"Care of the elderly"

Anything else?

My father was taken to Resus/A&E and eventually to a ward on several occasions over the last four months. I cannot fault and have great appreciation for the actions and treatment by the Resus/A&E staff who were efficient empathatic, understanding and caring when dealing with my 91 year old father suffering from dehydration, hypothermia, low blood pressure and dementia all be it not all at the same time. Unfortunately the care he received on Oak and Elm ward left alot to be desired. There seemed to be lack of staff on wards especially at weekends. It wasnt unusual to stand at the nurses station waiting to talk to nurses whilst they read magazine or had conversations between themselves about non medical related subjects. On some occasions their sheer indifference had to be seen to be believed. On two occasions my fathers bed had not been changed for two days. To ascertain how my father was nurses never seemed to know and I had to read the patient notes at end of bed, on several occasion daily observations were made a day late. On one occasion when visiting my father a patient asked my husband to take him to toilet, my husband talked to nurse at nurse station it was 30 minutes til the nurse came into the ward and eventually helped patient. I know my father was a bit of a handful at times but the only people to interact with him or talk to us about him were the (sorry dont know their names) auxiallaries and the tea trolley ladies who always had a cheery word. On one occasion when my father was discharged from hospital he waited off ward for transport for seven hours eventually getting home early evening unfortunately there was only a driver on transport so my father had to pull himself on the bannisters up the stairs with help of driver who apologised for short staff and my father collapsed when he got inside flat. From that time on he was in a weakened state and went steadily down hill. My father died 10th June 2013