"Really poor experience this time"

I am writing this on behalf of an elderly relative who has just been discharged from hospital this week.

She went into hospital following what appeared to be a new stroke (she has had multiple strokes in the past).

When I checked her discharge paperwork, it showed that she was discharged with something completely different!

There is a lack of communication between A and E and MAU ward (and continuing onto other wards).

When she went into hospital via Ambulance the staff were given a "DNAR" (AAND), this got to A and E, but never made its way up to the ward.

At this point I had to bring in a copy of the form and then a new one was made on the ward.

Around a week before discharge, my relative started to do 'strange' things that are completely out of character for her.

She was more confused than normal and became unable to walk or move as normal (this is not normal for her).

When I brought this up with the sister on the ward and staff nurses I kept being told not to worry.

I had asked for an MDT meeting and to engage a social worker where I was told by an OT that I am not entitled to a social worker and not entitled to a carers assessment.

Again I flagged this with the staff and managers who said they would deal with it.

We are now at a position that she is at home, she says that she 'feels' unwell and not herself and also knows she is struggling to walk, use the commode or get to the bathroom.

No matter what we told the staff, they appear to either forget as they are so busy or just ignore relatives.

At one point I actually visited with her own carers who backed me up and said she is not at her baseline.

We had asked for a specific plan of rehab to be put in place but the hospital discharged to home.

To show that this was not a one-off on the ward...

One lady in the next bed needed to use the toilet, she pressed her buzzer, 10 minutes later a nurse came and said a carer would be there in a few minutes.

She had to press her button a total of 6 times over a one hour period before soiling herself in her chair.

I saw this happen not just once - when you tell the sisters and staff nurses, they just say that they are busy.

We have been to this hospital many times and never had cause to complain.

But it is worrying that there are signs up at the hospital saying you are not allowed to take any photos or videos of patients or staff, even if there are problems...!