"He was left in agony"

Where to begin, well I found the care of my father shocking, if I started from the beginning it would take to long so I will start from when he was told his cancer was terminal which was at the end of April, his consultant referred him to palliative care & basically he was just to get on with it but 2 weeks later he was admitted to hospital he went to 4E Crosshouse Hospital. 

It was the last straw. The care he received there it was lacking tremendously with visiting restrictions we didn’t actually get to see the real lack of care my father received, which we only found out when he did get home & told us. When a grown man in his 70s is having to phone his wife, phone his daughter & phone his son begging for help in an awful state, inconsolable because no one would give him his prescribed painkillers, being ignored cause he wasn't as sick (at that point) as other patients on the ward, being told he’d get his medication in a minute & still waiting hours later, scared to use the buzzer to alert the staff for help as he was made to feel like he was annoying them.

My father had aggressive terminal cancer in his prostate, liver, lungs & bones he was in agony yet they let him suffer, this had been going on for days before he could not cope with the pain any longer & called us I had to phone the ward yet I was told to phone back after hand over. I phoned back to be told to hold on & 15 minutes later I spoke to a nurse who give me every excuse I’ve heard before so I asked to speak to the nurse in charge who thank goodness did make some changes & comforted my dad on that occasion.

After 3 weeks home he was rushed back into Crosshouse, which was another nightmare trying to get an ambulance he was supposed to be a high priority case yet it took nearly 3 hours & many repeated calls to 999 going over the same stuff again & again while watching my father deteriorating before our eyes, he then went to CAU where they did the best they could for my father before he was moved on to 2D.

As a family we could tell he only had a few weeks left, that maybe a hospice would provide the care he needed, yet a palliative nurse told us after speaking to him he wasn’t there yet as he was a very intelligent man. What does that mean, intelligent people die too. He had lost the ability to walk, he was going down hill very fast. He was in agony, he was obviously very anxious, he had all the obvious signs of someone in the last few weeks of life. I wish that palliative care nurse had seen him 2 days later.

I think sometimes medical staff don’t realise families have more knowledge of what’s really going on than they think, they try & fob us of with medical terminology. Also a lot of things are being blamed on Covid & also being short staffed it’s the same old excuses, I’ve worked in a hospital, I have also stayed in a hospital for many months when my daughter was ill, there was & still is the same old excuses for poor care & treatment in the NHS.

I especially found the seemingly lack of terminal care on the ward unbelievable, my dad was put in a room of his own & left to die in an agitated state & in uncontrollable pain. We got the odd staff members that would be so nice & say if you need anything buzz then you buzz for help to be told by other staff that there actually busy just now or there short staffed.  

The last three days of my dads life was something I will never forget. They were far from as pain free as possible, he was not comfortable & it definitely was not peaceful. Much of that was down to poor management of care over his last few weeks of his life by the team that was supposed to support him from Palliative care to medical & nursing care. I’m just grateful we where allowed by 2D to be there for my dad at the end as I know Covid rules have stopped many of us being with those we love. 

Overall I personally see the NHS care far from good but I know there is good care in the NHS & when it’s good let’s hope it stays good, when my father spent a few weeks in December at the Beatson hospital he had nothing but complete praise for the staff the treatment, care & food which he received as an inpatient.