National Health Service

[pendo]

I haven't updated much recently. I've been quite busy with work and visiting my Auntie Betty in hospital. It turned out she had broke her hip, so had been having the WRONG treatment again! I'd heard stories about how awful the NHS was, but never really believed it was that bad until I saw what awful conditions my Auntie Betty was cared for at St. Helens Hospital:

• The food was awful. There wasn't much for my Auntie to eat with being a diabetic, but what she could eat was disgusting (I even tried a bit). Sandwiches didn't have butter on them, and when my Auntie asked for some she was given mouldy, dry butter. Soup is tasteless and like water. Meat is rubbery. Disgusting would be an understatement. I don't understand how the food can be so bad in hospital!
• Some of the staff have been rude and threatening towards my Auntie Betty. It's not all staff but there was a certain nurse who had my Auntie Betty in tears quite a few times. I don't want to talk too much about it because I could go on for hours, but my mum will not let it settle once my Auntie is out of hospital.
• They gave her the wrong medication which was affecting her diabeties.
• A doctor expressed his concern that her x-rays did not show clearly enough whether her hip was broken or not. However, the hospital refused to give her a scan to ensure and said they would just go off her x-rays. They had her tryin to walk on her hip which was very painful and could have caused more damage.
• They were given no form of entertainment in the ward at all. She had no TV or radio, only the books and magazines that visitors had bought for her. The only TV was around the corner, but because my Auntie couldn't walk they wouldn't take her. She was incredibly bored.

Well luckily she's in a different hospital now (Whiston Hospital), it's MUCH nicer, nicer staff, and she's now getting the right treatment. She had her operation on Friday and it looked like things were finally getting better...

...Until this morning. A nurse phoned my mum asking her to come into hospital because my Auntie wasn't feeling very well. She's had a heart attack! Everyone's very shocked and upset. My Auntie Betty is hanging in there, I hope to God she gets better.