"My dad suffered a massive heart ..."

What I liked

My dad suffered a massive heart attack in January 2009 and was subsequently admitted to a&e and then ward 3.The care was fantastic,he had a further 3 admissions here and we cannot thank the doctor and his team of staff enough.He was then admitted in april to ward 4 where we found the care of him average,he was discharged a few days later with diahorrea.This condition worsened and he sought the help of his GP who explained to him that he had been refered to the endoscopy department and this confused him greatly as he had no idea what she was talking about as no one had told him anything about this.I contacted this department who explained what investigations he needed but they could not tell me who had refered him.An appointment arrived but there was no literature about anything to do with the procedure,Dad contacted the department who told him two letters had been sent out with medication enclosed but he never recieved either of them.I visited the department myself to fetch them for him.He arrived for the procedure and we agreed to pick him up when it was done,but later that afternoon my mum got a call saying they were keeping him but they would not tell her why,i can understand that maybe you wouldnt divulge this over the phone.He had been admitted to ward 34 and on our arrival a nurse was sat at a desk,we asked for my dad and she stood up and said "you do now hes got c-diff".Her manner was not particularly pleasent and i didnt appreciate my mum being spoken to like this Are your staff allowed to discuss patients conditionds in the openess of the ward for passing visitors to hear?I have to say that the remotness of the iscolation room was perplexing for my dad especially when he felt that he was treated like a lepper by some staff.Our family didnt think that things coulb be much worse until a female member of the infection control team told him he had caused a lot of trouble for the hospital but isnt c-difficile a bug caught in hospitals?Surely this cant be right!!

What could be improved

The comments made to my dad were even more poigniant when he later died,you have notices saying that you expect your staff to be treated with curtesy doesnt this extend to your patients aswell?Doesnt the hospital have a policy on confidentiality,well perhaps you could learn your staff to take the relatives somewhere private and explain the illness to them and not in the middle of the ward! Could it be that the staff dont have enough time to do this because they are rushed off their feet,perhaps the management should re-evaluate things and try a day in the life of a doctor or nurse.Your staff should learn to be courteous to patients and visitors though,especially when you are so worried about the seriousness of your relatives illness.No one really explained dads illness to us in any great lengths we found most of our information on the internet,perhaps families would benefit from your knowledge.Whenever we enquired nobody semt to know very much.

Anything else?

yes,after the lady from infection control had said what she did my parents were very upset.My dad was later transfered that evening to ward 42 but it was asif ward 34 couldnot get us out of their quickly enough.My dad was put in a wheelchair and my mother,myself and my son had to carry my dads belongings through the corridors,dont you have porters for things like this?His care on ward 42 was marvellous and he was also diagnosed with ulcerative colitis.He needed surgery for this and afterwards was taken to the critical care unit,the team on their was amazing and if you ever need to know what a true doctor or nurse should be you might try looking their.The efforts and lengths the doctor went to were fantastic.Unfortutunatley my dad died on the 27th june at 65 years old.We are so bitter about the grievances explained in light of this