"Service at hospital"

My parent was admitted to the hospital for server pain in their back. After diagnosis we discovered my parent had 3 fractured vertebrae. The level of care after once admitted overnight and the following day was, in my opinion, very poor.

1)  The nurses came in with my parent's medication didn't say what it was, left it on the tray and said you need to take this. They didn't say, what it was for, then locked it in a cupboard and left.

1.2) Forgot about providing the menu for ordering meals, until we asked if they provided breakfast, lunch or dinner and they said oh they must have forgot. My parent has dementia, if we hadn't of said something I doubt they would have received any food for the two days

2) The nurse advised my parent needed another CT scan as they may not have an imagine of the hip region and will head down in the next hour to have this done. 2hours later we asked what was happening and they said sorry this doesn't need to happen now. The nurse came back later and said you need to have an Xray instead, we will take you down to have this. An hour later we ask the nurse is this still happening and they replied oh no we don't need this now. Due to my parent's dementia, this became very confusing for them, we had got my parent ready for both of these procedures, with no advice they were not going ahead, unless we went and asked what was happening. Most of the responses to the change in events was a big sporting grand final day so there are delays.

2.2 My parent was asleep, and the nurse came to check their blood pressure - they put the cuff on my parent's arm, startling them, they didn't know what was happening as the nurse didn't speak to my parent acknowledging what was happening just put the cuff on.

3) When we were advised my parent could go home by the specialist - they did not provide any prescriptions for medication for them to take, they did not provide us with any discharge paperwork - we are still waiting for this, the specialist did not advise on any additional care or appointment to make. The specialist did mention you can come to my rooms for an appointment but as it is the school holidays they won't be anyone around???

3.3 We did phone the hospital for a copy of the discharge papers - we are still waiting for this (as my parent's doctor had asked for a copy)

Overall, the care was extremely poor - I don't believe the nurses have any understanding or training for people with dementia or how to treat them.

The best care my parent received was when the tea lady came around to offer them a cup of tea - she was more engaging, kinder, and made my parent feel at ease (which is extremely sad).