All this week I’ve been visiting my mother, who is currently in hospital. She is much improved from last Saturday, and since her last admission almost a year ago I can see a marked difference in how patients are treated there.
Mum was assessed in A&E and admitted to a ward within 3 hours. When they considered sending her home the next day her doctor actually asked me if I thought she was well enough! I said that no, she was not, as when she talked she was not making any sense. The doctor asked me if she was usually confused, and when I replied in the negative they did more tests and scans. All the scans were normal, but they found Mum was suffering from a severe UTI. Now that she has been on antibiotics the infection is more under control, but they seem reluctant to send her home until she is completely recovered. Usually in the past patients would be sent home as quickly as possible in order to free up beds, only to be re-admitted a few days later with the same complaint.
The same 5 ladies have been sharing Mum’s bay all week long. When I worked as a ward clerk in 2002 the bed manager would breeze round every morning and demand that more patients be sent home. Even to my untrained eye I could tell that some of these patients would be coming back within days, and I was usually right. It seems that at last common sense is prevailing, and sick patients are actually being kept in hospital. Whether this applies to all the wards there and to other NHS hospitals I don’t know, but certainly on Mum’s ward the ladies there are being treated very well. Nurses seem harassed and overworked so nothing new there, but they do apologise to the patients for keeping them waiting so long for a wash.
Mum’s doctor takes much time to explain her condition instead of brushing me off with a few quick comments. Staff are mindful to prevent bedsores, and I really cannot complain about an NHS that has taken so much flak recently. The only problem Mum has is with the other patients whom she doesn’t seem to get along with, but that’s her problem and not anything to do with the NHS.
All in all, ten out of ten for our good old NHS, and it’s all free. Let’s hope that it’s still there in years to come.
Stevie Turner 
Hi Stevie, I read your blog with interest. Lots of people write negative things about their experiences of the NHS, and I am struck by how your positive your experiences have been, and that you share those online. I am conducting a research study about people who use internet technologies to comment online about health service experiences, at University of Oxford (see info below). If you are interested in finding out more, please contact me – I realise it’s probably a difficult time for you right now, so please accept my apologies if this feels like an intrusion.
very best wishes
Susan
The INQUIRE project: Interviewing patients and the public who have used the internet to express their views about healthcare , or have read other people’s comments.
• Have you ever read other people’s online comments or posts about their views or experiences of healthcare ?
• Or perhaps you have posted or written about your own health or healthcare experiences online?
• Are you 18 or over?
We would like to find out more about how and why patients and members of the public have used the internet to express their views about healthcare , or read other people’s comments. We are interested in people’s use of a range of internet platforms e.g. Twitter, YouTube, blogs, health forums, patient feedback websites and NHS complaints forums
If you have used the internet for this purpose, we would like to invite you to take part in an interview with one of our researchers. An interview will typically last between 45 minutes and one hour. A researcher could interview you at your home, or elsewhere if you prefer. Interviews may also take place by telephone or online if preferred.
If you are interested and would like to find out more about what is involved please contact:
Susan Kirkpatrick
Email: susan.kirkpatrick@phc.ox.ac.uk
Phone 07787 294170
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Hi Susan, I’ve sent you an email.
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Hope your Mum will be better soon and able to be discharged. It was around 2002 that the then Labour government started nailing Trusts for high readmission rates, so your bed manager in those days would have had to change their ways! Much better to keep people in until they were sure, rather than send them home and keep their fingers crossed!
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I used to feel sorry for the patients back then. If they were well enough to sit up then they were chucked out! It definitely doesn’t seem the case in Mum’s ward.
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Glad to hear it has improved since then. Hope your Mum gets better soon.
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Thanks Clive. She’s complaining about the food and the other ladies, so I think she’s on the mend!
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Sorry to hear she’s been ill, I hope she is recovered and back home again soon. It’s good that you’re so near and can deal with the doctors etc.
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She’s much better thanks, and will probably go home Monday or Tuesday. The car park charges are much increased, but I can’t fault Mum’s care at all.
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Yes. Car park charges are a disgrace. My daughter had to take her niece to see her terminally ill mum in a respite unit every day for 6 weeks and had to pay every time. She is on a very limited income and had taken on care of another person’s child but still had to pay. It’s unjustifiable.
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I think our hospital makes about half a million pounds every year on car park charges. It’s an absolute disgrace, but I suppose the NHS needs other supplemental sources of income.
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