A stay in hospital

We have had reason to test the NHS over the last few weeks! Christine developed a bad chest infection that turned rapidly into pneumonia. It all happened within about 24 hours. The GP came, took one look, and called an ambulance. It's all quite spectacular with a paramedic arriving firstly in a Volvo, followed by the ambulance.

In many ways, the hospital experience was very good and without prompt availability of antibiotics and oxygen, Christine would almost certainly have died. But if the medical treatment is excellent, there are aspects of being in hospital when you are quadriplegic and having no movement at all that could be so much better. And an awful lot of money is being wasted!

Some of the stuff is really basic, like having a call system available that can be operated without having to press a button on a handset. Christine uses an environmental control system which she operates via a switch using her chin. There are all kinds of switching options available for people with severe mobility impairments, but hospitals don't have any of these.

And bathing is a nightmare due to a lack of any suitable system to transfer Christine to a bath. Eventually, after a lot of complaining we were able to take her to another ward which had a system for transferring patients to a bath without having to sit up in an uncomfortable plastic chair. We can do this because we know enough about systems and equipment to press the right buttons, but what about patients who don't have this sort of knowledge?

Perhaps the most ridiculous thing was that hundreds of thousands of pounds have been completely wasted in installing tracking ceiling hoists in each bay. These are not being used and have never been used either because they are broken, the remote control (they operate via infrared) cannot be found, or the unit has been left in the wrong place and is not charged. What a waste of money!

On the other hand, staff are beginning to learn that the presence of Christine's PAs (someone needed to be with her 24 hours a day for the first few days) is neither a criticism nor an intrusion on their responsibilities. It simply that we all know Christine best and can manage her condition. It doesn't take long before nurses and care assistants begin to know us, trust our judgement, and appreciate that it is better for Christine's care and recovery and takes pressure off them.