"It shouldn't matter who you're talking to"

Very poor basic care; arrived to visit Dad to find him extremely distressed, no phone call in the night to update us how unwell he was. ( contact details & request to call anytime supplied)

 Asked for a pillow to make him comfortable - there wasn't one, so we went to Rosehill & bought one. We were told we couldn't have a pillow case because " they might think the pillow is ours".

 Dad has a sore bottom & heels ; was met with a shrug & "we've used our last air mattress on someone who needed it".

Our family repositioned him and made him comfortable.

Had to ask multiple times for morphine to ease his distress.

Nurse looking after him only spoke to us after she found out we were health care professionals. 

Thankfully he was moved to a better ward & died with dignity ; i feel that the nurses we encountered on AMU should be ashamed.

Message to the doctor - please never tell the family of a dying patient that you are restricting medication to ease respiratory distress because you don't want them to become addicted to morphine.  ( yes we are fully aware of the anxiety around opiate prescribing)

 It also shouldn't matter who you are talking to ; you may have wished we told you what we do for a living at the beginning of a conversation , every family you meet deserves not to be patronised but spoken to with honesty , integrity and compassion.

We are thankful for his dignified & peaceful death.