Rant about local hospital!

Last February, my gran collapsed. An ambulance was called and she was taken to the local on-call GP who said it was a tummy bug. 15 Minutes later, sahe was unconcious and stopped breathing. Ambulance was called and she was taken to the Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary. She was kept in for 5 days. During those days we visited her and she was extremely confused, taking about the 3 world war and squirrels...... Both myself and my mother, on seperate occasions told the nurses that it wasn't like her and that we were concerned. Anyway, they sent her home, stating it was high blood pressure. Within 3 days she had collapsed again and began seizing so violently that the Ambulance required a police escort, as soon as she arrived at A+E she was sedated and ventilated and the family were called to be at her bedside and told to expect the worst. A CT was carried out and it reveal a subarrachnoid haemorrage (sp nearly right!). She was conveyed to Edinburgh and they successfully operated.

So then we found she lung cancer. She was treated with Radiotherapy in Edinburgh. She had 2 12 week courses and seemed to be dealing ok with it. Her last treatment was in Septemeber and she recently had a scan which showed that the treatment had worked (apparently).

Anyway, in the past month or so she has become increasingly confused. Last week she collapsed again and was taken to the DGRI. She was admitted to a ward and sent home that night. No CT was done despite the hospital reassuring my mother it would be.

On Tuesday my mother took my gran to her GP. It was decided tht we would take her to the hospital again. On Wed they carried out a full body CT.

Here is the bit I am angry about:

On Thursday afternoon the hospital staff spoke with my gran, who is on her own 55 miles away from her family that cancer had spread to her brain and that she had numerous tumours and that it was terminal. Only after they told her this did they ask if she wanted someone contacted. So then they phoned my 73 yr old grandfather and told him DOWN THE PHONE that his wife has terminal cancer!

How can somone be so insensitive as to tell a 66 year old woman that she is going to die while she is on her own? And then tell her husband over the phone?

I'm holding back on what I would like to say as I don't feel an emotional rant is the right thing to do. I know the NHS staff have a difficult job but this hospital seems to be the pits.

Anyway, rant over.

[Wideboy]

****ting hell, thats a kick in the nuts, sorry to hear tha bad news

Sorry to hear about this. Thats just the worst way anyone could possibly be told about a terminal illness, there just doesn't seem to be any thought put into how people will feel, people are just numbers and it isn't right. I hope you are ok.

sorry for your news mrs

[dizzyblonde]

That is absolutely awful MBK..I feel for you, I really doo

Sorry to hear the bad news I admit that the staff could and should have handled the situation more sensitively.

They shouldnt have told your gran that she was terminal whilst she was alone, especially if she keeps have reoccuring moments of confusion. They should have made sure that a family member was with her first, and told the news to everyone in one go.

I can sort-of see why they told your grandad over the phone, maybe they thought that he wouldnt be able to do a 55 mile trip to the hospital? Maybe that is the way they practice at that particular hospital i.e. tell diagnoses over the phone first. I dont know. Not very nice anyway

Not sure what you could do at this stage, maybe complain to the hospital about it so that they dont do it again in future?

Maria

[embee]

That's awful, but sadly doesn't surprise me.

I know we can't tar all the NHS with the same brush, and some (most?) of it does do a good job under sometimes difficult cicumstances, but sometimes it's plain bad.

A few years ago my Dad had a heart attack, not too severe, and he was treated well for a few days in hospital. They said they'd book a scan........................nothing. He finally got his GP to check with them and they had no record of a booking so made a new one. He had the scan about 6 weeks after the attack, and they decided he needed a stent, and would make an appointment........................nothing. GP eventually chased it and guess what, no record of the appointment. He eventually got the stent done about 4 months after the original attack.
I'm convinced they reckoned that chances were that the old guy would have another attack and die so they wouldn't have to do the work.
At least he didn't get MRSA/c-diff/novovirus.
He's still fine, thanks NHS.

I'm sorry to hear of your ordeal!

welcome to the lovely world of NHS......more and more examples appear where the NHs have waited until someone is at a very ill stage till they decide to do some proper tests!!!

Private cover all the way I say!!! I have now forced the missus to get signed up with someone like BUPA so that we can increase our chances that we get looked at properly

Sorry about your Gran MBK.

It wont help her, but if you complain it might just change the way they do things so write to the hospital and your MSP. Be blunt and demand an answer.

Originally Posted by embee

I'm convinced they reckoned that chances were that the old guy would have another attack and die so they wouldn't have to do the work.

Bullseye.

[yorkie_chris]

Very sorry to hear about the news.

St. James' hospital in Leeds was a similar horror story when my Grandad was in there. Suffice to say I would consider it cruel to keep dogs in similar conditions.