"He was very frail, confused and disoriented."

My father recently had two visits to Watford General Hospital. For the first visit he was referred by the GP to be admitted by ambulance due to pneumonia with rapid and uneven heart rate. He still had to access via A&E and wait on a trolley in the corridor, but after initial assessment and a wait of 3-4 hours he was admitted to an AAU ward, then transferred to Winyard Ward.

The care and treatment on Winyard Ward was very good, although he lost a considerable amount of weight and strength during this time. I did not see any evidence of physiotherapy or mobility encouragement. He was discharged 5 weeks later for respite care in a residential home.

He fell at the residential home only 3 days after discharge from hospital, due to loss of strength and forgetting to use his walking frame. As he had hit his head and was on blood thinning medication he was taken by ambulance again to Watford General A&E.

He arrived at around 9pm and spent at least 4 hours in the corridor before being admitted to the A&E department. His wounds were not cleaned, he did not have a brain scan until about 2am. His catheter needed to be unblocked but was not re-attached so he wet himself. The doctor did not attend until 06. 30am. He was not offered any food or drink for at least 10 hours. He did not get transferred to a ward until approx 11am the next day, some 14 hours after arrival.

He was transferred to Croxley Ward and was there for a further week before being discharged back the the residential home. During this time on the ward he lost further weight and strength. He also lost the ability to grip anything with his right hand and was dragging his right leg when walking. This was not investigated.

I had said that I would collect him at discharge to take him back to the care home, but he was taken at 09. 30 without notification to me or the care home. He was very frail, confused and disoriented.