Do hospitals lose patients? (and no, it’s not a daft question)
Yes. Not completely (usually). But it does happen for the first 2-3 days of admission sometimes.
Longer explanation. A large hospital can admit over 100 emergency patients a day. They try very hard to find you a bed on the most appropriate ward.
But, quite often, especially on chaotic days, you end up on the ‘wrong ward’, i.e. the doctors there are not specialised in your condition; or do not ‘have you on their list’ of patients to see. Everyone thinks someone else is looking after you and no one is.
If you think this has happened to you (or your relative) its important to ask the nurses exactly which doctor is responsible for you on the ward, and when they will visit – and the name of your consultant (boss doctor).
Also, some patients are confused and wander off to the wrong ward, and even outside the buildings. That is a different way of being lost.
[Note. One of the authors of this website did a study once – on a Monday, the busiest and most chaotic day in a hospital – of ‘lost patients’ and found (worryingly) upto 10% of emergency patients get lost, or half lost, for 48h or more after admission.]
