"Fair staff, cock-eyed systems"

My father was in for a month for a hip replacement. Plus points: the staff were amenable and polite and the place seemed clean.

But over the days of visiting I was constantly surprised by what seemed to me to be an almost total lack of communication and systems. Seldom did anyone I spoke to seem to know the patient's progress - nurses would refer me to doctors who would refer me to physiotherapists who would complete the circle to another who was not on duty.

Medical monitoring was done but haphazardly. A nurse came in to record BP, pulse and temperature; she left and 20 minutes later another arrived to do the same. When my father insisted that it had been done just recently, she denied this. My confirmation prompted two other colleagues to search their records to find that nothing had been recorded. No problem, but where is the system?

I heard a doctor examining a patient behind screeens confided loudly to the nurse helping her that they had no idea what's happening to half the patients here. Worrying. They also was not sure if another patient, already dressed and told he was being discharged, was to be discharged, but, they had "heard something on the grapevine".

After three weeks I noticed that my father's menu sheet had been newly designated DIABETIC. Since he was still eating chocolates, I discretely asked a nurse if this was OK. She said that he wasn't diabetic, but the three red stickers had been put on in error. No problem, but what did the real diabetic get to eat?

In my opinion the staff seems pleasant enough but the whole operation, an amateurish shambles propped up by scraps of paper and some sort of "grapevine" system. I am grateful for the skill of the surgeons, care and facilities, but feel for the line staff. I think you should bring back Matron