Graham Barrett did his national service for his country, worked all his life, paid his taxes and National Insurance, took out a private pension to top up his state one, and never cost the NHS a penny until he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s nearly seven years ago.
Even then he was cared for by his wife in his home, a council house they had lived in for nearly forty years, until the medical profession insisted that he needed to go into a specialist unit to have his medication assessed. His wife didn’t want him to but they insisted that they couldn’t look at his medication needs any other way and between the two of them they discussed it and in he went.
He stayed in the unit for two weeks although they didn’t seem to be making any progress. The only thing that happened while he was in there was that he lost over half a stone in weight. Various reasons were offered for this although they ignored the most likely reason which was that as he was unable to feed himself and as no-one seemed to have the time to help him, he was actually starving.
His wife removed him from the unit owing to his weight loss but a couple of weeks later was persuaded by the night doctor that there was no need for him to be as upset and stressed as he was and that he should return so they could sort out his medication.
He returned to the unit but they didn’t seem to achieve a satisfactory conclusion by the end of the assessment period as the wife was told there was; “No Change”.
His wife visited him everyday the first time he went in but she couldn’t bring herself to the second time. She was watching him loose more weight, even his dentures were falling out in spite of having had them fitted only four months previous when he had a new tooth added to them.
She begged them to feed him and was accused of being aggressive when all she was doing was being a concerned carer.
She could detail a list of complaints over his lack of care but then she would be accused of “distorting the truth” and “misinterpreting the situation”.
On the 29th of January his wife received a phone call before breakfast. They said they didn’t want to alarm her as it “wasn’t a life threatening situation” but he’d been found in “bed in pain” and they’d called the doctor and an ambulance person had administered pain relief as they needed to take him for X-rays.
She got on the next bus to the hospital and couldn’t believe what had happened to him. She went to Accident and Emergency and spoke with the medical team who showed her the X-rays.
She asked them to explain what she was looking at. One of the team explained the level of injury and that it normally took a trust from the feet or knees, such as an impact in a car crash, to thrust the leg into the hip with enough force to cause the damage seen here to his joint.
She went with him to the theatre unit where he had a pin put into his leg so that he could be in traction. It was estimated that the normal traction time for this level of injury was six weeks.
When she realised the seriousness of the injury she felt it was necessary to inform the police.
On the 30th I drove from my home on the north east coast of Scotland to be with my very distressed mother. A meeting was arranged with the Risk Manager, Dad’s social worker and the Manager of the Wedgewood Unit where the incident occurred for the following day.
Apart from not telling us anything we didn’t already know the unit manager insisted that she believed it could have been a fall. She asked us if we would see the bone specialist. She didn’t have any comment on it not appearing in the night book where all such instances should be recorded and was unable to comment on the fact that even at the start of the meeting they had said that again that he was found in bed but she did acknowledge that there was no way he could have got back into the bed on his own with that sort of injury.
We remained calm throughout the meeting and the only impassioned comment I made about the situation was that when they said that they were keeping his room for him I said that my father was “going back in that unit over my dead body”.
As the police had become involved by this stage we refrained from making too many comments.
Dad is currently in the West Suffolk Hospital, Bury St Edmunds. As a result of the improved level of care he is now receiving he was feeding himself although he had to have things cut up for him. Unfortunately his condition has since worsened.
Although shear determination has seen him defy the pain and get mobile on occasion it’s unlikely he will never walk again.
The staff of F3 have done very well with his food and even given him supplementary drinks designed to build him up.
He improved quite considerably while on F3 at the beginning but we cannot say whether there has been a change in medication to allow his improvement or whether it is simply that he trusts and isn’t scared of the staff where he is now.
The police enquiry is ongoing.
We asked on several occasions for him to have a bone density scan. This was finally carried out a short time ago and showed no evidence of osteoporosis, fragile or brittle bones. Obviously a man of his age wouldn’t have the same bone density or resilience of someone much younger but he was not a fragile little old man who would have received a break at the slightest knock.
We didn’t want to involve the press but we feel now that we have been left with no choice. Other people need to know what really goes on so we can prevent things like this from happening to their loved ones.
People will probably say we are milking the story and our misfortune for money and to an extent this is true. We do need the money; we need the money to pay for nursing care for my father locally. The authorities now want to move him away from the area to somewhere my mother won’t be able to visit him. After nearly half a century of marriage their vows still mean something to them and its got to be against his human rights to deny him the access, attention and love of his family.
We’ve been told they won’t pay for nursing care at home although my mother has looked after him single handed for over 6 years. We’ve been told there isn’t anywhere local that will take him but we believe it’s more a case of there isn’t anyway local that they will pay for.
So, work all your lives, pay your taxes, save for your own pension, and don’t demand anything of system for all your lives. If you haven’t got a house to sell then you’re stuffed. And, don’t whatever you do expect the system you funded to give two hoots about you when you get old.
This was written for inclusion in several local newspapers and appeared in various forms in 2006. Unfortunately this wasn’t the end of the story. He was moved from the hospital in Bury St Edmunds to a care home chosen by the state in Sudbury, against my mothers will, where he died less than 7 weeks later. She was barely able to visit him owing to the distance and journey times (having to rely on lifts and public transport because she doesn’t drive).
My father began passing blood but a stomach bleed was not suspected and it wasn’t until several days later when he vomited blood that a doctors opinion was sort and he was moved immediately by ambulance back to the hospital. Unfortunately it was too late and he died the following day. My mother was quizzed about his care, the doctor commenting on his “emaciation” until she pointed out he’d come from a nursing home and not from her care.
An inquest was held but there were no witnesses from the nursing home as all the staff who had been present at the time had left the employment of the home by the time it got to court and could not be found, or where found, could not remember anything about my father.
We are still fighting for justice, not for my father, that is too late but for everyone else who follows. We are all going to get and I don’t know about you but after what happened to my dad it scares the hell out of me!
