Share review of Hinchingbrooke Hospital

Hinchingbrooke Hospital 2020-06-22 Person 2 5 0

I am writing this on behalf of my mum who has been in and out of Hinchingbrooke hospital a number of times since May last year. At first it was thought she may have gastroenteritis before staff found a blood clot in her leg in October time, she was also told she had other issues with her blood vessels but her body was 'fixing itself'. She continued to be unwell and had several other admissions. resulting in a referral to cardio vascular at Addenbrookes. Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago she phoned herself an ambulance because she felt so unwell. Paramedics were dismissive as soon as she told them she has mental health issues, commenting on how little food she has in her fridge and telling her to 'calm down'. As it happens she has several issues with her arteries and was lucky not to have a heart attack. On top of this apparently staff no longer inform the next of kin if their loved one has been admitted into hospital basically assuming they have done it themselves unless they are in a coma or dead. What about if their phone is not charged? Or they have not even picked it up? Which is very unhelpful when you work for the NHS yourself and live a couple of hours away. Having lived in Huntingdon as a family for a long time, my siblings were born there and we have all received treatment there in the 1990s. What has happened since then who knows. Wards are clean and beautiful but with barely enough staff to run them. Treating symptoms barely doing a thing about the underlying cause, we are lucky that my mum did not die. Why not transfer to Addenbrookes for treatment? Why not do what say you are going to do? Very disappointing.