"My granddad’s last summer"

It’s incredibly hard to write about my granddad in the past tense. I’m so used to be being able to speak to him and knowing he was there. I like to think that, even though his last summer with us was spent in hospital, he was incredibly well looked after by the staff in A&E Resus, AMU and T8 at UCH in London, as well as the multi-disciplinary team on Rochester West at St Pancras Rehab Unit. He was a frequent flyer to both places and he spent large portions of his time there, both hospitals may as well have been considered a second home to us all.

Me and my family can’t fault the medical professionals who have been involved in his care since the end of June until his passing at the beginning of September. You’ve treated us all so well, so kindly and made sure my granddad was enabled to be as independent as he could, even if he felt like he couldn’t be towards the end.

The Physiotherapists on Rochester West did a fantastic job of getting my granddad back on his feet, despite my granddad developing aspirational pneumonia and having a brief but quick trip back to UCH for IV treatment. The Speech and Language Therapist made sure that my granddad could have alternative ways of preventing the pneumonia and my granddad responded quite well to her help. The Nursing assistants were fabulous and always chatting to us, and I can’t fault their care of my granddad at all. The Domestic assistants were equally as lovely and patient with my granddad who was suffering from hearing loss. I know that my granddad had improved so much by the Monday before his discharge but unfortunately his heart was just not in it when it came to going home. 

We had been preparing for him to go home on the day he died, unfortunately he was taken to UCH where they quickly diagnosed the issue, looked to see if there was anything that could be done and once there wasn’t, we were told sensitively and compassionately. I wasn’t told to be quiet when I was loudly upset. Even though the hospital had no beds, the Resus team found us a a side room so we could say goodbye to my granddad in peace, and so the EOLC pathway could be started. Unfortunately my granddad did things his way and passed within the hour, but I don’t doubt that the nurses and doctors were planning to make him comfortable until the end.

I just want to thank everyone involved in the care and treatment of my granddad, up until the end, and for the kind things said after his passing. We’ll remember your kindness forever and wish you all the best.