"Elderly care"

 My grandfather was admitted to gartnavel hospital in a frail state. He has had a catheter for six years plus and over the years has had urinary infections. During these episodes he becomes confused and for want of abetted word talks “jibberish”

I reported this to the nurse who informed me he was just “chatty” despite there being posters all over the ward stating “think delirium“ the nurse called the doctor rather reluctantly and the doctor refused to see my grandfather because his “obs were normal“ Any doctor working with the elderly should know that the signs are subtle and “normal obs“ are not necessarily reassuring. As such we had to witness our grandfather confused and incoherent for five days before he became septicaemic before he was started on treatment.

The lack of concern and clinical judgement falls shockingly short of reasonable expectations and the irony of the fact that on the ward there are numerous posters about “delirium“ seems lost on them.