"Older people getting lost in the Hospital"

Today at an appointment in Craigavon I witnessed 2 different older people who got confused when going from x-ray to the fracture clinic. On both occasions the lovely radiologist give them directions of where to go when the left x ray but one of the patients wandered about the hospital for 15 minutes before arriving back at x ray. I then had to show her where to go.

The second elderly man with his wife in a wheelchair came out of X-ray, went to the receptionist at the X-ray and they told him to take a seat in the waiting room again so he sat back down in the X-ray waiting room when he should have gone to the fracture clinic waiting room. 20mins after my X-ray he was still sitting there so I approached him and took him and his wife back to the fracture clinic with me.

I felt so sorry for these elderly people on both occasions. They were so confused and lost. Only I had heard the radiologist tell them what clinic they were to go to, these poor people would probably still be sitting there or still wondering about the hospital. I witnessed these 2 incidents within a 30 minute period and I wonder how many times this happens in a day.

Can something or someone be put in place to help the elderly be escorted from one clinic to another? Craigavon hospital is a total maze and has become so confusing. A massive map at the entrance might help the younger people to navigate the different clinics but the older people might need lines of the floor or for a reception/care assistant to take the elderly from an outpatient clinic to x ray.

All the nurses and radiologists today were lovely but I’m sure they have lost a lot of their time trying to find these patients.