"Ward E1 April - June 2014"

My 87 year old father was admitted to this ward earlier this year. His swallowing was severely impaired. He was fed by a naso-gastric tube during this time which was more often than not incorrectly fitted causing him considerable distress. He spent a considerable amount of time going backwards and forwards to X ray and was "forgotten about" on a couple of occasions. During his stay the conditions on the ward were far from clean. Urine bottles were not emptied soon enough resulting in many a flood causing an already dirty floor to become even worse. We visited my father at some point every day and noticed that on two weekends he was not given any liquid food via his tube or even worse, any fluids either by the feeding tube or intravenously. Upon speaking with a member of staff who admitted that he hadn,t had any food or liquid for almost 48 hours and was very sorry but they were very busy. Paperwork was not completed properly and prescribed medications were not administered on a regular basis. In the end I had to contact another consultant myself to take a second look at the situation. Fortunately he was kind and professional enough to diagnose the problem and sort it out immediately enabling my father to return home. I tried on numerous occasions to complain but all to no avail.Please do not bother advising me to contact the PALS complaints dept. I tried on three occasions only to be met, eventually, by the same uncaring attitude. My father has the misfortune to be in hospital at the moment. Fortunately he is in Salford Royal which is like a breath of fresh air compared to Ward E1 in North Manchester General Hospital.