"My mother's suspected stroke"

I recently phoned the GP as my mother was complaining of loss of feeling down the right side of her body affecting her arm & leg. The doctor instructed me to phone 999.

The paramedics arrived, they then diagnosed my 74 year old mother as having a virus brewing. I asked if I should take her to the doctors for antibiotics and they said leave it a few days as nothing would be given until the symptoms had come out. The trainee paramedic disagreed and said they felt there was a slight drooping of the face, the two medics disagreed and stuck to their results.  

When they left I phoned the doctor again who, upon my explanation, asked to see my mother immediately. At the GP surgery the doctor diagnosed mother as very probably suffering from a stroke, asked if I had drove as it would be  quicker for me to drive her to Worcester hospital than wait for an ambulance. The doctor printed this diagnosis along with my mothers medical notes to take with us and phoned ahead asking that the stroke team be ready for my mother on arrival.  

On arrival at A&E at Worcestershire Hospital I relayed to the receptionist what the doctor had said and handed over the paperwork, we were told to take a seat. I waited five minutes and  approached the receptionist again, stating that this was a possible stroke and the doctor had phoned ahead to ensure we were dealt with immediately. Once again we were told to wait, so I phoned our GP receptionist who spoke to the A&E hospital and we were seen by the triage nurse.  

While the nurse was asking my (partially deaf mother) what the symptoms were, they continued to listen to music playing through their computer and jig along to the tune. The nurse then suggested we take a seat as procedures had changed and they were not sure where to send us. This is now 15mins from arrival. I suggested I would phone the GP and they could confirm the name of the person they had spoken with at the hospital who should be expecting us. Instead, the nurse insisted we take a seat back in the waiting room. So once again I struggled to take my mother who could not move her right leg to the waiting room with out the offer of help or the assistance of a wheel chair.  

After waiting another five minutes, I phoned our GP who phoned the hospital while I held the call and arranged for the hospital doctor to come down to my mother. Once the doctor attended they confirmed she had indeed suffered a stroke and admitted her.  

We were then told she would be taken for a scan. Just under one hour later, they came to take her for a scan. On arrival at the scan department we found them laughing and stating that they had been looking for my mother for the past half an hour as they had no idea where she had been put. Then they refused to do the scan as mom had not been given an ID band. When the nurse was found to put an ID band on, they explained that the A&E department could not find the trolley with all the relevant items on including ID bands.  

My mother was then kept in overnight, when it came to her discharge the following day the lack of organisation was abysmal. The nurse explained that she had to take one type of tablet at 9am every day and a second type  at 8pm each day and that it was important to take them at the same time each day. This was now approximately 11:00am, there was nothing on my mother's chart to say she had been given the morning tablet. When I raised this with the nurse the nurse asked my mom the question (did not check the chart or speak with a member of staff to check) and simply instructed a junior nurse to get the medication for my mother.  

The nurse continued to hand the tablet to my mother (which was to be dissolved in water) but neither nurse offered her any water or cup  to dissolve it in, we had to use her empty orange bottle and fill it with tap water). When the nurse returned and handed us the prescription to obtain mom's medication, I asked why there was only one of the tablets on it when they had just told me mom was to take two types of tablet. They insisted that the second tablet was not required until mom had been seen by her GP?

I was not happy with this, but the nurse was insistent so we went to leave. A few minutes later, as we have walked down to the reception to exit the building, the same nurse comes rushing to find us. They said they had decided that they would put the second tablet on the prescription and added it as we waited.  

When I arrived at the pharmacy with the prescription the pharmacy could not fill it as no dosage had been put on the prescription, I had to phone the hospital and speak to the nurse who once again was very abrupt and told me it was the same dosage every time and the pharmacy should know, at which point I passed her over to the pharmacy to resolve the issue.