Appalling service at Linmed Netcare Hospital

My mother was admitted as admitted on 09/04/2019 to Linmed Netcare hospital as an emergency after she fell and broke her hip. She is 84 years old. She subsequently had a right hip replacement and was transferred to the ICU. She had wonderful care until she was transferred to the orthopedic ward.

I was informed on Tuesday 16 April by my family that my mother is "dying of hunger " and she was bleeding from her mouth which was dry , her tongue was swollen and cracked from dryness. She was pale and could not speak. I called the hospital and spoke to the sister on duty enquiring about her condition and they confirmed that her mouth was bleeding because she "was breathing through her mouth". Being a nurse myself i asked them if they were doing mouth care and making sure she takes in enough fluids. They ensured me they did.

The next day my dad went to her and sat with her the whole day making sure she eats and taking in oral fluids.

By Thursday when I arrived there from Cape Town , she was looking much better, her mouth was pealing ( dried skin), but her colour was much better. We helped her again the whole day , making sure she is drinking and eating. Only then the advised me that the doctor prescribed some fungal cream for her mouth. I checked her pressure parts (heels and sacrum) and they were very red and extremely painful . They had no treatment prescribed for this, and only after I questioned this, they asked the doctor who prescribed a cream to rub on her tender skin.

By Friday, she had a lot of pain and complained of a very painful heal. It was only after we complained that they decided to add additional measurements to avoid her getting bedsores. The previous day they showed us and checked with us the menu (soft pureed food as her mouth was still healing from the previous neglect) she ordered for her for Friday, but when the breakfast arrived, it was a full farmers breakfast with toast and bacon galore- this was definitely not she ordered and she could not even eat this

They then also instructed us to leave the ward and restricted us to see her only visiting hours - They also found out that I was a trained nursing sister and was quite rude when we offered to help my mother and told us we need to "trust" them . How can we trust them when it is clear that she is not getting the care she needs.

She was also due to go to a step-down facility, but they only started this process on Thursday afternoon and then informed us that they cannot complete this process before Thuesday next week.

Being a public holiday , there were very limited options for us and we were left frustrated and nowhere to go to for help ! Mrs Botha