Vulnerable pensioner told to leave Southampton General Hospital at 4am (From Daily Echo)

Disgraceful.
Words fail me.

Me too. This sort of decision is indefensible. As for waiting 6 hours for an out of hours doctor. That seems to be the norm - if you are lucky enough to get anyone to come out.

Vonnie wrote:
Me too. This sort of decision is indefensible. As for waiting 6 hours for an out of hours doctor. That seems to be the norm - if you are lucky enough to get anyone to come out.

It's quite hard to grasp exactly what (if anything) was going through the minds of the individuals behind this.

Why blame the hospital. The gentlemans family must have known he was in hospital and they themselves could have gone out of their way to return him to his place of residence.

If the gentleman had to wait 6 hours for an out of hours GP then there is clearly an overwhelming load on the out of hours service from people wanting medical advice at the last minute instead of going to their own gp during the day for simple things like diarrhoea and vomitting for less than 24 hours.

The staff at A+E in the general do an excellent job and provide excellent care within an ever increasing workload environment.

Tobeblunt wrote:
Why blame the hospital. The gentlemans family must have known he was in hospital and they themselves could have gone out of their way to return him to his place of residence. If the gentleman had to wait 6 hours for an out of hours GP then there is clearly an overwhelming load on the out of hours service from people wanting medical advice at the last minute instead of going to their own gp during the day for simple things like diarrhoea and vomitting for less than 24 hours. The staff at A+E in the general do an excellent job and provide excellent care within an ever increasing workload environment.

Agree with the comment about the A+E staff but the hospital is being blamed because they did it..not the family, who is to say the family don't live 200 miles away or were unable to get there for some reason?

Security word. care-wild!!

jammyswine wrote:

Tobeblunt wrote: Why blame the hospital. The gentlemans family must have known he was in hospital and they themselves could have gone out of their way to return him to his place of residence. If the gentleman had to wait 6 hours for an out of hours GP then there is clearly an overwhelming load on the out of hours service from people wanting medical advice at the last minute instead of going to their own gp during the day for simple things like diarrhoea and vomitting for less than 24 hours. The staff at A+E in the general do an excellent job and provide excellent care within an ever increasing workload environment.

Agree with the comment about the A+E staff but the hospital is being blamed because they did it..not the family, who is to say the family don't live 200 miles away or were unable to get there for some reason? Security word. care-wild!!

Well as an assumption i guess that it was a family member who called the out of hours service and then called 999.

I know for a fact that if the gentleman lived in a care home then he would have received ambulance transportation.

Tobeblunt wrote:
Why blame the hospital. The gentlemans family must have known he was in hospital and they themselves could have gone out of their way to return him to his place of residence. If the gentleman had to wait 6 hours for an out of hours GP then there is clearly an overwhelming load on the out of hours service from people wanting medical advice at the last minute instead of going to their own gp during the day for simple things like diarrhoea and vomitting for less than 24 hours. The staff at A+E in the general do an excellent job and provide excellent care within an ever increasing workload environment.

The staff in A&E may do an excellent job if you are aged under 70. Over that age, their main concern is that you may become a bed blocker.
Past experience has shown that treatment by general members of staff has been appalling. Having said that, the work of the older persons team is fantastic, but the team is far too small to cope.

Tobeblunt wrote:

jammyswine wrote:

Tobeblunt wrote: Why blame the hospital. The gentlemans family must have known he was in hospital and they themselves could have gone out of their way to return him to his place of residence. If the gentleman had to wait 6 hours for an out of hours GP then there is clearly an overwhelming load on the out of hours service from people wanting medical advice at the last minute instead of going to their own gp during the day for simple things like diarrhoea and vomitting for less than 24 hours. The staff at A+E in the general do an excellent job and provide excellent care within an ever increasing workload environment.

Agree with the comment about the A+E staff but the hospital is being blamed because they did it..not the family, who is to say the family don't live 200 miles away or were unable to get there for some reason? Security word. care-wild!!

Well as an assumption i guess that it was a family member who called the out of hours service and then called 999. I know for a fact that if the gentleman lived in a care home then he would have received ambulance transportation.

Read the full story in todays Echo and you will see that he does have a local family. So where were they ?? You cannot blame the hospital for everything.

Tobeblunt wrote:
Why blame the hospital. The gentlemans family must have known he was in hospital and they themselves could have gone out of their way to return him to his place of residence. If the gentleman had to wait 6 hours for an out of hours GP then there is clearly an overwhelming load on the out of hours service from people wanting medical advice at the last minute instead of going to their own gp during the day for simple things like diarrhoea and vomitting for less than 24 hours. The staff at A+E in the general do an excellent job and provide excellent care within an ever increasing workload environment.

I agree, I dont see how the hospital are responsible for a patients wellbeing after being dischaged, or for making sure you get home safely by providing transport. This is not a service that they are obliged to provide. I feel that it has only made news because he is elderly and frail. I as we all do pay my national insurance and i have been treated no differently than he has (and didint expect to). I could even go as far as to say that because i am still paying my national insurance(and would have paid Substantially more I would imagine) and he is not that i should be more entitled!

Security word = rise-lord (very apt for this time of year!)

I'd like to know if he was fine and wanted to be discharged so the hospital let him go? It doesn't seem there was any reason to keep him in hospital.
I was in Soton General with my grandmother (in her 90's) some months ago and I waited till she was either kept in or released so I could take her home.
I know if I'd gone home and she'd been released at 4am she'd have insisted on making her own way home and not getting the hospital to ring me, a reflection of the stubborness and independence of a lot of old people, maybe that's what happened here and the family are a tad guilt ridden as they weren't there for him? More info Echo.

In environment which is dominated by targets and strictest possible financial monitoring, front line medical staff is often forced to make dehumanised decisions.

Sadly this senior citizen is another victim of policies decided and dictated not by medical staff treating the patients, but by some extremely well paid pen pushers, who only understand financial figures.

Unfortunately humanity and those financial balance sheets have become opposite poles of each other.

Lone Ranger wrote:

Tobeblunt wrote:

jammyswine wrote:

Tobeblunt wrote: Why blame the hospital. The gentlemans family must have known he was in hospital and they themselves could have gone out of their way to return him to his place of residence. If the gentleman had to wait 6 hours for an out of hours GP then there is clearly an overwhelming load on the out of hours service from people wanting medical advice at the last minute instead of going to their own gp during the day for simple things like diarrhoea and vomitting for less than 24 hours. The staff at A+E in the general do an excellent job and provide excellent care within an ever increasing workload environment.

Agree with the comment about the A+E staff but the hospital is being blamed because they did it..not the family, who is to say the family don't live 200 miles away or were unable to get there for some reason? Security word. care-wild!!

Well as an assumption i guess that it was a family member who called the out of hours service and then called 999. I know for a fact that if the gentleman lived in a care home then he would have received ambulance transportation.

Read the full story in todays Echo and you will see that he does have a local family. So where were they ?? You cannot blame the hospital for everything.

It is quite possible that the family were there, but sent home on the understanding that the patient would remain all night.
Maybe the hospital did not contact the family to collect him, or could not wake the family at that hour.
Regardless of that, to discharge him at the hour is callous, uncaring and unprofessional in their duty to patient care.


Whoever authorised that should be disciplined, then go for 'retraining' where lessons will be learnt from this mistake, and procedures put in place to ensure it does not happen again.

Tobeblunt wrote:

jammyswine wrote:

Tobeblunt wrote: Why blame the hospital. The gentlemans family must have known he was in hospital and they themselves could have gone out of their way to return him to his place of residence. If the gentleman had to wait 6 hours for an out of hours GP then there is clearly an overwhelming load on the out of hours service from people wanting medical advice at the last minute instead of going to their own gp during the day for simple things like diarrhoea and vomitting for less than 24 hours. The staff at A+E in the general do an excellent job and provide excellent care within an ever increasing workload environment.

Agree with the comment about the A+E staff but the hospital is being blamed because they did it..not the family, who is to say the family don't live 200 miles away or were unable to get there for some reason? Security word. care-wild!!

Well as an assumption i guess that it was a family member who called the out of hours service and then called 999. I know for a fact that if the gentleman lived in a care home then he would have received ambulance transportation.

Dangerous to make assumptions, Toeblunt. The report does not give any info on who did what. Whatever the underlying facts of this case may be, it is still abominable that an elderly, obviously vulnerable, person should have been sent home at that time in the morning. Yes, I blame the hospital, because they did just that. The system couldn't care less what happens to you as a patient once they have done their medical bit.
As for going to your GP. Have you tried getting a same day appointment nowadays? My comments on the out of hours service stand. It is atrocious. I would suggest that comparatively few people deliberately use this service as against their GP service unless they are genuinely very concerned. In my experience it is quicker and better to bypass it and go straight to A&E.
If any NHS service is over-stretched then that is not the patient's fault.

hulla baloo wrote:

Lone Ranger wrote:

Tobeblunt wrote:

jammyswine wrote:

Tobeblunt wrote: Why blame the hospital. The gentlemans family must have known he was in hospital and they themselves could have gone out of their way to return him to his place of residence. If the gentleman had to wait 6 hours for an out of hours GP then there is clearly an overwhelming load on the out of hours service from people wanting medical advice at the last minute instead of going to their own gp during the day for simple things like diarrhoea and vomitting for less than 24 hours. The staff at A+E in the general do an excellent job and provide excellent care within an ever increasing workload environment.

Agree with the comment about the A+E staff but the hospital is being blamed because they did it..not the family, who is to say the family don't live 200 miles away or were unable to get there for some reason? Security word. care-wild!!

Well as an assumption i guess that it was a family member who called the out of hours service and then called 999. I know for a fact that if the gentleman lived in a care home then he would have received ambulance transportation.

Read the full story in todays Echo and you will see that he does have a local family. So where were they ?? You cannot blame the hospital for everything.

It is quite possible that the family were there, but sent home on the understanding that the patient would remain all night.
Maybe the hospital did not contact the family to collect him, or could not wake the family at that hour.
Regardless of that, to discharge him at the hour is callous, uncaring and unprofessional in their duty to patient care.


Whoever authorised that should be disciplined, then go for 'retraining' where lessons will be learnt from this mistake, and procedures put in place to ensure it does not happen again.

Hulla Baloo - that's the problem - the story is rediculously vague. Maybe HE wanted to go home to his own bed to rest after a traumatic day therefore the hospital therefore discharged him?
It doesn't say there was any reason not to discharge or any allegation he was unfit to go home - should the hospital have just kept him in till 8am/9am, possibly against his will, and add to the long day he's already had?
HE doesn't appear to be complaining, it's his family.
I'd like the full info before calling for disciplinaries etc as, take away the emotive stuff the Echo's pushing, I'm not convinced the hospital's done anything wrong.

Miles Sway wrote:
I'd like to know if he was fine and wanted to be discharged so the hospital let him go? It doesn't seem there was any reason to keep him in hospital.
I was in Soton General with my grandmother (in her 90's) some months ago and I waited till she was either kept in or released so I could take her home.
I know if I'd gone home and she'd been released at 4am she'd have insisted on making her own way home and not getting the hospital to ring me, a reflection of the stubborness and independence of a lot of old people, maybe that's what happened here and the family are a tad guilt ridden as they weren't there for him? More info Echo.

As it says at the bottom of the article, for the full story see today's Daily Echo.

VONNIE SAYS:

The system couldn't care less what happens to you as a patient once they have done their medical bit.

In my experience it is quicker and better to bypass it and go straight to A&E.
If any NHS service is over-stretched then that is not the patient's fault.

No the sysytem as you put it could not care less.What would you like for them to do after they have done their job and discharged the patient visit every patient the next day and check on them?.THIS IS NOT PART OF THE NHS SERVICE. If you want after care then you go private and pay for the pleasure,with the NHS you get what you pay for! If the NHS service if stretched then no its not the patients fault but then not the staffs/hospitals fault either! That blame lies elsewhere(but lets not rant off of the direct subject!). Im not normally one to defend the NHS as I myself have had bad experiences but Im sure im in the majority in that respect but I feel that this is just not news and not the fault of the hospital!!

Ciaran wrote:

Miles Sway wrote:
I'd like to know if he was fine and wanted to be discharged so the hospital let him go? It doesn't seem there was any reason to keep him in hospital.
I was in Soton General with my grandmother (in her 90's) some months ago and I waited till she was either kept in or released so I could take her home.
I know if I'd gone home and she'd been released at 4am she'd have insisted on making her own way home and not getting the hospital to ring me, a reflection of the stubborness and independence of a lot of old people, maybe that's what happened here and the family are a tad guilt ridden as they weren't there for him? More info Echo.

As it says at the bottom of the article, for the full story see today's Daily Echo.

Thank you Ciaran but not available where I live - this is why I use the on-line version which, as I've said, is somewhat short on important info.

Stacker wrote:
VONNIE SAYS: The system couldn't care less what happens to you as a patient once they have done their medical bit. In my experience it is quicker and better to bypass it and go straight to A&E. If any NHS service is over-stretched then that is not the patient's fault. No the sysytem as you put it could not care less.What would you like for them to do after they have done their job and discharged the patient visit every patient the next day and check on them?.THIS IS NOT PART OF THE NHS SERVICE. If you want after care then you go private and pay for the pleasure,with the NHS you get what you pay for! If the NHS service if stretched then no its not the patients fault but then not the staffs/hospitals fault either! That blame lies elsewhere(but lets not rant off of the direct subject!). Im not normally one to defend the NHS as I myself have had bad experiences but Im sure im in the majority in that respect but I feel that this is just not news and not the fault of the hospital!!

I think we must agree to differ on this one. Harking back to years gone by, no hospital would discharge anyone without first making sure that the patient would be safe, there was a backup system in place, and other medical professionals were informed and involved. That, I would argue, should still be part of the system, but patently is not.
I was not long ago discharged from hospital and had to walk 3 miles to my home where I live alone, because I had no money and no-one to contact.

Lone Ranger wrote:

Tobeblunt wrote:

jammyswine wrote:

Tobeblunt wrote: Why blame the hospital. The gentlemans family must have known he was in hospital and they themselves could have gone out of their way to return him to his place of residence. If the gentleman had to wait 6 hours for an out of hours GP then there is clearly an overwhelming load on the out of hours service from people wanting medical advice at the last minute instead of going to their own gp during the day for simple things like diarrhoea and vomitting for less than 24 hours. The staff at A+E in the general do an excellent job and provide excellent care within an ever increasing workload environment.

Agree with the comment about the A+E staff but the hospital is being blamed because they did it..not the family, who is to say the family don't live 200 miles away or were unable to get there for some reason? Security word. care-wild!!

Well as an assumption i guess that it was a family member who called the out of hours service and then called 999. I know for a fact that if the gentleman lived in a care home then he would have received ambulance transportation.

Read the full story in todays Echo and you will see that he does have a local family. So where were they ?? You cannot blame the hospital for everything.

So the family should be held responsible for their own negligence in not supporting one of their own.

As for slatting comments regarding A+E staff. They offer equal care to everybody. The problem is people who think that that now is the time to off load their eldery reletives to hospital so they don't have to worry about them over the christmas period.

As for VONNIE SAYS:

The system couldn't care less what happens to you as a patient once they have done their medical bit.

In my experience it is quicker and better to bypass it and go straight to A&E.
If any NHS service is over-stretched then that is not the patient's fault.


It's people like you that put pressure on A+E and abulance staff, for alements that can be delt with by your GP, but you can't be bothered to wait like everyone else has to. Your selfishness puts real emergencies at risk.

Oh dear Toeblunt. You are making some more, very big, assumptions regarding your personal comments.

Yes, and i bet that they are correct. I hope that your wait in A+E, when Out of Hours would have been sufficiant, was a longer one than what out of hours would have kept you.

I know from experience via my grandfather who has been ill recently. The OOH service can directly refer you to an assessment ward instead of using up A+E resources.

This is a far better and more efficiant way of dealing with patients who don't need A+E attention

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE this week (and in the future) only ring for an ambulance if your condition is life threatening, they are not a taxi service, transport to hospital is not a right, leave the crews for the genuinely sick.It could be you or your relative that misses out if the NHS is continually abused.

What a way to treat a world war veteran! A man who fought to give us all what we have today......Disgracef
ul!

both had to work early both had a drink they probably would have still been over the limit when they drove to work

Mr Smith explained that he and his wife had not accompanied Mr Lawrence to the hospital because they had expected him to be in overnight.

He added both had had a drink and didn’t want to drink-drive, and both needed to work early the next day.

the out of hours doctors is a joke, you get through and they diagnose over the phone without even seeing the patient, my daughter would have ended up in hospital if i had not got an emergency appt the next day as she was very ill and needed antibiotics, but the doctor over the phone told me it was just a virus and nothing to worry about!!, bear in mind my daughter had dilated cardiomyopathy and heart failure she should have had a doctor out to see her as she couldnt breathe properly, its just as well im not inexperienced or my daughter may have been in big trouble, they need to sort out a better system and not diagnose over the phone, how can they know whats wrong when they havent even examined people?????

way too many assumption made i think, and also complete discounting about this mans possible abilities.
my grandmother is also 88, and lives fairly locally to me. she also suffers from partial blindness, but she would be horrified if i tried to control her affairs in this way. it would take away her right to make an autonomous decision.
so 88 can be vulnreable, but not nessicarily helpless.
this gent could have argued his cause, waited a couple of hours to get a lift, or as he did, get a cab home. notice its the family that are moaning and not the gent involved.
if the family were really that upset and worried then maybe they could have caught a cab to go and fetch him rather than allowing him to travel on his own.
if this gent is as vulnreable as they state, then maybe they should stop passing the buck and be responsible themselves.

Although there would appear to be some failings in dealing with an elderley man at that time of the morning it beggars belief that any family would let their father be admitted to hospital at any time unacompanied.I cant imagine that there was a shortage of taxies!

As the Son In Law of Mr Lawrence, and having read some of the very narrow minded comments I feel that I have to respond.

My father in law suffers from a number of conditions and has done so for many years. He is a regular visitor to out patients at SGH and due to his frail condition hospital transport has always been arranged for him, not by us, but by the hospital. He was admitted 8 weeks ago by our GP as an emergency with a suspected DVT and was in hospital for two weeks. His condition on discharge was diagnosed as that of a Bakers Cyst, a condition that mimics a DVT. On Saturday his leg became very painful and swollen so my wife called the "out of hours service" at 3.30 in the afternoon. At 9pm we contacted the "out of hours service" again because we were concerned that he had not been visited. We were told that they were "a doctor down" but they would try to get to him within the "6 hour target for visiting patients, but it could be a further 2 hours". The operator suggested that we dial 999 if we felt the need for "urgent attention" We decided not to clog up the emergency service but to wait for the doctor to visit. My father in law was happy to wait alone so my wife and I returned home. At about 11pm 2 doctors arrived in the same car, and called me saying that he suspected a DVT (Which is life threatening) and that I should come and take him to hospital. I explained that I had had 2 glasses of wine with our evening meal as did my wife on our return home and felt it unwise to drive, (and no I would not have been over the limit in the morning as suggested) I also felt that if his admission was urgent then he should go by ambulance with trained and qualified medical staff. He was also told by the Doctor to take an overnight bag because he was being admitted.
Yes we did complain on his behalf, not just for him but to prevent this happening again to anyone either young or old.Our aim was to highlight the disgraceful way in which people are treated. At no time did the hospital contact us to inform us that he was to be discharged. We lodged a complaint with the Duty Manager on Sunday and again on Monday but at this time we are still awaiting the promised call back.

Finally to answer some of the blame that has been levelled at us,

My Father in Law will spend Christmas with us and our family, as he has done every year for the past 30+ years.We will not pack him off to the SGH hotel and enjoy ourselves without him. We are a very close family. We visit him 6 days out of 7, clean for him, do his shopping, and take him on holiday. How many of you who have doubted our commitment would be prepared to take your aged parents on holiday and spend it pushing them around in their wheel chair ???? We do it because we really do care and because we love him and he is a very important person in our lives.

If any of the doubters have the misfortune to be admitted to hospital and are told to take an overnight bag suggesting you are to be admitted, pack your wallets as well because you too might need to call a Taxi at 4AM in the morning.

To all those people who have supported us Thank You, To those who have doubted and questioned please look at the broader picture before leaving comments. You never know you might just go through this yourself one day.

A Right To Complain wrote:
As the Son In Law of Mr Lawrence, and having read some of the very narrow minded comments I feel that I have to respond. My father in law suffers from a number of conditions and has done so for many years. He is a regular visitor to out patients at SGH and due to his frail condition hospital transport has always been arranged for him, not by us, but by the hospital. He was admitted 8 weeks ago by our GP as an emergency with a suspected DVT and was in hospital for two weeks. His condition on discharge was diagnosed as that of a Bakers Cyst, a condition that mimics a DVT. On Saturday his leg became very painful and swollen so my wife called the "out of hours service" at 3.30 in the afternoon. At 9pm we contacted the "out of hours service" again because we were concerned that he had not been visited. We were told that they were "a doctor down" but they would try to get to him within the "6 hour target for visiting patients, but it could be a further 2 hours". The operator suggested that we dial 999 if we felt the need for "urgent attention" We decided not to clog up the emergency service but to wait for the doctor to visit. My father in law was happy to wait alone so my wife and I returned home. At about 11pm 2 doctors arrived in the same car, and called me saying that he suspected a DVT (Which is life threatening) and that I should come and take him to hospital. I explained that I had had 2 glasses of wine with our evening meal as did my wife on our return home and felt it unwise to drive, (and no I would not have been over the limit in the morning as suggested) I also felt that if his admission was urgent then he should go by ambulance with trained and qualified medical staff. He was also told by the Doctor to take an overnight bag because he was being admitted. Yes we did complain on his behalf, not just for him but to prevent this happening again to anyone either young or old.Our aim was to highlight the disgraceful way in which people are treated. At no time did the hospital contact us to inform us that he was to be discharged. We lodged a complaint with the Duty Manager on Sunday and again on Monday but at this time we are still awaiting the promised call back. Finally to answer some of the blame that has been levelled at us, My Father in Law will spend Christmas with us and our family, as he has done every year for the past 30+ years.We will not pack him off to the SGH hotel and enjoy ourselves without him. We are a very close family. We visit him 6 days out of 7, clean for him, do his shopping, and take him on holiday. How many of you who have doubted our commitment would be prepared to take your aged parents on holiday and spend it pushing them around in their wheel chair ???? We do it because we really do care and because we love him and he is a very important person in our lives. If any of the doubters have the misfortune to be admitted to hospital and are told to take an overnight bag suggesting you are to be admitted, pack your wallets as well because you too might need to call a Taxi at 4AM in the morning. To all those people who have supported us Thank You, To those who have doubted and questioned please look at the broader picture before leaving comments. You never know you might just go through this yourself one day.

Well said! As i posted earlier - I can't believe that someone of this age let alone a war veteran should ever be treated this way. Someone who fought for the freedom that we enjoy today and made such sacrifices should at least be afforded the courtesy of either a warm bed for the night or an escort home. Hope he is well and let him know people do care and have massive respect for him.

Merry xmas

To A Right To Complain,

This most eloquent post should be required reading for all hospital employees.

The US may be lawsuit-happy, but this is the sort of thing that hospitals here are highly motivated to avoid.

It is shocking and callous. If someone in my family treated a sick, elderly person in this way, our family would make them feel ashamed.

Whatever happened to the Golden Rule?

A Right To Complain wrote:
As the Son In Law of Mr Lawrence, and having read some of the very narrow minded comments I feel that I have to respond. My father in law suffers from a number of conditions and has done so for many years. He is a regular visitor to out patients at SGH and due to his frail condition hospital transport has always been arranged for him, not by us, but by the hospital. He was admitted 8 weeks ago by our GP as an emergency with a suspected DVT and was in hospital for two weeks. His condition on discharge was diagnosed as that of a Bakers Cyst, a condition that mimics a DVT. On Saturday his leg became very painful and swollen so my wife called the "out of hours service" at 3.30 in the afternoon. At 9pm we contacted the "out of hours service" again because we were concerned that he had not been visited. We were told that they were "a doctor down" but they would try to get to him within the "6 hour target for visiting patients, but it could be a further 2 hours". The operator suggested that we dial 999 if we felt the need for "urgent attention" We decided not to clog up the emergency service but to wait for the doctor to visit. My father in law was happy to wait alone so my wife and I returned home. At about 11pm 2 doctors arrived in the same car, and called me saying that he suspected a DVT (Which is life threatening) and that I should come and take him to hospital. I explained that I had had 2 glasses of wine with our evening meal as did my wife on our return home and felt it unwise to drive, (and no I would not have been over the limit in the morning as suggested) I also felt that if his admission was urgent then he should go by ambulance with trained and qualified medical staff. He was also told by the Doctor to take an overnight bag because he was being admitted. Yes we did complain on his behalf, not just for him but to prevent this happening again to anyone either young or old.Our aim was to highlight the disgraceful way in which people are treated. At no time did the hospital contact us to inform us that he was to be discharged. We lodged a complaint with the Duty Manager on Sunday and again on Monday but at this time we are still awaiting the promised call back. Finally to answer some of the blame that has been levelled at us, My Father in Law will spend Christmas with us and our family, as he has done every year for the past 30+ years.We will not pack him off to the SGH hotel and enjoy ourselves without him. We are a very close family. We visit him 6 days out of 7, clean for him, do his shopping, and take him on holiday. How many of you who have doubted our commitment would be prepared to take your aged parents on holiday and spend it pushing them around in their wheel chair ???? We do it because we really do care and because we love him and he is a very important person in our lives. If any of the doubters have the misfortune to be admitted to hospital and are told to take an overnight bag suggesting you are to be admitted, pack your wallets as well because you too might need to call a Taxi at 4AM in the morning. To all those people who have supported us Thank You, To those who have doubted and questioned please look at the broader picture before leaving comments. You never know you might just go through this yourself one day.

If the GP was expecting him to stay in over-night then why was he sent to A+E and not AMU where he would have stayed in over night.

As for drinking on an evening when you know in the past he has had, query, DVT and may need to rely on your transportation or assistance is irresponsible if you were that concerned.

The man was sent home via the right means.

Toeblunt. You are a troll.

Tobeblunt wrote:

A Right To Complain wrote: As the Son In Law of Mr Lawrence, and having read some of the very narrow minded comments I feel that I have to respond. My father in law suffers from a number of conditions and has done so for many years. He is a regular visitor to out patients at SGH and due to his frail condition hospital transport has always been arranged for him, not by us, but by the hospital. He was admitted 8 weeks ago by our GP as an emergency with a suspected DVT and was in hospital for two weeks. His condition on discharge was diagnosed as that of a Bakers Cyst, a condition that mimics a DVT. On Saturday his leg became very painful and swollen so my wife called the "out of hours service" at 3.30 in the afternoon. At 9pm we contacted the "out of hours service" again because we were concerned that he had not been visited. We were told that they were "a doctor down" but they would try to get to him within the "6 hour target for visiting patients, but it could be a further 2 hours". The operator suggested that we dial 999 if we felt the need for "urgent attention" We decided not to clog up the emergency service but to wait for the doctor to visit. My father in law was happy to wait alone so my wife and I returned home. At about 11pm 2 doctors arrived in the same car, and called me saying that he suspected a DVT (Which is life threatening) and that I should come and take him to hospital. I explained that I had had 2 glasses of wine with our evening meal as did my wife on our return home and felt it unwise to drive, (and no I would not have been over the limit in the morning as suggested) I also felt that if his admission was urgent then he should go by ambulance with trained and qualified medical staff. He was also told by the Doctor to take an overnight bag because he was being admitted. Yes we did complain on his behalf, not just for him but to prevent this happening again to anyone either young or old.Our aim was to highlight the disgraceful way in which people are treated. At no time did the hospital contact us to inform us that he was to be discharged. We lodged a complaint with the Duty Manager on Sunday and again on Monday but at this time we are still awaiting the promised call back. Finally to answer some of the blame that has been levelled at us, My Father in Law will spend Christmas with us and our family, as he has done every year for the past 30+ years.We will not pack him off to the SGH hotel and enjoy ourselves without him. We are a very close family. We visit him 6 days out of 7, clean for him, do his shopping, and take him on holiday. How many of you who have doubted our commitment would be prepared to take your aged parents on holiday and spend it pushing them around in their wheel chair ???? We do it because we really do care and because we love him and he is a very important person in our lives. If any of the doubters have the misfortune to be admitted to hospital and are told to take an overnight bag suggesting you are to be admitted, pack your wallets as well because you too might need to call a Taxi at 4AM in the morning. To all those people who have supported us Thank You, To those who have doubted and questioned please look at the broader picture before leaving comments. You never know you might just go through this yourself one day.

If the GP was expecting him to stay in over-night then why was he sent to A+E and not AMU where he would have stayed in over night. As for drinking on an evening when you know in the past he has had, query, DVT and may need to rely on your transportation or assistance is irresponsible if you were that concerned. The man was sent home via the right means.

Good post from the son-in-law, but have to agree with toe blunt.
If, as he suggests, the condition required medical treatmnent, and he has had previoius problems, why did somebody not sit and stay with him.
And why did both have a drink, knowing a doctor/ambulance was coming?
They may have needed to travel immediately.
Sorry, but irresponsible on both counts.

Tobeblunt

I cannot answer your first point re why he was sent to A+E and not AMU, perhaps you would like to take that one up with the appropriate authority directly instead of venting your spleen here ! Secondly it was not his GP it was TWO out of hour Doctors.

If having two glasses of wine is a crime then yes I am guilty. We gave him every assistance and made him comfortable whilst he waited 7 and half hours for a Doctor to arrive. If anybody was irresponsible the blame must lay at the feet of an appalling out of hours service in the time, not the quality of treatment, it takes to attend the sick, and secondly the Hospital authorities (not the nursing staff) for its policies.

Finally you obviously have a lot of time on your hands to sit and make un-qualified comments on this site on a daily basis. Still as one door closes another one opens, hope todays headlines really give you something to get your teeth into.

A Right To Complain wrote:
Tobeblunt I cannot answer your first point re why he was sent to A+E and not AMU, perhaps you would like to take that one up with the appropriate authority directly instead of venting your spleen here ! Secondly it was not his GP it was TWO out of hour Doctors. If having two glasses of wine is a crime then yes I am guilty. We gave him every assistance and made him comfortable whilst he waited 7 and half hours for a Doctor to arrive. If anybody was irresponsible the blame must lay at the feet of an appalling out of hours service in the time, not the quality of treatment, it takes to attend the sick, and secondly the Hospital authorities (not the nursing staff) for its policies. Finally you obviously have a lot of time on your hands to sit and make un-qualified comments on this site on a daily basis. Still as one door closes another one opens, hope todays headlines really give you something to get your teeth into.

I agree the out of hours service is appalling, and something needs to be done.

What I cannot understand is that, having given the care you mention, you still left him on his own in the evening, and drank wine, knowing you may be required to be called out at some point.
If that were my father/father-in-law
, I know either my wife, or both of us, would have stayed with him.

Be that as it may, I trust he recovers to full health.

The principle should be that nobody should be discharged from a hospital at four o'clock in the morning, particularly when it is cold outside. More consideration should be given to those who are at most need and to also make sure they are going to be able to get home on discharge. I feel that life is becoming ever more cheaper in thos twenty-four hour society and it is unacceptable.