"Let down by SWAH and my concerns brushed aside"

My husband was admitted into the SWAH with urgent health issues, but staff acted without any urgency, either to diagnose or to treat him. Scans/tests were repeatedley cancelled and put off, meaning that a treatment plan could not be agreed. He lay for over a week without any nutrition whatsoever, with staff repeatedly ignoring both his, and my explanations that he could not keep down food/drink.

After a week of throwing up, retaining no food, no drink he was put on a drip - it is unacceptable that an elderly patient could spend so long, in a hospital full of medical professionals, without any nutritional input - during this time my husband, a man in his 80's lost a significant amount of weight - all this happened whilst we were begging for action, and whilst nurses repeatedly asked senior staff what was to happen with him. It was very obvious that no-one was prepared to take responsibility for my husbands care, he was bounced between various wards and teams, with no-one taking any ownership of his case for approx 2 weeks - all the while he was deteriorating and getting weaker in front of me, making him more susceptible to other issues that can occur in a hospital setting ie sepsis, pneumonia etc.

There was a collective failure on behalf of numerous senior staff to take ownership/responsibility for his care - everyone was waiting for someone else to do something. I am convinced that no-one really bothered because he was elderly. It felt to me that my husband simply didnt matter because of his age.

When we first entered the SWAH we felt reassured/optimistic because we were told this test would be done and that test would be done, but after numerous cancellations/explanations suggesting that someone else had been prioritised, our feelings changed from hope/optimism to fear/despair.

We felt completely ignored, that our situation didnt matter - we feel this was because of our age - everything we said was ignored, tests being repeatedly cancelled as we weren't a priority, and the general lack of interest shown by certain senior staff (ie Doctor's ignoring questions, and making completely inaccurate statements of 'fact' which only told us they hadnt even bother to read our notes).

We were very aware that my husband was ill and needed urgent treatment/care, unfortunately however, our interactions with senior staff left us feeling completely neglected. We felt like we were in the way.

After my husband's death in the SWAH, I raised my concerns via Formal Complaints. I had genuinely hoped that something could be learned from our experence - whilst I was critical of the service we received I was not complaining to 'get anyone in trouble' - all I wanted to do was to show what had happened, in the hope that lessons might be learned and that no-one else would go through the same thing. Unfortunately the complaints process only increased my pain. My questions were not answered in any meaningful way. Some were not answered at all. The responses I did get only sought to deny and downplay any issues I raised.

There didnt seem to be any appetite whatsoever to acknowledge any failings on behalf of WHSCT staff, even when much of what I was saying was well documented in the medical notes I requested. The complaints process is a very difficult, very demoralising place - the focus of the WHSCT seemed to be to avoid any responsibility, rather than learn from mistakes. I want to be very clear about this - my husband passed away in the SWAH, and whilst I am aware he was very ill, I feel that he was not given the right chance of survival. I will always have to live with this, and I sincerely thought that by engaging with the complaints process there might be some element of consolation - an idea that maybe the same thing would not happen to someone else - however, having now come through that complaints process, I am no more reassured than I was when I started, and can only say that in addition to my grief/loss, I now feel disrespected and dismissed by the WHSCT.

Returning to what happened though, I would say to the WHSCT that my husband slipped though the cracks. All his information was there. My husband and I were also repeatedley making staff aware of his inability to hold solids down, as were the nursing staff (I would like to point out that all Nursing/caring staff within the SWAH were exellent, it is the senior, doctor level staff I feel let my husband down) - but we were ignored again and again. We were told that 'people would be meeting to discuss his care after the weekend' or that he would have a scan 'in the next few days' but a man in his 80's doesnt have this time.

There was no urgency, and no-one prepared to take ownership of his treatment/care - I feel that the SWAH needs to have better treatment/plans for elderly/geriatric patients - I feel that all elderly patients need to be linked in with a Geriatric Specialist at a very early point in their admission - in the same way that children have specific needs and will be linked in with a Paeds specialist, the same should be true for elderly patients. If my husband had been linked in with a Geriatric specialist then surely this person could have spoken up for him, insisted that a man in his 80's cannot go a week without nutrition, another weekend without scans, another few days until he is discussed 'at a meeting' - I believe that my husband would have had a greater chance of survival had he had access to this sort of professional speaking up for him/acting on his behalf.

I am aware that my husband will not be coming back but maybe this feedback might possibly help the next elderly patient in the same situation?