To want to complain to the hospital?

[shouldhecomplain]

Dh took dd to hospital today with suspected appendicitis after our GP referred her.

Fortunately it's not appendicitis but a gastric bug and she's now at home starting to feel better.

But while she was on the ward waiting for test results, a boy of about 13 who appeared to have a learning disability, walked over to the side of her bed, took out his penis and was about to urinate into the washbasin.

Dh ushered him away and alerted a member of staff.

Dh was disturbed by the fact that 12-yr-old dd would have had to stay on a mixed ward with several teenage boys had she been admitted - and this incident highlighted why.

Dh said about five staff spent the four hours he was there sitting around at the nurses' station doing very little.

Clearly not the boy's fault - he appeared to be quite disorientated - but dh did have issue with the lack of care and attention on the ward generally - although the doctors, he said, were superb.

I think dh should register a complaint so that it's noted by the hospital authorities at least.

What do you think? If he did complain, what would be the most effective method of making sure it's noted? (Anyone who works in the health service on here)? thanks

Ps I've namechanged to remain anonymous

sunds normal which is why dd is never left alone during her frequent hospital stays.
Your hospital should have a PALS - patient liason thingy. You complain via them.

talk to the hospital's PALS - Patient Advice and Liaison Service. You are right to highlight this issue - they need to be providing appropriate supervision. There are plenty of overworked nurses out there but I suspect there are a few who hang out round the nurses station a bit too much as well.

Make sure the staff who where hanging around the nurses station where actually nurses. Sometimes other staff ie physios, ward clerks etc have the same/similar uniforms to nurses.

If they where nurses, your husband has a right to complain. A 13 year old boy with behaviour problems etc should not have been left to wander around the ward.

OP's dh should complain anyway - if they weren't nurses, the managers are under-staffing and putting patients at risk.

yes ring pals and write a letter to the ward manager/ clinical services manager for the ward

Thanks for all these comments.

Needmorecoffee - sorry to hear your dd has to go to hospital frequently.

Today was a real eye-opener.

Dh is going to complain, now we know how, that'll help make it more effective.

cheshirekitty, the OP said the boy appeared to have a learning disability. Learning disability is not the same as behaviour problems. I work for an organisation that supports people with learning disabilities, and this type of misconception makes everyone's job more difficult than it should be.

Mrs Muddle - I apologise, I had read the ops story and replied a while later before re-reading.

Should he not have had a carer with him or his family while he is in hospital. ~Staffing is so low at the moment that there is no way patients will get the care they deserve.

No harm done. I'm off my high horse now. . There's an ongoing argument about support workers not being paid to support people when they are in hospital. But they are often the only people that can communicate with the person with learning disabilities as they know them so well. It will rumble on and on and on...

Don't know the situation for children. I do know that some children's hospitals only take children up to 14, so many teenagers with learning disabilities end up in adult wards. It's all a bit grim, really.

mrsmuddle - I was going to come in and say that too. thankfully, we can support our service-users when in hospital - although we won't do overnight unless needed. Though, I suspect we only get funding because they are already in our LD in-patient beds or detained under the mental health act.

According to dh, the boy's father was with him, but just around the corner and didn't see him in time to stop him. The dad, according to dh, "wasn't the sharpest tool in the box".

Dd's bed was right by the nurses' station though, and the staff there had full view of what happened, but, again according to dh, didn't appear very interested in anything that was going on on the ward.

That's what appalled him - the lack of care and attention. He doesn't know what status the staff were, but will describe their uniforms when he complaint.