Some good but mostly not so good!
My mum, who has dementia, was admitted at the QE on 5 occasions between August and December 2015. I am writing to the Chief Executive with the full details of my concerns. Here is just a summary: (1) Some nursing staff are friendly, approachable and helpful. Others are downright rude, ignorant and disrespectful. (2) Mum was fed a pork sausage on West One despite me telling staff over and over again that she is a Muslim and shouldn't be given any pig products. On the Bournville ward, a plate containing gammon was left in front of her and staff would have fed it to her if I hadn't got there just in time. (3) During 1 admission in September, when she was still in the CDU, I phoned the ward a total of 26 times between about 10 am and 2 pm, without the phone being answered. I then rang reception and said I was going to make a complain so I was put through to the Nurse in Charge. He told me he was too far away from where mum's bed was and didn't have time to go round and check. He told me to continue ringing and when I said I had been ringing all morning, his response was..."when I get a minute, I will pop my head round and tell staff to answer the phone". There was no apology or expression of remorse. (4) When I finally got through to the ward, in an angry mood by now, a member of staff told me he would go and look at mum's notes. He returned and told me she had pneumonia and had been started on medication. I informed the rest of my family about this diagnosis. When I later visited mum, the doctor's asked me questions that suggested mum had not yet been diagnosed. When I mentioned the pneumonia, the doctor expressed surprise and said no it was not that. This means that the nurse had read out notes from someone else's clinical records.