently had a three week stay in the Q E First let me point out that I know he is 95 and I know that he is not going to be treated for anything acute - he's old I get it. When do the doctors and nurses give alternative reasons as to why he was admitted? I know why I was the one who called for an ambulance and traveled with him to hospital. Yes he had had a fall but he went because of a suspected TIA because he was slurring his speech, when we got to A & E they thought he might have had a heart attack - yes he had a fall but the cause of it was unknown - don't tell me he was only admitted because he had a fall he wasn't. A and E was ok (a long wait but that's the department), MAU was ok. Terrington ward was awful with one nurse telling me what was wrong with him and no matter how much I argued they were right - I don't think so.. It wasn't until I went above their head and spoke to the lead nurse on the ward that I got some answers. Miraculously blood results which wouldn't be available until the next day were suddenly there. OK they showed he hadn't had a heart attack but we still didn't know why he had a fall. This is a 95 year old man who lives alone apart from one care visit a day to make his lunch. He's gone from that to a man that needs a permanent catheter cannot walk more than ten steps before he's nearly falling over and is being admitted into a care home on Monday. Windsor ward is lovely, a nurse even came up and introduced themself to me, and told me to speak to them if I needed anything. But although it was nice It still had problems. There are some fantastic people on that ward, one who I witnessed being so patient and kind with a dementia patient who was trying to hit them with his walking frame and most definitely didn't want to go back to bed, the nurses and the ward sister, who arranged for a CT scan of grandads head because he was still slurring and had taken a turn for the worse (my daughter who went to visit her great grandad found him head down, feet up because of low blood pressure but couldn't wake him up and thought that he had passed away). Unfortunately some weren't so good, the nurse who insisted they wanted to weigh my grandad, who just wanted to go to bed because he wasn't feeling well and let his PJ bottoms fall down in full view of other patients and their visitors or the doctor whose only answer to any question was that they had only started working on the ward that day and didn't know anything about him -( try reading his notes then ) and who wouldn't believe me that I knew he had a urine infection which wasn't treated for three days even though the day before a lovely on call doctor had changed his catheter and released over a litre of urine that was the colour of milky tea (and I have a photo as proof if you would like to see it). All in all not a fantastic experience.

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Responses

Response from The Queen Elizabeth Hospital 8 years ago
The Queen Elizabeth Hospital
Submitted on 04/08/2015 at 16:57
Published on nhs.uk on 05/08/2015 at 02:30


Thank you for posting a very balanced and detailed resume of your grandfather’s recent stay in hospital. I am sorry that there were times when we clearly did not manage his care appropriately and when staff did not either listen to you or take responsibility for checking facts before making decisions. It is a shame that these experiences have eclipsed those in which staff delivered care in an appropriate, supportive and compassionate way. I will share your comments with the medical and nursing teams for all these ward areas and departments. I would be happy to have a more detailed look at his care should you wish to contact me directly. I hope that his health has now stabilized and that he is able to return to his home. Claire Roberts Associate Director of Patient Experience Tel: 01553 613459 or email: claire.roberts@qehkl.nhs.uk

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