Saint Augustine Hospital negligence and poor service.

I was in the extremely stressful and difficult situation where both myself and my wife contracted Covid together. After deterioration in condition at home (low oxygen levels) it was decided to admit my wife to Saint Augustine hospital via ambulance. This was against my better judgement having had extremely poor services from this hospital before when I had a hernia operation. After my experience I vowed never to return.

My wife is a nursing sister with over 40 years of experience and knows exactly how a hospital should be run. She was admitted and experienced six days of nightmarish incompetence in the hospital.

The following is a summary of some of the problems experienced by her:

Arrived at hospital in the early hours of 1st Feb at the COVID outpatient & discharged on the 6th Feb Seen by Dr there, given oxygen, and IV commenced. CXR done Sent up to COVID ward and admitted At no time did I get questioned about my previous medical history or what medication I was taking or the events prior to my admission Asked for soap and towel – none given – brought in from home later Asked for a carafe of water – given on day 2 and that water was never renewed not the carafe cleaned Medication was given by hand / on a piece of paper – surely using a serviette would have been a good idea? Staff was rarely seen except for food / medication rounds / ring the bell / vital sign monitoring Had an episode of chest pain – ECG machine wasn’t working or had no cable or no paper – they tried a few which took a while – surely an ECG machine is part of the emergency equipment trolley? Where is the check list? Floor was dirty, around 3rd day cleaner mopped the floor and after that no cleaners were seen again At discharge, was taken down to collection area by wheelchair and a staff member who wore her isolation gown even when staying with me outside the hospital ? Is this protocol or not? And then went back to the ward wearing the same gown. I thought that I had an urinary infection and asked for a dipstick (surely urine testing should have been done on admission?) I am still waiting. Got the Dr to eventually send a specimen to the lab. IV frequently ran dry and was never checked except at medication round.

As can be seen, apart from the general housekeeping type problems there were other problems with direct medical consequences. The level of incompetence at this hospital is astounding and justifies the very poor reputation that this hospital has. One has to bear in mind that this is a very expensive private hospital, not a government hospital on a shoestring budget. At the time the hospital was not full and in fact was very quiet. Given this, it is impossible to use the general Covid excuse that seems to be used for everything of late.

In summary, avoid this hospital at all costs to avoid a very unpleasant situation.