"Friendliness of staff and wonderful ..."

What I liked

Friendliness of staff and wonderful care of my mother in law. The care given is not in question.

What could be improved

Communication between staff over visiting arrangements while Norovirus affecting the hospital...Ward 14, my brother was told that visiting was only for the first person to arrive at 2pm for the whole day when the day before 2 were allowed at either session so he was not able to visit as Dad was already there. Dad went on the bus on his own that night...he is 79 and lives in Tamworth...got home at 9.30pm! I called the ward that night to clarify the rules for visiting to be told that they were unaware of any restrictions and to call the next day to speak to day staff. I rang next day to be told that only 1 person to a bed but if more wanted to see her then we could wait outside the ward and swap over. 3 of us went to visit later to be told that because dad had been at 2pm he was the only one to be able to visit...no swapping! I was cross and told the staff so, but making clear it wasn't their fault and we visited as planned,swapping as we had been told we could. Another lady had rung an hour before, to see if she could bring her son,12, to see his dad and was told she could but was told on entrance that he wasn't allowed! She was livid and took him in anyway!...If there is a virus problem it would be better to ban visiting altogether or have a notice by the telephone for all staff to see so the same information is given to all visitors. We kept to one person per bed but many patients had 2 or more that night so all rules were broken......see below.

Also I gave my mobile number for the staff to communicate with me about any change in my mother in law or if they needed to contact us for any reason....this was written down in the patient notes but they called Dad who is deaf... left messages on the BT answerphone which he doesn't know how to use and wondered why we weren't getting the messages !! My number was given for a reason and I've carried the phone with me waiting for calls that do not come !! Communication, communication thats all we ask for !!!

Anything else?

My family and I rigidly adhere to using the hand gels provided for cleansing on entry to the wards of every hospital we visit...we don't want to contribute to spreading diseases! While waiting outside ward 14, to swap to see my mother in law, I noted various people coming and going through the doors and NOT using gel.....10+ nursing/medical staff, 3 porters pushing patients in wheelchairs/hospital bed, 1 delivery man with large parcel, 0 visitors!! This goes to show who is more concientious about cleanliness.....The staff are the people who are more likely to spread the bugs as they are in daily contact with the patients and we are amazed that they have this nonchalant attitude when entering the ward .....it makes a farce of having the cleansing gels altogether !! Until the hospital finds a way of making sure that the staff are behaving correctly...there will be no end to these viruses causing such problems. I have always championed Good Hope's cause when others have denounced it (I have been using its services for 42 years) but this week is causing me to question what the heck is going on????