"Poor discharge experience"

My Mum is in her eighties and has dementia. She was admitted to the Frailty Unit at Aintree.  I was called to say she was going to be discharged and when I arrived, Mum was sat having her lunch, and there was another lady sat in a chair near the end of Mum's bed.

A nurse quickly came over and began collecting Mum's bags. When questioned, nursing staff said the bed was needed for the lady waiting in the chair and Mum would be moved to a waiting room to be discharged. Mum was due to have a heart monitor placed, so I queried this, and nurse said they would sort it in the waiting room.

We then had to walk to a waiting room, with me carring my Mum's luggage and she had to carry her lunch and sit and finish eating it in a waiting room, and had to then get dressed in the toilets of the waiting room, as she was still in her night gown. It is so undignified to have to get dressed in a toilet.

We then had to wait for 3 hours for the tests to be organised, and then another hour to receive her medications back, as she is on so many medications, and her blister pack has a list of all of these medications on the back. When the medications came back, the blister pack was empty. Once we were able to leave, another nurse informed us that the woman who had been sat in the chair at the end of the bed, was waiting for the bed and was one of the 'bosses' at the hospital. It felt like Mum had been 'turfed out' because of the next patient's position in the hospital.

Posted by Healthwatch Liverpool on behalf of service user.