Are hospitals failing to care for the elderly?

MY 92-year-old mother was admitted to hospital on a Tuesday night suffering from aspiration pneumonia. She couldn’t walk and required full assistance. The following morning I found her uncomfortable but cheerful. She had been given no food or fluids, but it seemed she was well looked after and I was told she would be assessed for her ability to swallow. When it hadn’t been done by the Friday, I was told she would assessed over the weekend. I learned later that the team responsible doesn’t work at weekends. By now, Mum had been without food or fluids for five days. On the Monday, I was told that a drip had been set up, but Mum looked dreadful. By the Wednesday, it was obvious she hadn’t been given fluids and when I mentioned this, I was told: ‘The student must have forgotten to write it up.’ I firmly insisted Mum should not be put on the Liverpool Care Pathway (palliative, end-of-life care). After that, the staff made greater efforts. Mum was finally discharged to a care home, where she died peacefully a year later. People must challenge what they see and not let staff get away with what I feel in Mum’s case would have been murder. It’s easy to assume that when someone is in hospital, they’re being cared for properly. This is not the case, especially when they’re old.

ROSEmaRY ROGERS, Saughall, Chester. in JUne, my 94-year-old father was placed on the liverpool care Pathway at Blackpool Victoria Hospital. He had suffered a stroke, had pneumonia and kidney failure. The pathway was first mentioned by a consultant and a nursing sister, who were very courteous and caring in how they explained what would happen and why. They let me phone my siblings, and we agreed it was the right thing for Dad as he had no quality of life and, before going into hospital, had lived in a care home. Throughout, the consultant insisted it had to be the family’s decision. i believe many in care homes are being kept alive by drugs and, from my experience, i know some just want to die. We’d had to sell Dad’s home to pay for his care and this troubled him as he’d wanted to leave something to his children. Surely the cruelty is in keeping people alive just because we are able to and forcing them to sell their homes to pay for their care. in Dad’s case, the consultant said they could keep him alive, but he would more or less be unconscious and we knew Dad would have hated that. Dad lived for another four days, during which time the nursing staff who looked after him could not have been kinder to him and the family. He wasn’t in any pain and was allowed to die in a dignified way.