Hospitals facilities are ‘degrading for disabled children', says Oxfordshire mother
The hospital’s paediatric ward doesn't have a hoist which allows non-mobile children to be bathed and cleaned
Last updated 23rd Oct 2024
The Mother of a young girl who has cerebral palsy and epilepsy says the facilities at an Oxfordshire hospital are 'degrading' for disabled children.
Khadijah Niazi is from Banbury and says, Horton General Hospital's paediatric ward doesn't have a bath available for non-mobile children, despite there being two baths for able-bodied children.
Khadijah’s daughter, Sumayyah Khan Niazi is 6 years-old, has cerebral palsy and epilepsy, which means that she’s spent “nearly half of her life in hospital”, according to her mum.
'It would make our lives so much easier'
Recently, Sumayyah spent six days at Horton General with a severe chest infection and was given antibiotics which had side effects of diarrhoea and sickness, forcing her mother to clean her from the bedside.
Ms Niazi said: “It’s really degrading. She’s not really aware of everything that’s going on but she’s the happiest child and always smiling throughout everything, but for us as a family she missed out so much on life anyway and when you have to be bathed at your bedside it’s not fair.
“It’s important for her to just be clean and that’s the main thing being in hospital as it just makes such a massive difference.
“We all know that if we’re in hospital, being able to have that first shower makes all the difference, but she can’t have that and as she’s got bigger and bigger it’s even harder to handle her without the hoist.
“The hospital is such a massive part of our lives and just having this small thing in place would really make our lives so much easier.”
Ms Niazi says this was the scariest time that they’ve had in hospital, but the staff have always been very helpful in ‘always going above and beyond’.
She said: “The six years that we’ve been going to the ward, the staff are fantastic, and I cannot fault a single one of them.
“Sumayyah is so looked after and just so loved there, the staff have dealt with her since she was 11 days old and some of the staff are still looking after her now. So, I’m forever grateful for the work that they do.”
A spokesperson for Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said:
“We are sorry to hear about the experience of this young patient and their family at one of our hospitals.
“We are committed to making our facilities accessible to all our patients and visitors, and we encourage anyone who is dissatisfied with the care and services they receive in our hospitals to let us know by getting in contact with our Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) or Complaints teams. Complaints are fully investigated and, as a Trust, we are committed to learning from all feedback we receive, positive and negative.”
The OUH PALS and Complaints teams contact information can be found on the Trust website.