I was told today that my brother was taken into Hosputal on friday night with a possible small stroke. (O wasnt told before because it was my bday) He is 36 got sleep apnoea and over weight.
His blood pressure and cholestarol are high, hence him being kept in :( :( :(
Hios partner was there today and he didnt even have a wrist band on, when Tracey went to ask about one the sister did a loud tut and went and got him one (This was 2 days after he had gone in)
He hadnt had his blood pressure taken since Friday night, and when asked about this the sister did a huge sigh and went and took it. Now if a 36 year old was in with a suspected stroke, shouldnt the blood pressure be taken more often??????
Tracey Gran died in the same ward last year and she has a list of complaints that happened then (she is not a serial complainer I hasten to add)
I have said that she should go and see the hospital manager and complin, but what do you think???? If it comes to it can you demand to be transfered to another hospital??????
Am really worried about him and to hear all of that has made it worse.
Lea.

Lea my son has been in hospital and my daughter made a complaint about being allowed into the ward unchallenged (she walked through the door as two nurses discussing "boys" came out).  In the second side room along was a small baby unattended in a cot with no staff supervision at the desk.  On several occasions we could have walked in, then out with that child - scary or what?  Her complaint did seem to be taken seriously.

DS was in for 8hrs or so without having an ID band and had received intravenous medication without one. 

My experience was that the poor nurses were rushed off their feet and certainly didn't neglect him because they were sitting around gossiping, but because the poor things were soooooooooo busy.

Oh Lea, I am sorry to hear this.  Just done a quick search and found this.  Not sure if its the right area but it does give some general info and also this one.  I hope that your brother is okay. Thinking of you all.

Kerri x

Definately complain if you're not happy.
I complained when I was in hospital, having just given birth to my son, because the doors to the maternity are securely locked with you needing the code or speaking on the intercom to get in... except at night when the door was wedged open with a bin (by the staff) so that the new mums that smoked could go outside whenever they wanted a fag without bothering the staff!!!

So I moaned. Door was shut (at least til I left I expect :rolleyes:)

Hope all will be o.k with your brother - thinking of you xxx

 

Hello , blood pressure should be taken every 4 hours along with pulse and temperature .If he is allergic to anything he should have a red armband with the allergen written on also . Hope he's feeling better , and gets home  soon .

All hospitals have a specialised unit that deals with complaints and I'd go through them rather than the ward nurses themselves.  A copy of your letter is then sent to the consultant who is the head of the unit concerned or the patients consultant and they in turn will speak to the staff concerned and they have to reply within a certain timescale.

Yes blood pressure can be very relevant to stroke.
If he hadn't had his blood pressure taken in two days, it sound very negligent to me!
I would guess he will be scanned if they believe it a stroke.
I would want somebody with him as much as possible and can somebody speak to the doctor in his case.
Stroke is different in all cases ad can happen to a baby right through to an elderly person.
I am sorry it must be very worrying.
Karen xx

yes complain....its too late when hes dead!!!! sorry to be drastic but i know somone who never liked to complain..then it was too late

Bloomin heck when I was in having babies and when I had my eye surgery I had ovservations (BP, temperature etc) regularly every few hours.  Though haven't been in a hospital for about 10 years.

Yes I would complain Lea. Do hope he is ok :)

Lucy
xx

I imagine your medical system is just as strained as ours is.  We have recently gone through my Mum being hospitalized due to a brain aneurysm.  We have for the most part been pleased with the attention she has received but there have been oversights and we have appointed my sister as advocate to intervene on Mum's behalf.  Now, it helps that Sis is a nurse herself but not at that hospital and not in that area of care.

My message to you is to be careful how you couch a complaint.  It is not nice to think of but your brother is basically at the mercy of those hospital staff attending to him.  You and your family cannot possibly be with him every single moment and likely do not have the medical awareness to make sure proper care is taken.  Be kind to the staff, even if they are not kind to you or to him.  Even if you are sure it is not the case I suggest it is best to work on the assumption that things are running late, or someone has had a bad day, or they were going to get to that soon.  As I say, it may be perfectly obvious that is not true but your brother's care will not likely be helped if family upset things even more. 

I don't intend to suggest that anyone in your family would act inappropriately but my Sis was very careful that we temper our own feelings.  And I am also not suggesting that you ignore such important oversights as blood pressure not being taken periodically.   In that case, what we did was just on every visit ask, "what does the blood pressure chart look like?"  As with you, it sometimes had not been taken.

Gee,  I hope I've got this across right.

Thankyou everyone.
I havnt had an update yet,
He lives in Telford and I live in Lincs so wont see him. But passed it all on to his partner and she is going to talk to someone today :) :)
Will let you know when I know anything :)
Thanks again
Lea :)

He has had a scan and will get the reasults tomorrow.
If nothing shows up on the scan he will have a lumber puncture???????? O know what it is, but only hear about them being done on suspected meningitis?????
He is irratable, his train iof thought goes he goes white and lethargic.
Mum and dad are just on their way to see him.
Me and mum are going tomorrow.
So hopefully we will find out more :)
Lea :)

Will keep fingers crossed they find out quickly what the problem is and get him better :)

Lucy
xx

Hope you get some results from the scan, thinking of you.

Hope so!!!!!!
Me and mum are still going tomorrow even though he says there is not much point!!!!!!!
But have had a long coversation with someone and I am still going to do the 3 hour journey even if I only see him for 1/2 hour!!!!!!!!!
Will let you know tomorrow :)
But still does anyone know why they would do a lumber puncture, I assume it is to check for infections in the brain, but am I right?????
Lea :)

Hi Lea lumber punctures are done when they need a sample of cerebospinal fluid.This can done for various reasons including as you say infection however it would be pure speculation for anyone on here to say why they are thinking of performing one on your brother.
I hope whatever they discover your brother makes a good speedy recovery.

Just got back 237 mile round trip!!!!!
Well we spent 2 hours with him and he brightened up a bit to the end.
He STILL hasnt had the reasults of the CT scan he had.
He hasnt seen a doctor since yesterday morning.
The charts he has on the beds donnot show half of what he has wrong with him.
He is in an over flow ward which is on the stroke unit but he is actually booked into a different department :(
He is ready to discharge himself, but they wont let him out until he has the results of the Scan.
I went and complained to the nurse while I was there, as beside him there was an asian lady, and EVERY visiting time she has 10 people + round her bed.
Making LOADS of noise, and Darren was wincing due to his headaches.
So I complained and the nurse told them 2 per bed. She had to tall them TWICE tho!!!!!!!
All in All I wanted to bring him home with me. And if his girlfriend didnt live there, I WOULD have done :( :(
Now just got to wait for the scan results :( :(
Lea :)

Hi Lea

So sorry to hear your news. Hope he perks up soon. Go and talk to the PALS service. Hospital and ward management only seem to react to issues as and when they are raised but IME PALS are wonderful and there will be one in each hospital. They really listen and are very proactive - not just responding to the issues raised but also do a complete review of the care that patients are receiving.

HTH
Caroline x

Aww. Lea keep your chin up, I do hope all will be well for him, it's a worrying time.
Karen xx more hugs too.

Right, AFTER we left at 4, with a little talk to the head nurse, his CAT scan results MIRACULOUSLY appeared :D :D :D
The scan is fine. Which is good :) :) ;)
They are now going to check for under active thyroid.
BUT, and this is a BIG but, it may well be down to stress and depression :( :( :( :(
Not sopmething I am going to go into on here, but some of the symptoms might push towards that :(
But am hopeing it is a medical thing as its easier to treat than the other :( :(
Lea :) :)

Any more news Lea ?

Lucy
xx

Gee whiz Lea, I'm sorry to hear you are still having troubles with his care.  I guess it is not much relief for you to know we had the same problems with my Mum.  A loud and many peopled family visiting another patient, (why weren't their kids in school?), a crabby roomie who was even more deaf than my Mum and yelled at her son to get out, and latest, a roomie with bad diarrhoea who had to lean on Mum's bed, her chair, her walker etc on the way to the bathroom and then left terrible messes in the bathroom.  I hope it gets better.  I do believe a constant and regular presence by your brother's family, or girlfriend, will help.

Ok, sorry wanted to find out more. On Monday they decided to monitor his blood pressure, so took it 5 times in the day, this is more than they have taken it in the 10 days he has been in there!!!!!!
It was found that taking it on different arms was Dramatically different, and it was dramatically different laying down to sitting up. More than the norm!!!!
The doctor saw him and when he kicked up a fuss about why no ones listened to his heart and there was an AUDIBLE heart Murmur :( :( he was not born with it as he is an ex firefighter, so had all the full medicals etc.
They are putting him on a 24 hour blood pressure monitor to check it. Was supposed to be yesterday, but that never materialised :( :(
Havnt had an update today.
His partner and her mum have been into PALS and spoken to them and they are now looking into it.
I just hope there is a logical explanation but looks as if more is going on than we first thought, and all this SHOULd have been found the day after he went in, NOT 10 days later :( :(
Unfortunatly we live over 100 miles from him. And Ebba is going in to be spayed tomorrow and I havnt got a car so using my parents car, so it is all stacking against us going over there :( :(
Lea :)

Day 10 said 24 hour monitor of heart and blood pressure -
Day 12 - Still nothing!!!!!!!!!
Ward he is on is a over flow ward off a stroke ward and when I talked to the sister a week ago she near enough admitted that it wasnt her ward, and it was for people to look after themselves. So they didnt check very often. For christ sake it took them 3 days to get a flipping band on his arm!!!!!
So him not having the monitoring in that ward does not surpriose me :( :( :(
I So wish I lived closer!!!
It is one cock up after another :( :(
What will it take, him to collapse and die before they actually realsie that ward is NOT monitored :( :( I am surpriosed he even gets fed :( :(
Lea :( :(

Any more news Lea ?

Lucy
xx

Didnt you get your voice mail???? LOL
Sorry forgot to update this thread.
Well His partner had written a diary of invents, I sent onto a couple of people and Lucy, bless her, sent it to Shropshire NHS trust.
Well friday the S%%% hit the fan.
Tracey walked in to see him and she was ecosted by alot of bigwigs asking loads of questions.
I am not 100% sure of what has happened yet, BUT he has had MRI scan, reasults he has been waiting for 15 days to get, all the monitoring he SHOULD have been having from day 1. Explanations about what they are doing, which no one told him ANYTHING before.
And a few heads are going to roll. I believe disciplinary action will be taken.
The heart mumour they thoughht they heard is not there, but his heart beat rises and falls strangly over the day (24 hour monitor) They donnot know what is wrong with him, but will keep going, quicker this time to find out :D :D :D :D :D
The thing is, it wasnt a letter of complint that was written, it was just a diary of events that I sent LJS with a 3 word subject line, and that was sent on along with the mention of GMTV, and All hell broke loose :) :)
He is feeling alot happier now as he now knows what they are doing.
Tracey has a meeting with someone tomorrow about it all, so we will see what happens then :)
Thankyou Lucy
Lea :) :)

Ahh brilliant news, let's hope something happens now!

I am glad they are sorting things out and it is amazing what a short e-mail mentioning Press, GMTV and the local MP will do to get people to take notice :D

Lucy
xx

Great news Lea. The power of CD rises again. Three cheers for Lucy being a blabbermouth! :-D I hope they find out what is wrong with your brother and that he's back home and healthy soon.