"Staff were friendly, polite, doctors ..."

What I liked

Staff were friendly, polite, doctors treated my grandmother well.

What could be improved

Hygiene - Dirty - my grandmother caught Clostridium Difficile on her first admission in Dec 08 with a lung infection. She was in and out over the next six months with recurrent bouts which delayed treatment of her lung condition as she was too ill. Over this period my mother cleaned the rooms my grandmother was isolated in as we found faeces on the toilet from previous occupant, old dressings on the floor, etc on more than one occasion - patient liaison was involved two or three times. When the cleaners entered the room, unless requested to clean more fully by my mother, they simply passed a mop over the footfall area, not under the beds, etc

Systems - Hospital lost a stool sample twice so my grandmother was untreated for one c.diff recurrence for 3 days as they could not confirm diagnosis - when the patient is 93 years and 7 stone severe sickness and diarrhoea for three days can severly reduce survival chances. In the same period I had a pre-chemo blood test done in the hospital and they lost that too until a member of staff physically walked the hospital and traced the sample from where the blood had been drawn onwards.

Patient/Visitor awareness - In Dec 08 when my grandmother caught the C. Diff some members of staff would admit that there was a problem on the wards then others would poo-poo the idea and say there was no issue; blatently untrue.

Morale - Doctors are frustrated

Anything else?

Staff try and they're friendly and kind, but they face an uphill struggle.