"My Dad's care in hospital"

My Dad died in Antrim Area Hospital recently. He had dementia and was in a care home. He was admitted to hospital on Christmas Day morning. He had been on antibiotics for a chest infection but it turned out to be fluid on his left lung. He spent four days in a side room off A & E were they were trying to regulate his fluids .

Then he was swiftly moved to side room on an appropriate ward were everything seemed to go downhill very quickly but nobody explained what was going on. It was suggested to us that it was very serious but when asked they didn't explain why. Just that they were trying to get his fluids regulated. Some staff were treating him as a covid patient others were not. But he was only tested when he arrived at that ward. It was very frantic and the staff nurse actually cried so we got the impression that he was moved there in urgency. 

About a week after my dad was admitted  a consultant told us that he was not responding to fluids and medication and they would be putting in a driver that evening. We were with him 24/7 and the nursing staff were great. They would come in every few hours to make him comfortable and we would step out of the room while they done this. We noticed that they would come out every time to get a new sheet and thought it was strange as he was not getting any fluids now.

It was discovered before midnight 3 days after the driver was put in when nursing staff came to make him comfortable and give him pain relief as he just wasn't settling,  that he was wet around the bottom of his pyjama top and they were going to change him . Only for my sister pulling back the covers more to investigate,we realised the bed was wet on the side that the driver was in . The driver had been leaking and he hadn't been getting his medication. They wanted to take the driver out and move it but we said absolutely not. He was at the end of his life and the only problem was that there was a tiny yellow bung missing from the connecting tubes were the medication had very clearly been leaking. They agreed to fix that and give him more medication. The medication he should have been getting every few hours.

My Dad had dementia and suffered from tremors. He was very agitated for these three days, legs and arms flailing , trying to sit up etc. He was only settled for approximately 15 - 20 mins at a time.  As soon as this driver was fixed, that all stopped and he passed away peacefully within four hours.

We feel very strongly that he suffered unnecessarily for those three days and no one noticed that this tiny bung was missing or questioned why his bed was wet. Also, if we hadn't have been there , they would have re-positioned that driver but still not have solved the issue, especially knowing he had hours or days left. On top of this when Dad passed away and the consultant had been to confirm his death, no one told us what to do and left us sitting in the room for nearly three hours until I went and found a member of staff to ask what was required of us.