Hospital stay, is this normal?

[netto]

Been to visit a family friend this afternoon in hospital and I was shocked by her situation.
She's been in hospital over a week and has recently been moved to another ward as they needed her bed for someone very poorly.
BUT in the new ward she is on a trolley in the corner of the ward, not in a proper bed space. No curtain to go round her, a privacy screen but it is concertina type so has gaps in between the panels, so no real privacy.
No cupboard to put her things in, she has 3 carrier bags on the floor!

She is on a lot of medication which is kept in a carrier back and she is keeping it herself. When the nurse comes round to do the drugs she hands it to the nurse who gets out what she needs then gives her the rest back.
Is this what happens now? I was quite shocked.

There's nothing I can do about her situation but I'm just wondering if this is common practise in hospitals.

That sounds horrific. I have to go into hospital fairly regularly and self-medicate when I can. A lot of my meds are quite unusual and it takes them days to get hold of them.

Some of her meds are fairly unusual but she's also on codeine which I would have thought is pretty mainstream.
I'm just shocked that she has access to boxes of meds.

I've had to take meds with me in hospital for things that aren't part of the reason that I'm there - but they always take them and put them in the drug cupboard, they don't just leave them with me to manage myself. I asked why once, and they said they had to record all meds in case they need to know what I'd taken and when for any reason (like if they needed to give me a new drug and it couldn't be mixed with something else) and if I was doing them myself they couldn't be sure if and when I'd taken something. Annoying, especially for bed time meds when you want to go to sleep but have to wait for the drug round, but made sense from a safety perspective.

There's also nothing stopping someone from taking or interfering with the meds while they're unattended if they're just in a carrier bag on the floor! That's not good at all. I can see a problem where someone in pain decides to see if your relative has e.g. paracetamol and ends up taking too much. Or a patient with cognitive issues taking random meds.

yes, DH was in around Christmas time, he had all his own meds. It was actually a relief as when he was in a different hospital they actually forgot to give him some medications a few times and it caused issues. He ended up having to be in his usual hospital for treatment after being discharged from that one because of it.

When I was in previously I was doing my own meds too.

Awful that she doesn’t have a bedside cupboard to put her things in or a proper screen.

Unfortunately this is the way things are going.

Run into the ground, it's literally pot luck if you get any decent care (and I'm saying this as a nurse in an NHS hospital).

I fear any of my family needing to be admitted

Yeah it's normal now, I'm a frequent flyer- and have seen temporary beds for about 3/4 years- they started precovid but in our hospital now have bed numbers, last time I was in for 10 days, I was unlucky enough to get one, it was luckily a bed not a trolley but no proper curtain and a lovely (!) window onto the corridor. I'm glad I took ear plugs and an eye mask.

The assessment wards have trolleys and also trolley spaces in the corridor, also with bed numbers. (It's shocking)

I always take my meds as it's easier than waiting for them to be re prescribed and one of them they never have anyway. Some times they put them away but mostly now they don't.

I'm just shocked that she has access to boxes of meds.
Why? She has access to them at home and will know exactly what to take and when, with or without food.
In my expereince hospitals don't sort your routine drugs out very quickly so you can be left without. They also seem to struggle with unusual drugs or doses.

I had to take on routine meds over 20 years ago so not shocked about that.

Yes and no.
The meds should be labelled and locked away