My mother in law is at Whipps hospital in London and the level of care is shaky to say the least. She has had a heart attack recently and has had them previously. She is unable to see a cardiologist at Whipps Cross because apparently they don’t work at week-end. What?
So if you plan to have a heart attack, don’t plan one on a Saturday or Sunday if you live in London. Secondly she hasn’t been eating which is one of the reasons she was admitted.
The lovely tray of food comes around and she has been refusing to eat. When my husband is there he persuades her to eat about an inch of the beef…then the tray is taken away.
NO RECORD IS MADE OF WHAT THE PATIENT ATE OR HOW MUCH WATER IS BEING DRUNK.
So my mother in law is continuing to starve herself and the nurses are completely unaware of it. Yes my husband is telling them but what if you were a patient without family?
Lastly the hospitals have no access to previous medical history. So what happepns if you are seriously ill or elderly and not able to tell the doctors your previous medical history? This has happened before with my mother in law and she told them she was on medication that she was not actually on. They made a note, believed her and didn’t double check. Even if they wanted to at the week-end GP surgeries are closed.
There is software and technology readily available so that doctors could access at a click of a button a patient’s previous medical history.
We hear a lot of what is wrong with the NHS but these things listed above are not rocket science to fix, especially making a note of when a patient has not eaten or drunk anything.