"Morphine in the elderly"

My grandfather was admitted to then orthopaedic ward 10c with a minor fracture that did not require an operation. When I arrived in the night of his admission he was unrousable having been given morphine. I said nothing expecting it would wear off. The next day he was bright and chatty however the following day he was unrousable again and I found out he was back on morphine. I asked the staff to make sure it was stopped as he was just coming round when he was given another dose. It stooped for 24 hours only to be restarted during which time he developed a chest infection and stopped eating and drinking. I asked the staff again to stop it and eventually it was and his pain was controlled on simple paracetamol . I subsequently found out that he had also been prescribed a different opioid.

During his time in ward 10c the staff we came into contact with failed to notice that he did not eat or drink and I had to point out to them that he had developed severe oral thrush . I consider this to be seriously negligent.