"Father-in-law with stroke"

Anything else?

My father-in-law suffered a stroke last Thursday morning. We requested for the ambulance to take him to Princess Royal (PRUH) in Orpington, as opposed to Croydon University Hospital (CUH), based on the bad reviews CUH had over recent years. My husband, who also had our 2 year old daugher with him at the time my father-in-law suffered the stroke (as I was at work) followed the ambulance by car to PRUH. They waited in A&E from approx 10.30 am until 4.30 pm before my father in law was transferred to the ward. By the time my husband and young daughter left at 6.30 pm, my father-in-law had not even been seen by a doctor but had an x-ray done. However, apart from being informed of the x-ray no one had even come up to my husband to tell him what his dad's condition was. My husband was told that if he calls in he is able to check on his dad's condition but when we did, the nurse said she can't tell us over the phone and would have to visit. We visited on Friday evening after work and spoke to the nurse looking after my father-in-law. Although we then knew a little more about my father-in-law's condition i.e. my father-in-law has a clot in his brain as a result of the stroke, the nurse was unable to tell us how big the clot was as it was not on the sheet of paper she was reading from! I requested to speak to a doctor but was told there's no doctors on the ward at that time. By Sunday, my father-in-law was very disorientated and managed to pull out his feeding tube. We were told on Sunday that the nurse will insert a permanent tube. On Monday, when my husband visited at 2.00 pm, no feeding tube had been reinserted again and instead, they tried to feed my father-in-law by mouth which was not very successful (as he cannot swallow properly and keeps coughing). Later on at about 7.00 pm, when my husband visited again, he could not find his dad on the ward. When he asked the nurses at their desk, one said "oh, he was transferred to CUH about 1 hour ago, didn't anyone call you?" The second nurse then said "oh, sorry, I forgot to call you" ! What type of care are they providing to patients elderly and young and their families who are so vulnerable at this stressful time? PRUH is about 25 minutes drive from our house so my husband had wasted his journey there. He then rushed to CUH to look for his dad and after about 20 minutes found him. We are hoping and praying that my father-in-law's condition will improve so that he can be checked out and looked after at home. Although we are not qualified medically, at least we have the care, attention and passion to do the job properly! I know my review will not even get me a response from the hospital but I wanted others in similar situation to know how bad the communication is.