"The Sister that looked after my ..."

What I liked

The Sister that looked after my mum in her final few days was second to none. As was the level of 90% of the staff that worked on the ward. Alot can be learnt from this team. Social worker assigned to the hospital is worth their weight in gold, i really dont know what i would have done without them.

What could be improved

Communication between various departments within the hospital and with GP/community team. Communication between Hospital (anyone) and myself as primary carer and next of Kin. Tighter control of night staff on many of the wards. A&E - could actually care for incoming patients rather than leave them sitting alone for the maximum 4 hours before patients are shipped off to become someone elses problem - go to West Mid A&E, you could learn alot. Car parking is bad - no parking close to the Chemo suite is one example. There is no support at all for carers or family memebrs who are new to hospital regular hospital visits and overall no real sense of caring for the patient.

The overwhelming feeling is communication is a very very serious failure within this hospital closely followed by a basic lack of care in 3 out of the 4 wards we spent time in. In short, there are so many improvements that i, not medically trained, nor a carer, just a daughter looking after her mum can spot - it's frightening.

Anything else?

The hospital itself is a disgrace. There is no communication with anyone and no-one knows what is going on. The cleanliness of alot of the wards leaves alot to be desired. Treatment of patients, especially elderly people is frighteningly poor. I am in the process of putting together a report of the experience i had with kingston hospital, so hopefully, things will change. At present, even if i was outside the gate and needed emergency treatment, i would go to another hospital or not bother rather than go in there.