"My dad's experience of Solihull Hospital"

My dad who had Alzheimer's Dementia was admitted to AMU of Solihull Hospital in March after a neighbor complained about him and for some reason the police called paramedics. The staff in AMU were lovely. However he was transferred to ward 20B later on that night where things changed.

Although some staff on the ward were lovely, the very next day nurses accused my dad of being aggressive on them trying to wash him. 

It was made clear to them on his admission that he would never go to the hospital, doctors or dentist; he was terrified of them, and he also wouldn't allow washes so they should have known this.

He wouldn't allow a lady to wash him anyway. It's his dignity. He would say to me about me seeing a doctor "a man for a man; a woman for a woman".

He would even look for me at home like a child looking for their mother to make sure I was still there with him, and no one was even offered by staff to stay with him and at night I would usually have to comfort him at home as he thought the bed was going to kill him frightened and he was in hospital all alone with people he didn't even know. It must have been very traumatic for him there. 

He should have just came home with me. If he had a slight infection, which was diagnosed by paramedics, I could have treated it as I always did. He should have just had a permanent catheter fitted (due to big stones he'd had in his bladder for some years) and then come with me but instead they made him stay there.

Anyway on my arrival a nurse spoke to me terribly so I felt my dad wasn't being respected. He kept being chemically restrained with sedation (causing him to have low blood pressure and fast heart) and given antipsychotics both against family's wishes, from then onwards just for walking around and it seemed like them wanting to control him, claiming he was giving them an headache and thus he was missing meals and drinks because of it. But also it was being done even when no doctor was prescribing it. 

My dad had a drip fitted as he was slightly dehydrated yet the doctor removed it and refused to fit it back up as he told us that we wont force him to have something done that he doesn't want done, however as I was stressed and worried about my dad being left at the hospital I didn't think clearly at the time to tell them everything.

As time went by my dad was allocated some carers, a night one which seemed really nice, then two others mainly on during the day, which pushed him about and then the one carer he had more often and they kept throwing my dad's sandwiches away I was buying him and showing a great disregard towards my dad's feelings and needs and even intimidating his visitors. Thy kept lowering his voice, almost in a whisper, to me and my sister saying -he should be medicated if the man in the next bed was your father you would care. And saying comments about how, he will fall down keep walking around and behaving in an intimidating way to us on our visits.

Before the hospital went in lockdown I hadn't noticed my dad being given any food at all by any staff member, this was after he started to walk around eating sandwiches a kind nurse from another ward initiated to get him to eat, for some reason I could no longer see any food coming to him days before their lockdown, and I cried to my mom over the phone really worried about him, for him to be got out of the hospital however he ended up staying in there, with this carer in charge, and was discharged nearly 6 days later after their lockdown,  almost 3 weeks stay in hospital, staff claiming he was fit to go. 

To me he seemed very poorly, having severe dehydration and malnutrition, clearly not being fed after their lockdown, dying. They may have on their records he was fed as it was written down wrong at least once before when I was visiting him and I had to correct a member of staff about it because they said he'd ate more than he had which I only realised when she came around to check his meal book. My brother who collected him even said he tried to drink a antibacterial handgel from the bottom of someone's bed because of his thirst.

He sadly passed away at the beginning of April. He did not deserve such treatment and was kind to everyone outside of hospital, he would never hurt anyone. He will sadly be missed by everyone, friends and family, including those around Shirley, as many loved him.