"Care in Colchester Hospital"

Anything else?

Having attended different hospitals with my parents, I have decided the problems generally seem to be the same in them all.

The general good things are the Hospitals seem clean and the staff seem friendly.

The general bad things are you never seem to be able to find a nurse when you want one. There seems a general lack of communication about the patients care between the nurses or basic knowledge of what the patients in their care have had done . I expect only the nurse that booked the patient in knows what they have had done and I doubt most of the later shift ones have read the patients notes as they don't seem to know without asking what the patient has had done. I am not sure if the information is on a board but there were not any patient notes at the bottom of the bed when I was there. If this is the case, I am sure this could lead to errors in care.

There seems no explanation to the patients of how to call for a nurse, how to operate the bed, where toilets are, whether they can get out of bed on their own etc etc.

Older people often struggle to hear what the nurses say and so miss some of the things said to them.

My father was given tablets without being told what they were for. He was to be kept in overnight without being told what he should take with him. He was discharged the following day without being given any information about what he could or could not do. He was not told to keep the dressing dry, whether he could drive, whether he would feel unwell for a few days, he was given no aftercare information at all other than he would need to have the dressing re-dressed in a week.

I am sure Colchester Hospital is no worse than any other but it seems there is a definite lack of communication especially on what the patients are in for and aftercare upon hospital discharge.