"Some of the staff were lovely, but not all were"

My husband passed away last month, spending his final days in Dunoon Hospital.

Whilst some of the staff were lovely, caring people, kindness itself, not all staff were.

My husband needed a bottle, I buzzed for staff and when they came they started to speak to my husband. This was fine. However, I explained I had buzzed as he needed a bottle to which the response was that he had not asked for one.

The door on his room banged shut if it was left to swing closed by itself. This startled my husband each time to the point that if I was with him I would try and catch the door before it banged whenever someone came in or left the room. Someone even said the door needed to be reported to the maintenance people to stop it from banging shut. I said it did not bang if it was closed manually. When staff came in the next time, they made a great show of closing the door and not letting it bang shut. It made me feel as if I was causing a fuss over nothing.

On another occasion, a doctor had come in to see my husband. My daughter was with me at the time, with other staff also present. After the doctor had checked my husband and spoken to him, he went to speak to the other staff and said that he may not be in for a few days as he felt he was coming down with flu. My daughter overheard this and was concerned as her father was so frail. After the doctor had left, she asked staff if the room should perhaps be sprayed to lower the risk of infection. Action was taken, but with a lack of grace which left my daughter at a loss for words, although it was acknowledged (the following day) that my daughter had been right.

When my husband did pass away, I felt that staff kept asking me questions. Surely this could have waited? I asked what would happen next. I was told a porter would put the body in a body bag and take it to the morgue. I felt this was so insensitive. Surely there are less brutal ways of explaining what would happen?

As I said, some of the staff were wonderful and lovely and I am grateful for their treatment of both my husband and myself.