"My sister did not feel safe"

My sister has end stage COPD, and has nearly died twice over 2017 / 2018 .Her first admission was in 2018 into WD 7 she was transferred to HDU to be put on C-Pap as she was very ill and nearly died , She is being put forward for a lung transplant.

In December 2018 my sister  was admitted once again with an exacerbation  of her COPD and was immediately put into HDU due to her PMH of requiring C-Pap ventilation, She was in HDU a week , was transferred to ward 7 and discharged the same day  just to be blue lighted back in 24 hours later with a temp of 38.9 and sats of 60% . after being assessed in A/E she was admitted to ECU that when she became very vulnerable and afraid , she was in a 6 bedded unit which was full,

There was another patient there who was obviously under duress and very noisy and demanding. I was with my sister most of the night she was distressed and unable to speak due to being so breathless, but nobody took the time to even try to talk or actually look at her. The only time there was any nurse contact with my sister  was when her observations were being carried out.   I am  a nurse myself and have worked in A/E and the ECU and know how fast paced it is, and it can't be helped but mistakes are noticed.  For example when her observations were being carried out 4 hourly, I might add which didn't seem appropriate to me, the finger probe was placed on the same hand that the BP cuff was on, her reading was 89% this was written down.  After the cuff was removed her sats fell to 83 which i feel was the correct reading. Her food was just placed in front of her, again no communication was involved, she was too breathless to eat or drink.  This was not picked up but her fluid chart seemed to be filled out as if she had been eaten and drank.  As for the toilet I took her in a shower chair 3-4 times, just transferring from the bed to the chair rendered her breathless to the extent she was gasping.  No staff appeared to notice this was going on. Just before I left I left word with the staff nurse in charge of this bay that I lived 5 minutes away and if they wanted me they could  phone and i would come back because she was anxious and petrified. 

The next morning her daughter who is the first contact then it is myself phoned 3 times to enquire about her mum, just to be told the nurse involved in her mum's care was too busy to come to the phone . On the 4th occasion her daughter was told by someone over the phone her mum has taken a turn for the worse and that she should come down to the ward immediately.

Meantime I was on my way, as I came into a very busy unit with patients and visitors I noticed that the screens were  either side of my sister.  As i looked in at the bay my sister  was on  C-Pap ventilation.   At this time she was on her own, no nursing staff around, I came out and spoke to a charge nurse.  I explained that I wanted to speak to someone at the hospital as i was unhappy about my sisters care.  They cam back and told me that there was a meeting going on but when it finished someone would come and speak to me.  This never happened.  The nurse involved in my sister's care then appeared, and told me that they did not contact me as i was not the first contact.  My point is that no one from the family was contacted. The nurse was correct in saying that the daughter was the main priority, and i hold no resentment towards to this nurse. My anger is directed to whoever was in charge of the unit, I would like to think that they were aware of what was going on in their department and should have pulled on other resources to help this nurse, one nurse to six patient is not good.

One of the doctors did speak to me.  As there was no HDU beds and ITU would not take my sister as she is too big a risk, and not for resuscitation, so they had to do what was necessary which i completely understand.

Communication is imperative especially where family are concerned, what happened to actually looking at your patient and taking the time to talk to them.  I feel my sister has been let down.  Her words to me were that she never wants to be a patient is ECU ever again as she felt the nursing staff did not listen to her, they did not know what they were doing, that she was frightened, she was going to die and that she did not feel safe.