"Lack of basic care"

My Father has been admitted to B11 and B12 three times in the last month. The care that he has received is less than acceptable, each time just seems to get worse. Whilst I appreciate the NHS is under extreme strain, I would still expect basic care to be delivered.

His latest admission was last Tuesday and he got home yesterday. His district nurse visited today and was aghast at the condition of his bottom. He’s been suffering from bed sores for some time now and they hadn’t been looked at once, or treated in the whole time he was in. The nurse was so appalled she suggested that a complaint was raised.

The previous admission was a couple of weeks previously when I had my eyes truly opened to practices within the ward. On a few occasions I had to ask for my Fathers bed to be changed.  He is unable to get up and use a commode due to amputation of one leg and severe ulcers on his other leg which means he can’t put pressure on the leg. Instead of getting a hoist to get him out of bed to move his bowels he was left to do it in his incontinence pants. The majority of the time they didn’t contain it and it spread over the bed.  He was left to sit in this for hours.  How humiliating.

On one visit his catheter bag was full and I asked for someone to come and empty it. I honestly couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw them emptying the urine into the sink. Yes, the sink in the middle of the ward. To say I was gobsmacked is an understatement. There is so much more I can tell you but I’m sure you can get a feel for how absolutely disgusted I feel about the treatment he has received.

My Father is in his eighties, a very dignified gentleman who deserves as a human being to be treated with respect, not to be made to feel humiliated. I have always thought the NHS were a credit to our country but after 3 recent experiences I feel so disgusted that this is what it has come to.