I am just as pro NHS as anyone and realise the service is under immense pressure at the moment. But I'm seriously shocked by the lack of communication we are experiencing.
My elderly DM was taken away by ambulance last week. Nobody called her relatives, despite her giving them our details. I only found out when I went to check on her and found her house deserted so started calling round hospitals.
Since then she has spent many days on a ward. I obviously can't visit because of COVID. I've spoken to a dr once and that was after 8 hours of calling back hourly and being told someone would ring me. On other days when I've tried, nobody calls me at all.
My mother meanwhile is calling me constantly. She says she has no clue what is happening, why she's there or when she can go. She is relying on me for information, which I can't give because I can't speak to anybody- either nobody answers the phone at all, or I get a staff nurse who is very curt just says everything is fine and a dr will call me back (but they never do) or just passes the phone to my mum which defeats the object.
We have no idea how long she will be there to take her more things and she's likely to need a care plan in place when she comes out but nobody seems to be talking to me about that either.
Surely at the moment as relatives cannot visit, communication with next of kin (particularly for vulnerable patients who cannot understand for themselves what is going on) should be increased not decreased? Very frustrating and unsure what I can do.