"Complete lack of communication"

My Mother in Law was admitted after a fall.

After a 6 hour wait in A&E she was eventually seen by a doctor and 24 hours after getting to hospital she was admitted go ward 80.

I appreciate the cuts have led to a lack of beds, but her treatment in the Medical Assessment Unit was well below what I would have expected.

My Mother in Law was distressed and confused, but largely ignored by the staff.

When we asked for explanation of what was happening from the doctor we were ignored.

The staff nurse offered sympathy but little support.

On admission to the ward, we were given little information about what was happening.

The diagnosis of bladder infection (Sepsis) was treated by an antibiotic drip but it was difficult to find or speak to a doctor to get an explanation.

The nurses were very attentive but never seemed to have a complete picture of what was going on.

My Mother in Law has suffered from a bad back for a number of years (after a fall) and this was explained to the doctors and nurses.

She had 2 further falls while in the hospital leading to further damage to her back.

Once I can maybe understand, but twice is inexcusable.

My wife and I visited every day and frequently had to ask the nurses for additional pain killers , but the doctor seemed unaware of this.

We heard from another relative who had phoned in that my Mother in Law was going to have a 'cement injection in her back', so we enquired about this on our next visit.

We were informed that this was an oupatient procedure but she would be kept in until the following Tuesday or Thursday when the procedure would be carried out.

None of this was discussed with my Mother in Law and it was left to us to research verteboplasty, obtain patient information from another hospitals web site so we could tell our Mother in Law.

When trying to talk to one staff nurse about what was happening the nurse said 'I wish I knew'.

We left a booklet with my mother in Law which was on her bedside tray only for her to then be told it wasn't going to happen after all.

While my Mother in Law was in the ward, she picked up that they had recorded she had type 1 diabetes.

We had not known this and asked the locum.

The doctor found the comment in my Mother in Laws file and said they would find out more.

This was taken by ourselves as the reason my Mother in Law had a series of blood tests.

When we managed to pin down a doctor to ask about the verteboplasty they explained that the specialist did not think it would be of benefit.

The doctor mentioned that we could expect an appointment with a blood specialist, but in fact the letter had already arrived.

Again we assumed this was something to do with the diabetes.

When asked how my Mother in Law was expected to manage with the pain in her back, they seemed surprised but said it could be managed in another way.

Limit reached but the saga coninued.