[Margaret Pilkington]

My mum had similar problems at Christies.......I didn't realise how much they charged for incoming calls.....until another patients relatives informed me.
I have to say that I didn't phone Mum after that. We bought Mum a £20 card for each of the 4 weeks she was there.....just so that she could watch the TV.

The nursing care over there was abysmal too. One lady who was very poorly was asking for a bedpan. I went to the nurses office at least three times in the course of about 20 minutes......the lady didn't get a bed pan, but she did get a telling off for soiling the bed. And these are ladies who are terminally ill.

When Mum went for her treatment, if it was mealtime, her meal was left on her bed table. If she didn't get back in time it was whisked away and she got only toast or a cold pot of ambrosia rice.

No, some of the students who are coming into the profession do not want to be doing the basic nursing care......bed baths, toileting, feeding. They just want to do what they see as the more 'glamorous' aspects of care. They do not realise that during the basic nursing care delivery you can often identify fears and anxieties and help to alleviate these.