"Good and bad in equal measure."

Anything else?

I had knee replacement surgery age 58. The care I received was exemplary and I had no complaints at the time, although the food is pretty awful. Sadly though, I do have been left with infection in my knee which cannot be cleared up without further major surgery, I have been told. My mother in law aged 97 was taken to hospital with a heart attack, she was very deaf and almost blind without glasses on. She was treated very well in the Middleton assessment unit and to our surprise was recovering well, she was a strong woman, but had begun to show signs of dementia and needed extra help with communication skills, which, considering her age wasn,t bad at all. The problems began when she was taken onto the ward for further recovery. She began to deteriorate again and developed hospital borne pneumonia, I was later told. I visited one afternoon to find her sitting in a chair next to the bed, she was shivering with cold and had wrapped the curtain around herself for warmth,no slippers on, no dressing gown, glasses and hearing aid in the drawer out of reach and an unopened sandwich in front of her. When I tackled the nurse about her treatment I was told they were too busy to look after all her needs and anyway, it wasn,t cold on the ward. Maybe not for an active 25 yr old, but it was for Phyliss. I arranged for a consultation with her doctor who told me that there was nothing more they could do for her and would I like to take her home where she could receive better care. I took her back to Dove Court in Kettering which had been her home for the past 4 years, the love and care she was given was second to none, the girls treated her like their own grandmother. Sadly it was too late for Phyllis and four weeks later she died. Warm, comfortable and well cared for in her own bed, looked after by folk who really cared what happened to her. shame on KGH !! My feeling were that I had been able to speak up for myself and to ask for the help I needed at the time of my surgery , Phyllis was old and did not have all of her faculties intact, so had been largely ignored by the staff on an obviously over stretched ward. Don,t let this happen to your elderly relative.