Appalled vs Despondent

My grandmother was transferred to Tygerberg hospital for hip surgery yesterday late evening. She will be 90 in October. Firstly they left her in Trauma for a day with out food etc. We had to say good bye as visitors cannot wait there.

Now when I went in there to say good bye, she was lying between a person who overdosed and cut his finger off, fitting, the other side was a guy shot it the check and few beds on was another gang member who was shot in the stomach. Whilst one understands they are busy,,,,, I feel there should be a better process for less critical patients to be moved to a ward whilst waiting for the final bed.

Next we phone this morning to ask if they have moved her to ward and was told no she is still lying in Trauma.

Next we call again and they state no she is no in her ward. This was at 11h00. As we get there we are told she is off to surgery. NO ONE took 5 mins to explain what they are going to do and the risks etc. Off they wheel her. We ask if they will tell us when she is out and got told NO YOU MUST KEEP CALLING.

With heavy hearts we left. Get to my gran this evening and she is lying in a wet bed, not been changed or given a new adult diaper since the previous day. When we called the nurses we were told "oh well you must bring your own adult diaper; ( They moved her earlier the day, knowing she has a badly broken hip, gets panados for pain and hurt her so bad she was shaking!!!!

No wonder people get sores and infections. I am yet to see ONE nurse disinfect her hands when handling my gran or any other elderly patient in the ward.

To ad the cherry.....she had no surgery as planned today. WHY? Because the nurse never gave her the injection she would need to help with her bleeding during surgery. She received that just before 9pm tonight.

This same nurse is the one that happened to tell my gran that she just wasted their time getting her prepped for a surgery that wont happen!!!!!!!

I took a video of them sitting eating playing videos on their phones, whilst we were waiting for assistance with my Gran.

Understand budgets are tight etc, but what happened to humanity!!!! Compassion!!!! Empathy!!! and just plain service. These elderly patients are not chunks of meat to be treated as one wishes. They have had lives, children and grandchildren who adore them.

With good care and attitude, I am sure there will be less incident, complications, risk of major infections and patients can be discharged quicker. These doctors work hard and the after care is very important. Seems the disconnect is there too. Like · Reply · 3m