"A dear friend's care"

I'm not sure what has happened to the standard of basic nursing care in the last few years. I myself have been a nurse for 20 years and I am appalled at the low standard of basic nursing care my dear friend has received at Monash Medical Centre.

My friend suffered a severe stroke and required care in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for 3 weeks whilst in a coma. The care my friend received whilst in ICU was of an excellent standard.

After 3 weeks my friend was transferred to a Ward.

My complaint centres around the fact that my dear friend has not had a wash/shower in the whole time they have been a patient. Instead, my friend has been wiped down with some chemical in a can! How can this replace a good bed bath, wash or shower? The act of washing in warm clean water can make you feel so much better even when you're not.

The fact that my friend smells and their skin integrity is like that of any 90 year old when they are only around half that age! And that no doubt my friend can smell themselves and their hair is one big dreadlock dirty bird's nest at the back of their head. Cannot imagine the last time my friend's teeth were brushed as they were coated when I visited. 

Basic nursing care isn't something that occurs when the nurse has time, it's something that should be done every day! If we can make our patients feel better the rehab/recovery stage will be better, thereby getting out of hospital quicker. There is so much focus on trying to make it a patient-centred focus, how about we get back to basics and build from there. 

No amount of substandard shortcuts will make patients recover quicker or feel better.

In my opinion, the standard of cleaning on the Ward is also low. I watched a cleaner mop around a visitor's feet, instead of asking the visitor to move. I feel that the amount of dust and filth in corners and on shelves is terrible. I also watched the cleaner clean a dirty surface with a wipe (another chemical) then go on to clean the patient's table. What happened to cross-contamination?! The bins have also been overflowing every time we have visited, often with dirty pads inside.