How can this happen!!!!

How can a hospital make such a mistake!!!! Let me explain......

Yesterday my mother was due to have laser treatment to one of her eyes, well that was what we thought when the appointment arrived in the post and it was certainly what the consultant told us when we saw him back in May.

You might remember me writing at the time that, having completed an assessment they were quite certain that my mother should NOT have her cataracts removed as she would be unable to lie still without moving for up to 45mins.

We got a taxi to the hospital and arrived in plenty of time for our 12md appointment. I was a bit surprised that we were sent up to the day theatre and not the out patient clinic but we were expected so I didn't worry. I did feel irritated when they told me that I couldn't stay with my mother as they needed to prepare her and when I asked how long 'the procedure' would take I was told the Doctors won't be starting until 1:30pm and they might be late so if you want to go away and come back we can ring you as it might be 3 or 4 hours. I thought this was ridiculous for laser treatment that is supposed to be a very quick procedure. It was pouring with rain I had no intentions of going all the way home and I didn't want to traipse around the shops so I said I was staying and I was told I could wait in the day room. I had a paper, book, and some crosswords and a bottle of water but no food!

I just get settled in the day room when a nurse came to the door and in a very loud voice asked 'is there someone here with Mrs C'. She went on to ask me if I have my mother's teeth as she couldn't find them and she wanted me to go and sort it out. My mother had her teeth when I left her and for goodness sake what is wrong with the nurses searching!. Anyway I went back to the room my mother was sharing, with another lady, and found them in the bottom her bag. I saw that she has a cup of tea so that was good. I returned to the day room and settled down and gradually everyone else left and I was alone.
After about an hour a very handsome young doctor came in and asked me to come and see my mother. As soon as I got into the room my mother blurted out 'they were going to take my cataracts out, they put eye drops in and got me all ready'. I couldn't believe my ears.
The doctor was very apologetic and said he had checked the notes and it was an administrative error that it was the fault of the hospital that they had got the wrong procedure booked. He went on to say that they couldn't do the laser treatment today and it would mean another appointment. I said I wasn't very happy as it had cost us over £20 for taxi fares. The Doc couldn't tell me when the next appointment would be except sometime in September.
I think we were both a bit shocked really as this could so easily have ended in disaster for my mother if the mistake hadn't been noticed in time. Now I've had time to think about it I'm actually wondering if I should make a formal complaint. I think the least they could do is refund the taxi money but I bet they won't. For my mother, who had geared herself up for this, it's back to waiting another few weeks.

Archives:
2007: Fun Monday-27

Feeding Time

Yesterday as I was walking in the hospital grounds taking my mother to her appointment, I suddenly noticed these two little fellows. Being a good little blogger I whipped out my camera and took a picture. They were busy feeding and were quite oblivious of all that was going on around them. I would have liked to creep a bit closer but I didn't really want to startle them.

Archives:
2007: How to relax

Today is ........

...........going to be difficult for my mother. You may remember that back in January she started the process of having an area on her leg investigated. A month later it was confirmed as being a cancer and we were visiting the plastic surgeon to arrange the operation to have it removed. After some debate the consultant and the registrar decided that they would try and remove it without a skin graft so that the operation could be performed under a local anaesthetic. This is because of my mother's age and all the medication she has to take.
Here we are, just over two weeks later, getting ready to go to the Day Hospital for afternoon surgery. The surgeon explained that the area would be about the size of a £2 ~ this picture may not, actually, be to scale but it gives an idea.
I'm not sure how long we will be at the hospital but, my guess is most of the afternoon. I wish I had a laptop to keep myself occupied while I wait, sadly I don't, so it will have to be a book and crossword instead! I know you will wish my mother well and that you will send good vibes her way. Thank You

Archives:
2007: No Archive

Guilty secret

Yesterday I did something that I can honestly say I never or should I say rarely do. From the picture its not hard to guess. I know it's not a crime to watch TV during the day but as Andy Murray was playing Rafael Nadal for a place in the quater finals of the Australian Open you can see why I couldn't resist. Had my hubby not rung me to remind me it was on I may well have missed what was a good match. I actually only got to see the first 4 sets because at that point the hospital rang to say that they were discharging my mother. I gathered later that Andy Murray lost the last set but I think he can be proud of his performance and am sure he will go on improving. Roll on Wimbledon.

Now back to the fiasco that we had in actually getting my mother discharged. My brother happened to be at my house having a spot of lunch (I inflicted the tennis on him he's more of a footie fan really) before a planned visit to see mum. We were so surprised to get the call because only two days previously we had been told she would be in for sometime as she still needed to see a haematologist. When I queried this I was told it could be done as an out-patient. So I quickly gathered up some warm clothes and we set off. There were no parking spaces so I left my brother in the car on double yellow lines while I went off to the ward. I was directed to the day room where my mother and several other ladies had been 'dumped' during the morning with all their belongings packed (if you can call it that) in suitcase and plastic bags. I later found that lids had not been secured on toiletries so you can imagine the mess. (Mum said the nurse had bundled everything in and the consultant had told her the bed was needed for someone who is very sick).

I got her dressed and after about 45 mins, when no one came near the day room to bring her tablets, I went to find a nurse and a Dr who happened to be sitting at the desk heard me asking how long was it likely to take to get the tablets. The Doc tells me 'I am just about to look at her file and write a prescription and then they have to take it to pharmacy to be dispensed and sent back to the ward'. All this time my brother had been out side well over an hour so I went out and updated him and he decided to go home before all the afternoon traffic built up. I went back and waited and waited. I managed to get one of the nurses to make the ladies in the day room a cup of tea, no one had thought to tell the person giving out the afternoon there were patients in the day room and all the water had been removed so they were left without fluids.

Mobile phones are not supposed to be used in hospitals but I decided we were being treated rather badly and I needed to organise transport so I contacted Mike to make arrangements. A physiotherapist then arrived and asked mum to go and practise doing the stairs before she went home, not sure what would have happened if she hadn't managed it as there was someone else in her bed by now. The physio showed a lack of interest in the home situation and I knew she was just going through the motions. Finally at about 5: 15 pm a nurse brought the tablets and a case of fortified drinks and a box of sachets for mixing.

Now the fun begins, 11 different boxes of tablets (to be taken at quite a few different times) the nurse explained times for taking the tablets, but couldn't tell us in detail what they were all for, luckily we did get a carbon copy. By now mum was exhausted this was the longest she had been out of bed for over three weeks, I was tired and thirsty but Mike arrived soon afterwards and we finally got home just before 6 pm. I won't go into all the drama I had trying to explain when tablets needed to be taken, I had to go on the internet today and find out exactly what each one did in order to impress upon my mother the importance of taking them correctly. We are still not quite there. She's shattered, I had carpet fitter booked for today and they arrived 8:45 am, then my brother arrived as he had not actually got to see mum yesterday. When mum went for a rest I went shopping and what with cooking and putting furniture back in place and helping re-hang the doors I did not get a sit down until 9 pm (is this my punishment for over two hours of daytime TV yesterday). Hence this very late post and I can hardly keep awake so my margin for errors is likely to be high.

I hope to catch up on my blog reading tomorrow but I'm not too hopeful.