"Concerns about my father's care at his GP practice"

My Father does not have any confidence whatsoever in the doctors at a Sheffield GP practice and has had serious pain and suffering.

1. My Father suffered serious side effects from the medicines he was prescribed, and was admitted to hospital earlier this year.

2. My Father was again admitted to hospital this year because he was feeling very tired and weak. This, we are informed, was because his blood count was seriously low and that his GP practice had this information since November 2013 and should have been monitoring it. His blood count was low, but it seems that the doctors did nothing, meaning he had to go to hospital.

If it had not been for a nurse at Weston Park Hospital, who acted promptly and professionally to get my Father’s blood count done and collect the results the same day, my Father would not be here now!

3. My Father started a course of hormone therapy for prostate cancer in January this year, which is a 12 weekly injection in the abdomen.

At his appointment at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in March this year, the Consultant and Nurse said that my Father could have this injection done at his own Doctors surgery in June 2014.

I therefore called the Surgery in April (as instructed by the Royal Hallamshire Hospital) and made an appointment for mid June 2014. I informed staff that the hospital would be in touch with details of the injection required.

A few days later, I called the Surgery again, to ensure that everything was in order for the injection. I received a message, but I did not get a chance to call back until 6.45 pm that evening when the office was closed. I called back the next day to be told that they would not be able to do the injection.

I immediately left a message for one of the Oncology Support Team at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital to call me back.

A nurse from the Royal Hallamshire Hospital called me back that morning and was appalled at the fact that this practice were ‘refusing’ (her word) to give my Father the injection he needed. She advised that all Surgeries (except 2 in Sheffield, ours not being one of them) can give the injection and she advised she would report them.

This nurse said that as my Father was coming up to Weston Park Hospital the next week if we came a little earlier than our 10 am appointment she would do the injection herself.

4. My Father needs nutritional daily drinks, which I believe his practice have been informed of by Weston Park Hospital. (I have recently been informed that his practice wrote to Weston Park Hospital asking how long my Father would need the nutritional drinks for). I was having to order these drinks every 10 days until a Palliative Nurse visited my Father and asked what his Doctor was doing for him. He told her nothing.

A few days later we received a call from a Community Nurse asking if we need a visit and who has been informed by a doctor that my Father is a ‘stubborn man’. He is a fine upstanding Gentleman. He is ill!

Next, we get 30 nutritional drinks!

Then we had a letter saying a new doctor would be my Father's named GP. However, we feel this is all too little too late and the probable irreparable damage has been done!

My Father was a very fit man this time last year, looking and feeling 15 years younger than his actual age, tending his allotment on his own, doing everything for himself. Now he has to sit down every few minutes to rest, and we feel that this is the result of the poor care from his GP surgery.

I am absolutely disgusted by their lack of care and attention for a now vulnerable person and my family and I will do everything in our power to ensure this does not happen to other patients at this surgery.

This is in no way a reflection on the Administration Staff, who we have always known to be professional and helpful.