Information given to Andy Burnham when Health Secretary 13th march 2010

A lot is being said at the moment about the NHS and Andy Burnham.

Below is an email I sent to the PA of my MP at the time on NHS issues:

 

 Sent: 13 March 2010 16:34
To: BENNISON, Andy
Subject: Re: Andy Burnham

Hi Andy

As discussed at meeting with David and Andy Burnham

The points I have to raise with regards to my hospital treatment which Andy has asked that David write to him direct about are as follows:

Lack of nursing care, especially at night, when bed side alarms where not answered for at times half an hour.

The concern with that is that when I was returned to bed after surgery, I was not given my alarm which was positioned on my left hand side and out of reach and ended up asking another patient to press theirs for me.

Because I required the nurse during the day for pain which was treated with morpheme and was in turn given my alarm after it I didn't need it at night but could have had the need very easily.

Prior to getting the alarm when I was feeling sick and I ended up having to struggle out of bed and use the ward toilet to be sick in. (My arm was paralyzed at the time).

Also and while not an alarm pressing issue I was having to drink water direct from a jug because I could not manage to pour it and nobody was around to do it for me.

I also overheard a nurse state that she hadn't had time to fill any bedside paperwork in so was doing the full shifts next day.

The bedding was dirty.

I also must raise, at Andy's request, the issue of the significant amount of equipment left on or on standby that was not being used.

I would also like to take the opportunity to mention broken entertainment equipment (TV/Radio) whose service was subscribed to but unable to be used.

The solution to deal with this was a) not have the service as was the case of the patient opposite me b) Switch the handset with a current empty bed which was done in my case but only after figuring out that the handset was faulty.

Most of the issues seemed to be very much about staffing levels and when a nurse was present they were always helpful but the issues, especially about the bedside alarms which patients in the ward prior to my attendance said was a regular thing, need to be addressed.

Regards

Andy

The email was sent to Andy (the PA) at the behest of Andy Burnham who I spoke to face to face, raising the same subjects at the MP's campaign launch.

I do not believe for one moment that I was the only person to raise issues outside of Mid Staffs.