"My father's poor care at Grimsby."

My father has been in Diana Princess of Wales hospital in Grimsby for three weeks. During that time he has had a scan fail because a doctor failed to realise that his cannula was inoperative (in spite of my father, with no medical knowledge, pointing this out to her) and his chest drain was accidentally switched off for five days before anyone noticed. In addition, his drain was supposed to be flushed twice daily but was left for those same five days without being flushed.

He was scheduled for an x-ray and waited all day to be taken down, having been advised that his possible discharge tomorrow depended on the result. His x-ray was forgotten about until the following day. Even once the x-ray had been done, the doctor attending him in the evening intended only to flush his drain and either had no knowledge or intention of removing the drain.

So far his experience has been very poor and I think his current condition is worse than it should have been after these episodes of poor care.

The nursing staff, he says, are so over-stretched that they always appear worn out and on the verge of exhaustion. His obs, which are supposed to be done every four hours, are being done once a day most days - twice if he is lucky. He says it is rare that a nurse is seen on his bay although they are always eager to help when available.

Many of the doctors that he sees, however, appear ill-informed, and apathetic. Sometimes their attitude seems to suggest that they wish to do as little as possible and do not want to get involved in anything that would delay them leaving work.