Feeding the problem

When my mother was a patient there for three months, she was unable to feed herself and because of the lack of staff available to feed patients, her meals were left in front of her and removed uneaten, with no-one questioning as to why the tray was still full.

While visiting we noticed the lack of attention that other patients received who could not feed themselves.

My family made sure that one of us was there at meal times to ensure that my mother was fed and watered. It wasn’t easy and we could not always be there – breakfast and lunchtimes were especially hard.

If families are stopped from visiting from 5-6.30pm, can the hospital promise that these patients will receive the nutrition they need to help them recover?

By changing the visiting hours so that family members are allowed to go in, how will the patients that are unable to lift a knife and fork be treated? I most definitely object to the change in visiting hours, when these patients will be left without food again.

Julia Champion,

Bluebell Drive,

Littlehampton

Hospital response - Cathy Stone, director of nursing for Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “I fully understand people may feel concerned about changes to visiting times on the adult inpatient wards at Worthing and Southlands hospitals, but I’d like to offer reassurance that the changes are designed to improve patient care, and have been implemented in partnership with our patients and their families.

“The new, more structured, visiting times allow patients time to rest, and allow staff the time and space to offer the best possible care for their patients. The new visiting times also provide staff the time to support the protected meal time initiative, ensuring all the ward staff can focus on supporting patients with their nutritional needs.

“If a family member wishes to be involved in assisting family members at mealtimes the ward sister would be pleased to support the family member – irrespective of the new visiting times.

“We would never want our approach to be ‘one size fits all’, and so staff are always prepared to be flexible. Ultimately, we want our patients to be well rested, well nourished, and well cared-for, and we’ll always work with patients and their families and carers to help us achieve that.”