"I left the hospital in tears at the lack of care my Dad received"

My Dad was admitted to AMU in Ninewells due to worsening heart failure and suspected fluid on his lungs. I was with him upon admission.

I went back the next morning to find him on oxygen with sats of 99 (far too high for someone with COPD) he did not require the oxygen and was maintaining his breathing without it. He had been for a chest x-ray overnight which confirmed fluid on his lungs, and had only been given 2 furosemide tablets (despite normally being prescribed a much stronger medication which was not effective, therefore this was going to have no effect).

The Doctor (who was great)  visited for ward round and advised they were also unsure why he was given this medication and discussed treatment plan.

Later that day, my Dad told me that he wasn’t feeling right and that he had not been given his morning medication. I asked his nurse about this, who checked their laptop and confirmed he had not, with a - sorry I'm not sure how that has been missed, I would need to order it. It’s not usually like this in here. I advised the nurse that my Dad would take his own medication from his venalink, to which they replied -  He has capacity so I’m fine with that.

What if he didn’t have capacity? What if I wasn’t there? He was going to be without very important daily medications for his heart. This is simply not good enough. I had to remove some of his tablets that I assumed he wouldn’t need from the venalink - all in front of the nurse who was happy for me to do this, probably because they knew how important these medications were. 

14 hours from admission, there has been no treatment started yet, so my Dad is lying there with fluid on his lungs and at this rate would be as well lying in his own bed at home. I asked his nurse when the infusion would be started and was met with - I am going away on my break. When I asked who was covering their break, I was told - No one. Well, the healthcare assistant. Surely this is not safe? The nurse knew I was unhappy and proceeded to get a senior staff member, whose attitude wasn’t much better.

After asking several more times and almost taking my Dad to the ward he was moving to myself, he was finally moved, albeit with no infusion started. And he was only moved with paperwork because the porter noticed half way up the corridor he didn’t have it. Upon arriving at the other ward, I was told that the wrong dose of infusion had been prescribed, so yet again another delay in my Dad’s care.

The only positive thing about this AMU experience was the healthcare assistant, who was lovely and attentive, and I would like to pass on my thanks to them and also my apologies as they were the one was also met with my frustrations. 

I was so upset with the experience that I had to leave the hospital as soon as my Dad was settled in the other ward. My Dad has severe worsening heart failure, and every day is precious, so I would rather spend my time enjoying it with him, and not having to advocate for him and worry about him receiving appropriate, basic care. 

I feel the need to raise this as I would not wish this experience on any other patient or their family. I hope there can be learning from this to prevent it happening again.