"The doctor present when I was ..."

What I liked

The doctor present when I was visiting was silling to listen to me and talk to me about my father's state of health. My father's name is Richard Vellacott

What could be improved

My father's glass of water was placed out of his reach and the water was dirty.

Anything else?

My father was admitted with notes from his GP that he was dehydrated. He is 93. He was in the hospital for about 22 hours before being given a drip to replace fluid. When I arrived he was in a very distressed state. He is used to managing a catheter for himself and was asking for one. He was pleading for water and a catheter and there were 2 or 3 nurses standing about 2 yards away from him, ignoring him. He is profoundly deaf with virtually no hearing even with aids and no attempt was being made to help him understand what was going on. His short term memory is bad, owing to his age, but he does not have dementia. My impression was being treated with contempt, or at best, neglect and lack of compassion. I was shocked that this was happening in a hospital. This was in Emergency Assessment Unit on 20 May 09. My brother also visited that day and we both had the impression that if we had not been there to move things on, that the delay and neglect would have been more prolonged. My father is now on a different ward and I'm about to phone in this morning, hoping that on this new ward he is receiving better treatment.