"Waiting 24 hours for transport home"

My father has been in the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch. He has been very unstable on his feet, having at least one fall in hospital. As well as having dementia he was also diagnosed with Parkinson's whilst in hospital. However when he was fit to go home we had to wait 24 hrs for a transport to take him to a local care home less that 6 miles away. We were told that because his GP was just over the boundary into the Birmingham area that further approvals were required between the health authorities. Initially we were told that transport had been approved in the afternoon, then told it would be the next morning and then by the end of the next day we had no confirmation that it was even approved between Redditch & Birmingham.

With Dementia my father was already confused but sitting for a whole day waiting to leave did not help. In total the journey to the care home would be 6 miles.

In the end I decided to drive him myself just to get him away from the hospital. I fail to see that this is acceptable care of a patient with dementia and has trouble walking - 2 health authorities wasting a day whilst they decided who would pay for a 6 mile trip! This also tied up a bed in the ward and also a nurse who had to sit with my father for most of the day to keep him calm.