IOW Reviews 3

Called Adult Social Care on the Isle of Wight for help. My 92 year old mother with dementia who lives alone has to move out of her home due to a flood and extensive building works needed . She is vulnerable and very confused.
The family live in London. I asked Adult Social Care for help and a possible respite placement whilst work takes place .
Someone took extensive notes and said their senior colleague would call me back later that day . No one called and despite further calls from me I was unable to get through.
They knew how upset we were and worried for my mother and they just didn’t respond.
Not a very caring service.
As no word from adult social care, I called myself again today. I was offered a directory to find a care place myself.
Meanwhile, mum is existing in a damp house with possible asbestos.

I received a call from a GP surgery advising me that a close member of my family had collapsed in the street, sustained significant head injuries and was being attended to by paramedics.
The family member's phone had been temporarily lost when they collapsed.
The GP surgery closed shortly after informing me of this.

I waited a reasonable amount of time before calling St Marys Hospital at Newport, Isle of Wight, to check if a) my family member had been taken there and b) if they were to be admitted.
I needed this information because the family member is the prime carer for a 95 year old and arrangements would need to be made for their care as I live several hours away.

I was put through to a Switchboard operator who then advised she would put me through to A and E (on a busy weekend evening!). After being placed on hold a while she advised she could not get through to A and E and provided me a direct number.

When I asked if she could simply confirm whether my family member had been taken to that hospital she brusquely said she could not give out that information. Her tone indicated that she saw that question as unreasonable.

I then spent over 24 hours repeatedly trying to call the A and E to establish what was happening, however the calls just went to engaged tone - hardly surprising considering it was A and E and a weekend therefore super busy.
My poor review is NOT about the staff of A and E - they would have been busy on a weekend and answering phone calls would be of lower priority.

My poor review concerns the imbecilic processes effected by St Marys Hospital under the direction of the IOW NHS Trust and its decision makers.
They need to design and implement a system where people can at least be informed as to whether a person has been taken to their hospital and inform next of kin if a person is admitted.

My family and I were absolutely frantic - all we had established was that the family member had significant head injuries having fallen and hit the back of their head (this type of injury has a high fatality rate and can cause confusion and delayed onset symptoms, so it is even more imperative for family members to be able to check if someone is at hospital).
My family and I had no idea where he was, whether he was dead or alive, wondering around lost and confused post head trauma, or how serious a condition he was in, or indeed whether he had even been taken to hospital. This caused multiple people extreme anxiety and stress, including the patient, which could be avoided with an effective system in place.

NOT GOOD ENOUGH IOW NHS TRUST - you are causing people harm with such an abysmally uninformative practice - PLEASE DO BETTER !