"This hopspital needs to listen to the..."

What I liked

My father was transferred to The Heartlands from Good Hope just before Christmas, the hospital stall told me on boxing day that my father would not recover, but didnt really know what was wrong with him, other than he was old (70)! He had good days and bad days, one of the days we were called in to say he was very poorly,and was not going to make it, when we got there he was completley out of it, I asked why was he like that and the doctor replied because he is on morphine, I asked why was he on morphine but they didnt really know, I asked if he had had anything to eat and he replied that my dad would ask if he wanted anything to eat, I said how can he ask when he so out of it, and again he didnt really have an answer, after about 2 days of my dad having no drips in I told them that if they didnt keep him hydrated then he would die, so after a few phone calls to another doctor they agreed to put a drip in, my dad improved and was even starting to talk, I asked if i could give him a drink of tea or a yoghurt and they agreed but if he started to choke not to give him anymore, I said i would stop, I left my dad a lot brighter than he was for days and told him along with his sisters and brothers etc that we would be in the next day, At 6.18am the next day I received a phone call from the hospital to say that my dad had gone! I said is this the way you tell everybody that a loved one has died and her answer was "well it was expected".. I think everything can be improved at this and Good Hope as their care of elderly patients has lot to answer for,

What could be improved

treating elderly patients with dignity and helping them eat their food rather than leaving it on their table and then saying that the patient didn't want it, when they couldn't reach it. and treating our older generation with respect that they deserve and not thinking well its going to cost more money to keep them alive than not.