"Staff attitude,communication,level ..."

What could be improved

Staff attitude,communication,level of care. On friday 12/06/09 my dad was referred by his gp in an ambulance and was taken to AMU.He has prostate cancer,emphisema and vascular dementia.His gp wrote a letter and printed dads med files to give to ambulance staff.They finally picked him up at approx 18.10pm.On arriving at AMU dad sat in the reception area until a bed could be found then was taken to bed 4, a lovely nurse took his stats and put him on oxygen and said a doctor would see him shortly.At 20.00pm the nightshift took over and dada wasn't seen by a doctor until we asked an extremely rude and unhelpful nurse who said the department was very busy and according to his sheet he had been seen.We told her he definately had not to which she said leave it with her. This was about 22.30pm in all that time no one had approached us or told us what was going on. the nurse then told us some feeble excuse about the doctor had picked his file up and put it somewhere else no apology and we were treated as though we were a nuisance. The doctor finally came and also didn't seem bothered in getting accurate info just getting out of the cubicle as quickly as possible. He wasn't willing to speak to us and only wanted one person to answer questions. This had to be mom who was with dad earlier in the day.She is 80,diabetic and was very tired so didn't tell him everything, I popped my head around curtain to say he had a stroke and being diagnosed with dementia recently and was treated as though I shouldn't have said anything. The doctor said dad needed a chest xray and left. We sat there again for about another hour not knowing what was going on. At about 23.45pm we asked two different nurses who said we needed to speak to the nurse but no one could find her. They eventually told us dad would be having an xray and staying in. We left at about 00.10am and dad still hadn't had xray.I am disgusted with this nurse's atitude if you do not want to help people why be a nurse????

Anything else?

Dad was taken to ward 18,where he has been all weekend.We have found him in some terrible states when we have gone to visit. He was sitting on the bed having wet himself and when I advised a nurse about changing the bed after we had changed dads clothing and got him into dry pants and pajama bottoms the nurse actually said "Has he wet himself again". I find this extremely offensive. My dad was always very clean and private but has succumbed to a terrible condition in dementia and is extremely confused.The next day my sister in law found him covered in faeces and he had tried to clean himself and had put his dirty pants in his drawer. She cleaned him and tidied up and told a nurse what had happened. While there she witnessed a nurse pullinh a very frail gentleman about and when his daughter asked the nurse to be more careful heard the nurse say she had already asked him twice to perform whatever she needed him to do. My sister in law said the nurse was very rude, so she approached a different nurse about dad's notes as it had him down as being independently mobile and able to washed himself but this is not the case as he has homehelp twice daily to wash and dress him at home and asked for this to be changed.

I don't think I have to say how disgusted I am at his treatment. We understand hospitals are busy and you have to wait your turn but what I don't understand is rudeness, no communication,lack of knowledge,lack of care,no patience and just a general feeling of we can get away with anything from most of the staff.

I would love to see other people's opinions and stories as I know we are not alone as evertime I set foot into Good Hope I speak to someone who always tells me another even more horrifying story.