to Expect rules to be followed by nurses while my daughter is in hospital?

[Skmo1]

My 16yr old daughter got taken into hospital by ambulance this morning with severe stomach/abdominal pains. A&E, cannula in hand, pain relief (morphine through the cannula, then admission to ward and all very quickly! fantastic. As she is 16, shes in adult wards rather than children’s. She was very apprehensive about me not being able to stay over night with her plus she has anxiety, which brings on panic attacks about things like that! She phoned me at 8.30pm & told me she’d started feeling sore again & asked the nurse for a morphine top-up, (on docs request) nurse told her 5mins it would b with her. Nurse came back, alone & handed her a syringe filled with clear liquid & walked away! My daughter didn’t know what to do. It’s her first ever stay in hospital and also her first ever time having morphine. First time she has saw morphine was when she was down in A&E and the doctor put it straight into her cannula! She was a bit puzzled as to why SHE was GIVEN a syringe full of morphine, then left to her own devices. It’s very lucky she’s a bright girl & thought to ask before She whacked it through the cannula & it’s very very lucky she did ask as it was actually ORAL morphine, she was supposed to swallow it! So, shes got talking to a couple of women on the ward....as u do! One woman had blood and other bodily fluids all over her bed sheets from her admission on Fri. They havent been changed, at all. The same woman & another had violently vomited on Fri night and both their sick bowls are STILL sitting on their tables that go over the bed.....tonight (Sun).

So much for the hospital being vigilant in staying clean to Reduce the risk of patients catching superbugs like MRSA etc!! And also breaking controlled drug procedures completely to the point of negligence!

Am I being over the top???

You must have been feeling absolutely awful. Having to leave you child alone in the hospital is bad enough, (and I do consider age 16 still to be a child), but to then discover her care was being dealt with in such a flippant (& dangerous) manner must have made you both upset and angry!
I would certainly make an official complaint, but directly to the Chief Executive's office - PALS can be helpful, but I feel this situation is way above the services they can provide, this is an absolutely unacceptable & dangerous situation. Many people, responding to your post, have mentioned that administering controlled drugs should never be dealt with in this way - that is correct. The rules are stringent for a reason. Someone needs to explain to you why this happened.
At this stage, being almost a week after the events, I would definitely report what's happened to the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Whilst they won't deal with your individual problem they certainly have a duty to look into the hospital procedures to find out why this happened and ensure it does not happen again (you can do this anonymously, or give the CQC your details but ask them not to pass them on to the hospital or health authority concerned.

During one stay I had in hospital, having major spinal surgery, I was treated diabolically. Whilst in immense pain, following surgery, my morphine IV drip ran out. I had more than 5 hours without any pain relief. This was remedied by the head of nursing for the hospital, who came onto the ward with two nursing sisters to take care of me. The lady in the next bed helped me call my parents to inform them what was happening (I was not a child) - following that my father called the hospital and reported it to the person in charge of all nursing care. They immediately came to the ward to check the situation and remedy it. The complainant was looked into during the weeks & months following, indeed so many complaints had been received about the particular unit a full investigation took place. This resulted in many changes being made and many staff being dismissed - and rightly so! There is a lo6

Sorry hit send key 🤦
.... There is a lot of great care in the NHS, but when it's bad it needs to be dealt with properly.

I have to say, I've written a lot more good reviews and thank you messages to hospitals than I have complaints.
I do hope your child is fully recovered - as you said, certainly a child that has good common sense, (luckily).

Please do follow through reporting this, you may save another patient from being treated in the same way.

Per GOV.UK ...
"Some prescription medicines are controlled under the Misuse of Drugs legislation (and subsequent amendments). These medicines are called controlled medicines or controlled drugs.
Examples include:
morphine
pethidine
methadone
GOV.UK "
....
Per the original post, I believe it mentions the daughter was given "morphine". Perhaps that's what some based their responses upon.

I agree with the point made that ALL medication handed out/administered should include ensuring it is given to the correct patient & that they know how to take it - and indeed do so correctly. There's really no room for assumptions.