"Not much communication between medical staff in..."

Anything else?

I took my 65 year old wife to the A&E at 11.00 am on a Tuesday morning, I can't remember the exact date but it was approximately 2 months ago after she had a fall & landed on her left hip & buttock. She has severe Alzheimers & Vascular Dementia & is wheelchair bound as she cannot stand or walk. Also she cannot communicate in any way as she has not been able to speak for 4 years. She hasn't smiled for 2 years & most concerning is that she cannot express any pain she has with facial expressions. This as you may realise is a great worry to me, especially after a fall.

On arrival I booked my wife in at reception & explained all of the above, especially not being able to express pain & pointing out that she could indeed be in pain. I asked the receptionist if she could convey this information to the medical staff as a matter of urgency. She said she would do what she could but they were very busy & couldn't promise anything.

After just over an hour my wife was called in to see the triage nurse. Again I explained everything as above & as I had explained to the receptionist. Yet again I was told the age old excuse..we are very busy but she would see what she could do. I never heard from her again, or the receptionist for that matter.

I got the distinct impression they thought I was trying it on to get seen quicker. Isn't it a shame when that sort of impression is given?

After explaining the exact condition of my wife for the fourth time & after 4 1/4 hours she was finally ushered into a cubicle. A young female doctor came to see us & I explained all yet again, especially that my wife couldn't stand without a lot of help. She said she needed my wife to stand so she could examine her. Bear in mind my wife had fallen on her hip & I'm thinking & I expressed my concerns to the doctor, of a possible fracture or something like that. She assured me that if her hip was fractured my wife wouldn't be able to sit on it with the pain.

Now think back to my explanation to the affect that my wife cannot express pain.

Do any of you people ever listen to what your told about the patient ????

I asked for a walking frame as she can hold onto that with help from myself & the carer that came with us to the A&E.

The doctor said she would go & find one. After half hour I went to find the doctor who was now doing something else & asked what was happening about my wife, she said they couldn't find a walking frame anywhere. Wow a huge hospital without a walking frame, now there's a novelty.

She said we would have to stand her without it, obviously we couldn't. So the doctor ordered a X ray of her hip. In fairness this was done within 10 minutes, which did surprise me.

After the X ray we waited only about 20 minutes for another doctor to tell us the results, which luckily proved to be good news & it was just bruising.

All in all I was certainly not impressed with the younger doctor, or the fact that A&E is obviously not set up for elderly patients that can't help themselves.