Vulnerable Patients and their carers.
Following a critical incident of severe breathing difficulties my husband was taken to A & E by paramedics. My husband has many health problems and has a respect for DNR and not to be admitted to hospital. Due to extreme distress and needing oxygen he agreed to go into hospital until his oxygen levels improved and care could continue at home. After being stabilised and it agreed that antibiotics be administered and oxygen continue and he be moved to the acute medical ward. My husband has had several admissions over the last couple of years and has experienced poor care and the development of pressure sores. So we both were concerned and voiced this to the doctor. I returned home to get some rest feeling reasonably happy my husband was safe and comfortable. I returned to QE nine hours later. He was still in A & E, in a dark cubicle. He was very uncomfortable complaining of severely pain in his sacral area. He was still on our damp sheet the paramedics had used to transfer him from his bed at home. His incontinence pad had not been checked or changed and he was lying in a soiled pad! His dressing had also been removed for the second time from his gangrenous foot and not been recovered. This was more than I could cope with. I broke down and begged the nurse to sort him out and stated, ‘ just because he is not for DNR should not mean he’s not for dignity either!’ The nurse stated that he should not still be in A & E as they couldn’t give him the care he should have there. Not long after being cleaned etc his oxygen levels dropped to dangerous levels despite being on oxygen. The alarm sounded on the machine. No one came. I had to go and find someone to help! Eventually my husband was moved to AMU. Communication was appalling no one seemed to know what was going on. The nurse admitting him to the ward had been on duty for seven hours without a break. She seemed very stressed and pulled in all directions being interrupted constantly. The nurse could not access my husbands notes on the computer but she assured me that he would be assessed properly. I was concerned that he had been on oxygen monitoring and then suddenly not, despite dropping his levels on several occasions. I was also assured that due to his very high risk of pressure sores he would be put on an airflow mattress like he has at home. Before I left the doctor prescribed a nebuliser for my husband- he never got that nebuliser. During the night he was moved to West Ward 2. I was not informed and walked into see a different man in the AMU bed ! Distressing! Once I did re. park and find my husband he was still not on an air mattress and was still in great pain. His feet still undressed and hanging off the bed had been knocked by the movement of another bed and now also have wounds. Yet more stresses continued until his discharge! I am now so traumatised by the stress of my husband’s treatment in QE i have anxiety attacks on going there. My husband would rather die than receive any more care as an inpatient!