In just a hospital gown, widower, 96, dumped at his home by driver
WEARING nothing but his hospital gown and socks, a frail 96-year- old man sits slumped in an armchair after being abandoned at home alone by a hospital driver.
cliff Schofield was found by his daughter, who was so horrified he had been left with no one to care for him that she took this photo of the scene.
‘it’s just disgraceful really, it’s not on to do this,’ said Jane Jessop.
Mrs Jessop, 66, was told her father was to be discharged from hospital following treatment for a fall and went home briefly to collect clothes for him to wear.
When she returned after about half an hour she was told Mr Schofield, who is said to get ‘a bit confused’, had been driven off in hospital transport.
Mrs Jessop was reassured the driver would return because they are not allowed to have the key code to access the pensioner’s property.
But when Mrs Jessop reached her father’s house in Rotherham, she found him inside curled up in a small chair, still dressed in his standard issue hospital gown, without even any underwear on.
‘i was horrified when i saw him,’ she said. ‘We are absolutely disgusted. The driver surely has a duty of care for the person he is taking home?’
Mrs Jessop said her father was left on a chair that was ‘too small for him’.
She added: ‘a few feet away was a bigger armchair with a cushion but they appear to have just dumped him in the first chair they came across without any thought for his welfare.’ Mr Schofield, a retired steelworker who has two children and one grandchild, lost his wife annie about ten years ago.
he has carers visiting four times a day and Mrs Jessop also helps look after him.
Mrs Jessop said that after her father had a fall at home earlier this month, a paramedic had arranged for him to have a short period of respite care to ‘give us all a break’ from the duties of looking after him.
But he then fell out of bed during his first night at the respite home and was taken to hospital at 1.30am.
The widower suffered a bruised back in the fall and he was checked over by doctors at Rotherham hospital before being admitted.
after he had spent a further night on the ward, doctors decided to allow Mr Schofield to return home and told his daughter who was visiting him.
arrangements were made for a carer to put him to bed later. however, the pensioner, who ‘can communicate but just gets confused’, was sent home by the hospital at around 3.30pm before Mrs Jessop could return with his clothes. She sent the photo to the hospital and lodged a complaint.
Mrs Jessop said: ‘ They are supposed to be doing a thorough investigation and in all fairness the lady at the hospital was just as horrified he had been treated so badly.’
her husband Brian, 66, added: ‘We want to know why he was discharged without any clothes, how the driver gained entry to his house and why he was left on his own.’
Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust apologised for the ‘inadequate’ care and said it was investigating the incident.
‘I was horrified when I saw him’