"Telephone goes unanswered"

My 90 year old mother was admitted onto Ward 220 following an angiogram though we had been expecting her to be transferred back to her own hospital after the op.

As it was she had no belongings with her and was loaned a toothbrush and a comb but nothing to wash with.

I spend two days trying to find out what was happening with her.

Admissions told me promptly she was on Ward 220 and gave me 2 telephone numbers to ring, but neither number was answered (someone did pick up the phone but put it down straight away). I reckon I tried 25 times to get through.

In the end I made the 2 hour round trip journey to find out what was going on with her, only to just managing to find her before she got transferred back to her own hospital.

My sister who lives in Devon gave up trying to find out what was going on.

Whilst I was on the ward I was tempted to ring the phone number from my mobile whilst standing at the desk just to see what exactly happens!

I never got to speak to any member of staff so cannot comment on the level of care my mother received, but it comes to something when it is quicker to drive to the hospital than telephone them.

No member of staff contacted me despite all my contact details being in my mother's file.