"Total lack of communication."

My 87year old mother was admitted to D2 on in January. She had two fractured vertebra following a fall. The initial care during the acute phase of her stay was fairly good, but I had to ask for information constantly as my mother has Alzheimers and has no short term memory. It was a constant fight and very draining.

My mother was moved to another room after two weeks, and her care began to deteriorate. To see someone lie in a bed completely depressed was heartbreaking. From what I saw, no attention was given to help my mother to drink or eat. She was kept clean, but that basically was about it.

My mother was then moved to a side ward as i was told that she had contracted C - diff. She did not have any symptoms, which was rather puzzling. From this point her care was lacklustre and she was left lying in her bed, it didn't seem any thought was given to her getting up and sitting in a chair.

At this point we had to demand some explanations, and after threatening legal advice my mothers care improved and miraculously one week later, my mother was discharged to a re enablement bed close to our home. She was very happy to leave QA but is weak and very frail due to weightloss and I think a general lack of care.

Overall the communication between individual staff members and different disciplines is absolutely appalling. My mothers departure from QA was delayed for 24hours because the pharmacy did not send up her drugs in time, and the transport failed to turn up the following morning so we transported my mother ourselves as we have adapted transport. The staff were not very helpful, and on top of it all they have lost my mothers glasses.

I am saddened that a great institution like the NHS has grown into a monstrous inhumane dinosaur.

On a positive note, when we did get to speak to staff in a managerial position we were at all times treated with respect and given the information that was not given by more junior members.

In my opinion cute settings do not cope well with patients who have Altzheimers, but these patients are just as likely to get acute illnesses as anyone else.

I believe the NHS has too many chiefs and the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER !