"A & E wonderful, the fracture clinic however is..."

Anything else?

My mum, who has Alzheimers, broke her ankle. I took her to A&E where the service and attention from all staff was wonderful, I could not fault their caring attitudes one bit.

The problem came later when we had to attend fracture clinic. Each and every time we are waiting for 2-3 hours to finally see a doctor. What is the point in an appointment system if it isn't adhered to? We had a different doctor each visit. Due to my mums condition, she will tell the doctors whatever they want to hear, but they wont listen to me when I tell them the truth, even though I'm with her 24/7, know her inside out and they only know her name because it's on the computer screen in front of them.

She has walked around on her broken ankle from the minute it was first put in plaster and refused to use a frame or crutches. There is nothing anyone can say to her to make her stay sat down. One doctor even went as far as to tell her he was going to write that he'd given her this advice in his notes though I bet you he didn't write my opinions down.

The cast came off a couple of weeks ago, the swelling is awful, I tried to get a closer follow up appointment but couldn't get one any closer than the 10 days away appointment I already had. She was finally discharged yesterday after the doctor took one look at a several weeks old x-ray despite the horrendous swelling.

Today she's complaining her ankle hurts. I do understand they need to consult the patient, but I think they all need to go back to medical school and get a review of what dementia entails. I'm dreading having to go back to that clinic, which inevitably I will have to. I'm of the opinion the local vets would offer a better service, at least they listen to those who know the patient.

And, like all the other complaints on this board we will just get recommended to contact PALS, which I will, but I'm guessing will be pointless until this whole sorry saga is at an end.