"No information"

My husband was admitted to ward 2 with a stroke on the 10th October 2015 and stayed there for five days receiving first class care and treatment throughout, I on the other hand had a completely different experience.

It was a deeply distressing time to cope with and I was very upset indeed. Apart from the odd bout of flu my husband had never been ill during our marriage so this stroke, coming out of the blue as it did, was a huge and frightening experience for both of us.

On arrival at Durham Hospital I immediately asked for information but received none, nor did I get any throughout the entire time he was in.

I understand how stressed the nurses are and the doctors overworked but if someone could have spared just five minutes to explain the situation to me I cannot begin to say what a difference that would have made. As it was I was left completely in the dark regarding my husband’s condition with no idea how his treatment was going or even the duration of his stay, what the follow-up was to be or the long-term prognosis. I was terrified to be honest and this was not helped by the fact that I had to field calls from concerned friends and relatives 24/7 and couldn’t tell them anything!

Please, please address this situation for future relatives as this just compounded an already difficult circumstance making it very disturbing indeed.