"Ward 23"

Anything else?

My father was admitted to ward 23, the respiratory ward. He was immobile. Within 2 days of him being there he had developed a pressure sore. I discovered this myself while visiting. I told the nurse and she said 'oh thanks for spotting that'. It took 4 days for him to receive an air matress to relieve the pressure. The pressure sore developed into a grade 3 sore. He was left on a bed pan for 45 minutes as no one responded to him pressing the call bell. The following day this happened again and after 15 minutes he called me at home so I call call the ward to tell someone to get to him as they were ignoring his call bell. The nurses did not inform the tissue viability nurses, the specialist nurses who deal with pressure sores. I did this myself.

I looked at my Fathers comfort chart that is left at the end of the bed 3 days after he developed the pressure sore, it had been documented that the area of the pressure sore was 'normal' I pointed this out to the nurses, they said 'Oh it was a bank nurse who did that'. It had obviously been completed without even checking him.

There are only two nurses for 18 patients. It is virtually impossible for you to phone the ward and have your call answered. We, as a family have written a formal complaint about the standard of care my father received, we never received an acknowledgement of the complaint until I called the customer care department 2 weeks later. It is now 3 weeks since the complaint was sent and I have yet to receive any further response.

So, I would do my utmost to ensure that neither myself nor any family member ever be admitted to ward 23.