Mrs mW is currently pretty ill, the underlying condition is a brain tumour, it’s a terminal prognosis with a life expectancy of anywhere between 4-12 months. A few weeks ago she contracted a chest infection which due to reduced immunity became very serious and she was admitted to ITU where she stayed and was cared for superbly for 16 days. Her condition is currently improving slowly.

The problem is that as her condition has improved she’s been moved onto a lower dependency ward with lower staffing levels and upon going in today I found her slumped in a chair in an obviously uncomfortable position and unable to move herself. She still had dry blood all over her hands and a little on her face from yesterday afternoon. Last night she was unable to sleep because the bed was left in an upright position and she was too weak to use the buttons to change her position or reach the buzzer. When I arrived I was told that she’d be moved after the physio had seen her in about 5 minutes, I moved her as best I could to try and make her more comfortable in the meantime but after 30 minutes I went and found someone that could help get her back into bed. I was there for two hours and no physio came. I got the impression that she was generally neglected. It’s clear from looking around that the ward could do with 25-50% more staff to function to the sort of standard of care that you would expect for yourself or someone you care for. I’m basically losing confidence very quickly in their ability to provide a dignified, attentive and comfortable level of care.

I spoke to the ward sister to express my concerns in a calm and non shouty way and while she was very apologetic she couldn’t really offer any real solutions beyond “we must try harder”. The reality is they just don’t have the staff to cover the needs of the number of patients on the ward, at least not to the standard anybody would want for their loved ones.

The basic question is what options do we have? We don’t have private medical insurance as i doubt any companies would take her on due to the brain tumour. We can access some funds by cashing in pensions which we could use to pay for private care. Is this possible? Anyone got any experience of resolving a similar issue? Who do I need to speak to better understand the options?

I’m going to get in touch with the Macmillan nurses tomorrow but if anyone has any bright ideas in the meantime I’d appreciate it. I’m going off the hospital now but will check in on the thread later so please post anything useful. Thanks.

Ask her what she wants to do. Personally I would try and get Mrs W home as soon as possible, hospital wards are just too busy to offer a decent level of care. I was an ICU nurse many years ago, and a lot of patients who were moved out of ICU onto a general ward found some of the care fell a bit short especially after the 1 to 1 care on ICU.
Ask the Macmillan team to do a Continuing care application which is money put aside for palliative patients. Having access to continuing care money should allow you to obtain some home care services either privately or through social services ( for personal cares etc). I don’t know how your fixed work wise but If need be see your GP for a sick note to get a bit of time off work. Also having continuing care money would allow the option of a nursing home if needed. If it was me I would be there for her as often as the ward allows and after you’ve raised a concern about the level of care she’s receiving they should be grateful for any help they could get.
I currently work in the community looking after people with chronic/complex diseases, hope this helps and let me know if there is anything else i can do take care = Darren.

So sorry to hear of the problems assosiated with your wifes care, but i mean it, not like the management speak youll get back when you complain.

Been there and complained, firstly most hospitals have a complaints manager, or PALS advice service, Patient advice and liason service, contact them and puit it in writing , also keep a record of who you spoke to.

Secondly when you go in take a note book and record what you see, be open about what youre doing, it sometimes gives the staff who arent possibly doing their job a shunt, there are staff in all jobs who dont work to procedures, nhs is just one.

There will usually be a nurse or manger higher up than the sister to see, again make notes.

Finally thank the staff who perform well, and when everything is sorted buy all of them some wrapped sweets and a thankyou card.

Remeber shortage of staff is a management problem, not the individual service providsors fault so dont blame them,management get paid to manage, remind them of that.

Mr muppetwrangler nothing to add other than my dad also has an incurable brain tumour and its shit. Good luck.

In the first instance speak to the Ward sister. Do not complain, or get angry, just explain what has happened, and ask if it can be rectified asap, and get reassurance it will not happen again.

If the sister says gives a valid reason for the neglect or x and y didn’t turn in for shift, but we will be fully staffed today/tonight then keep a close eye on things.

If she says they are people down then ask how the management are rectifying it. If you get the impression she is under pressure him/herself, then ask them to do what they can, but ask for the name of the Wards General Manager. Ring them and ask them to explain what steps they are taking to rectify.

If you don’t get any joy there then go straight to the top the CE.

remain calm and rational and you will get further.

PALS is the correct route for complaints, but you haven’t really got a complaint, this is about ward safety, which senior management need to be aware of.

Each Trust has different cultures, but I know if you went to our CE, they would want to know how neglect like that could have happened.

I hope you get it sorted asap.

Thanks all some really good advice.

The ward sister I spoke to this afternoon had obviously had a word at some point as one of the nurses apologised to me this evening, the apology felt sincere, I was grateful for it and told her so. I really do appreciate everyones job in the care system is difficult, Mrs mW had worked in a clinical NHS roles for the last twenty years so I’ve heard all about the staffing problems time and again.

Hopefully it was just a blip that was possibly exaggerated in my eyes by the change in staffing levels between wards, but I’ll speak to the macmillan nurse tomorrow and see what she has to say, and also make some enquires about the continuing care application.

Thanks again.

Heartbreaking – sorry to hear about your situation.

General wards (i.e. outside admissions/high-care areas) are often inadequately staffed for patient care – the ideal ratio would be a minimum of 1:4 (Registered Nurse:Patients), to say nothing of nursing assistants, physios, OTs, etc. Until this issue is properly gripped, I don’t see how patient care will improve.

As above, the hospital should have some form of PALS service – speak to them asap. Also, wards are obliged to display/make public their staffing levels, which should provide an at-a-glance indication of whether the ward is “officially” under-manned (even if such levels are, frankly, inadequate) – which is certainly what management should be addressing. I don’t want to second-guess, but even if she was awaiting physio input/assessment, that shouldn’t (necessarily) prevent nursing staff from transferring patients from bed to chair (or vice-versa). There should be equipment (hoists, “steady-aids”, etc) available, for that very reason.

Best of luck to you and your wife.

[Edit: sorry – written as you were replying to the thread]

So sorry to hear that and there is no excuse for that care in my opinion.

PALS as others have mentioned, ask about Macmillan nurses also ask about Palliative care wards too if you feel if that’s what needed. Palliative care wares had much more personal feel to them than a general ward.

no excuse

I should clarify – there is certainly no excuse for neglect. Full stop.

What alarms me is overstretched wards – where staff are trying their best, but are unable to provide/maintain proper levels of care.

Also: there should be an “on-call”/roving specialist palliative nursing team – the ward nurses should be able to refer patients to them.

When my Dad was in our local hospital the inability to actually get any Physio time (by the ward staff) meant that he was in their many days longer than he should’ve been. So pretty much the same as you’ve seen.

And, when working recently for the NHS I was involved in a project with AHP’s (Physio’s are AHP’s). They were constantly unstaffed due to a combination of management incompetent, massive levels of sickness and daft working hours/patterns. They also seemed totally incapable of managing themselves and their workload.

firstly, all the very best wishes to you and your wife at this time.
having spent long periods in hospital i’m afraid the circumstances you describe are all too common. i ve witnessed and experienced neglect whether deliberate or casual on every single ward i ve been on at some time.
i ve even seen a ‘celebrity’ in ill health ‘paraded up and down a ward in soiled pyjamas.
there are some fabulous nursing staff ( many from the far east) whose level of care and attention is of the highest order others who are competant but seem too busy doing unspecified other things to ‘nurse’ and the frankly incompetant/inconsiderate/lazy .. just like in any work place really

my personal advice/ experience is get out of hospital. unless your wife is actually completing a course of treatment get her home. she ll be happier more comfortable and you ll have one less thing to worry about.

one consultant who was caring for me agreed with this view to the point where for 4 weeks i was an inpatient on a bed and breakfast basis.. sleep there overnight, have breakfast have my daily obs and taxi the 3 miles home till 8 at night in time for bed..

There is never any excuse for neglect. Ever. ‘Neglect’ however is not the same as ‘short staffed & being unable to provide care’.
Mrs GF is a staff nurse & regularly shows me on the NHS Professionals page just how many ‘bank shifts’ are available because of staff shortages. There are hundreds. I mean hundreds, every day/night & just in Leeds!. It’s despicable, & someone somewhere IS responsible for those shortages. Someone, somewhere has decided that money is more important than patients wellbeing & care. It’s that simple. (please tell me it isn’t & It’s more complicated than anything else ever)

Muppet, I know my post doesn’t help your dear Mrs MW & I sincerely she gets to be ok cos I’ve been there with my Mum & Uncle.

First of all best wishes to you and your family.

All the above is sensible advice. PALS will feed issues to the relevant managers. As this is a nursing issue rather than a general manager I suspect that the person up the ladder from the ward sister who will have most need to know is the Matron and I would be surprised if he or she was not already aware of your particular problem – certainly I would be upset if if that did not happen in my own hospital.

Macmillan/palliative care team involvement now will also get best plan of care in place be that at home or hospice.

On the wider point, staffing is problematical at the moment in many hospitals. It is not a lack of funds in most cases, it is a lack of people to recruit. Hence the hollow laughs at the pronouncements from government this week that they have provided 300 extra doctors and 1000 extra nurses. The funding may be there but the nurses will take 3 years to train and the docs between 6 and 10. Frankly, if you can find 40-60 nurses and 15-20 doctors of all grades looking for a change of scene and good local riding then point them in my direction.

The reasons for the lack of candidates are complex but include changes in training and immigration policy and the increasing attraction of the Aussie and NZ health care system to trainees in this country who are fed up with being overstretched and no longer see a significant pay differential.

The fairly dramatic cuts in social care have both resulted in an increase in elderly patients needing to come into hospital and an increase in the difficulty in getting them home again and in some areas the private companies that took the social care contracts on an any willing provider basis are handing them back as uneconomic. This seems to be the main cause of the problems prominent in the news this week.