"Wonderful nursing care in a less than acceptable..."

What I liked

I am writing as an 'observer' following my spouse being admitted to the general hospital via A&E.

I would wish to make it very clear from the outset that the following comments are in no way a reflection of the attentive and caring nursing staff - as both female and male nurses, whether permanent, student or bank provided a high standard of care throughout my spouses short stay.

What could be improved

The issue I feel obliged to comment on relates to the re-opening of a mothballed ward. I acknowledge that in this time of economic constraint , it would appear prudent to only 'use' wards as demand dictates. Therefore, the introduction of a 'Bed Manager' [?] appears to make common sense. However, it is wholly unsatisfactory for a ward to be re-opened without proper preparation.

Moving a patient into a ward with floors that have patently not been cleaned since the last patients had exited; unused pills in the patients bedside cabinet; locked medicine cabinets and staff without keys; no drinks facilities; these reflect just some of the examples of the spectrum of issues facing nursing staff and patients alike.

Surely the advent of superbugs in hospitals mean it is reasonable to expect , that if for no other reason than hygiene, the person responsible for making the decision to reopen a ward would instruct proper cleaning of the ward before its is opened to patients?

When cleaning staff eventually attended the ward, one of the operatives proceeded to use the same cloth for cleaning a hand washbasin, the top of a bin and the top only of the bedside cabinets. No other surfaces were touched, including the tables on which food was served. A further minor point was that lamps were defective and there was no in-patient entertainment requiring refunds.

Anything else?

Emergency admission to a hospital is sufficiently daunting without 4 ward moves in less than 48 hours - to have this exacerbated by the points above means that a recommendation regarding the Hospital can not be forthcoming.