Royal Preston Hospital

My wife was recently in hospital and has alzheimers. The feeding regime was very poor, she is not good at eating and the food was just left in front of her rather than being properly supervised.

I received a letter from the hospital to say I haven't turned up for my appointment. But it said I have got a new appointment in 4 weeks but no date and time. I tried calling the ENT department a lot with no answer. I got through to them today and they were very rude and didn't listen to me. They just told me I had received a letter with the date and time which I haven't. They told me I had been sent a link to receive my letter but the lady on the phone wouldn't listen to me when I told her I struggle with technology. When I commented I had tried to call all morning she answered with I have been here all morning so I don't see why not.

My daughter was referred to the allergy clinic at RPH in August 2023 by her GP as she had to use her epipen twice within a week. She has a known nut allergy. Her appointment she was given was for Jan 2025 !!! Therefore her mother complained to PALS and eventually she received an appointment for 24th Oct.
The care that her daughter received from Dr Elizabeth Forouzanda was exceptionally and restores my faith in the NHS. Dr Forouzanda was very thorough and professional throughout the appointment and my daughter has to return to the clinic next week for further tests. Yet If I had not complained she would still be waiting till Jan 2025.
I appreciate that the NHS is under significant pressure but for this situation could not wait for over a year as this a life threatening condition.

I went to A&E at 10am in the morning and I was seen by many doctors and I kept being sent back to the waiting area over and over again. I was told I had to stay in over night but there were no beds available so I had to sit and wait. I got called at 1am the following day to tell me that they now had a bed for me.

I have been with the cancer care team for some time now and they are incredible. The staff are so lovely and helpful I can't fault them at all.

The wait times in A&E are getting longer. People are choosing not to go there as they don't want to wait and then they are getting really poorly. I didn't go to A&E as last time I went I waited hours and hours to be seen. I ended up being taken via ambulance and still waited ages to be seen.

My relative was in hospital and I explained to the nurses that they are deaf. I recieved a phone call from a nurse saying they were a bit unhappy and I explained they are deaf which she didn't know. This happened another 2 times with 2 new nurses and no-one put in their file they were deaf. I had to go to the hospital to explain what adjustments they needed again even though I had already done it.

The communication between staff, including doctors and nurses needs to be improved. Feedback to patients regarding basics such as appointments, changes to plans needs to be clearer. People need to listen to each other and take responsibility for their communications. Much stress is caused by problems occurring due to a failure in communication and this negativity effects health. Improve communication. It is essential.

My 89-year-old mother was admitted to Royal Preston accident and emergency on Wednesday evening, following a fall at a residential care facility at 6:30 pm.

The paramedics arrived around 8:30 pm and she was taken to the hospital were following a wait outside. She was admitted to the A&E department shortly after 10:30 pm.

We contacted the department by telephone and were kept informed. Due to problems with the CT Scanner, my mother was scanned in the morning, and we received a phone call from the A&E department which was reassuring. They were happy for us to visit Mum in the A&E department, and went to see her. Mum was in good spirits. The doctor treating Mum was very helpful and informative and said that she would be checked out by the frailty team and it was hoped that after that Mum would be able to return to her care facility that night. She explained that the frailty team worked closely with local care providers and would liaise with them.

Our next communication was around 2:30 in the afternoon, A nurse from the frailty team to called me to gather information. We spoke for around 15 minutes and she promised to call me once she had seen Mum.

No-one called us or Mum’s care provider back. At 7:30pm, my sister rang the hospital and was told Mum had been admitted to the acute frailty ward overnight. Only basic information was available from the nurse.

We called back in the morning as requested but were told no information would be available till noon. We rang back at noon, and were told Mum was still being investigated. We were told a doctor would call us back, but no doctor ever did. A pharmaceutical technician rang for information on Mums medication and was the first member of staff to call Mum’s care provider. This was followed shortly by a physio who said checks were complete and Mum would be returned to her care provider if that was OK. This was 14:34 according to my call log. We agreed, and we understand that the care provider was also told.

However, at 6:05, we were called again, told Mum was ready to leave but no transport was available until the morning. We said we would come and get Mum. As agreed, we arrived at 7pm. We found a ward with all staff in the entrance area, assume this was during hand over. When we asked for mum one of the nurses waved down the ward and said that she was in the final Bay. We found mum sitting in a chair dressed only in hospital gown and slippers with a plastic bag containing a possessions. One of the nurses had followed us down and informed us that was all they had for mum and shrugged when we asked if they expect us to take our 89 year old mother home in such flimsy clothing. My sister sensing that little help was available and feeling that she might become angry absented herself and went in search for wheelchair. I continued to plead with the nurses and eventually they provided some tracksuit bottoms for Mum. Having dressed Mum in the tracksuit bottoms my sister returned with the wheelchair. They did help Mum into the wheelchair but left us to it after that. On our journey out to the will to the entrance we received no help and mum told us that she had been in the chair for hours and when she had requested to visit the toilet the staff had refused to help. My mother is physically frail but he's mentally competent and it was clear from my conversation at 6:05, that mum had been in the chair for considerable time before that.

Mum's knees are very stiff, and getting her into our car was difficult, painful for mum and distressing for us. We were grateful that a passing ambulance man provided some assistance. The journey back to Mum’s care facility was distressing for all of us my mum was most concerned about having an accident.

During our visit to the hospital, the care received in A&E was very good. After that communication was very poor and not as promised. There was no serious attempt at collaboration with the care home.

The nursing care witnessed in the acute frailty unit where many of the hospitals most frail patients are located did not in my opinion meet either basic nursing care standards or NHS care standards. Since Friday I have taken time to research the experiences of other people whose loved ones have been in this ward. They report similar experiences.

I had a baby a few months ago and the delivery room was freezing, I was told by a member of staff that the heating person goes home at 5pm. I felt like I was being an inconvenience that I hadn't given birth within the time slots that the heating person is on duty.
The staff didn't help me or support me to get warm, no blankets or hot water bottles were given to me.
The midwives after my baby was born were lovely.