"8 hours and sent home without being treated"

Mum had been ill and the nurse visited and arranged an ambulance to take my mum to the hospital to receive IV antibiotics to treat an infection. She was sent to the hospital at 6pm - I called to find out how things were going, and I was told she had signed herself out, a neighbor was told the same thing. Called an hour later and low an behold she was still waiting to be seen. AND to top it off, because the A and E were really busy they were sending non critical patients home with medication. So she (a pensioner) was sent home (alone) at 2:30 in the morning. When I complained to the Head Sister in A and E, she told me "She wont be alone, two ambulance men will be driving her home". I am sure you can appreciate how elated and thankful I felt in knowing that.

I asked to speak to a Doctor and was told they were too busy. I asked about a diagnosis and was told they cant do that over the phone. I asked them to ask my mum for permission, they said she couldn't make it to the phone and that she would call me when she got home. I asked for them to make sure they asked my mum for the permission before she was discharged - the Head Sister told me she would ensure she would be asked and that the Sister would put it in the notes so I could call a doctor in the morning.

My Mum calls me when she gets home, they never asked her permission for anything, they never mentioned why I wanted to speak to her. I talked to my mum a bit, said goodnight and called the Hospital back. You'll never guess....the Head Sister had written nothing about the permission request in her notes. In fact the Head Sister told the Lady i was speaking with that there was no need for permission as my mum was going to tell me when she got home.So here I am 3000 miles away and cannot get information from the hospital. When speaking to the nurse i went into the effects of the medication, what it is used to treat, what underlying health complications can compound the malignancy of a possible infection (thanks degree in biological chemistry), they final get a doctor to give a response.

"The results of her tests will be with her GP tomorrow, and she can give the GP permission to talk to me"

So for 8 hours, my 75 year old mum sat there (nothing to rest in but an easy chair), with a needle in her arm that was never used to give her the antibiotics she was sent there for, only to be sent home to sit in a house alone with a chest infection at 3:30 am.