Distressed elderly patients are being “treated like animals” and left begging for care as NHS staff struggle to cope with overwhelmed wards and an ever-increasing ageing population, an investigation by The Independent has revealed.
Scores of families have come forward to share harrowing allegations of neglect as one top doctor warns that elderly people are receiving care “well below the standards they should expect” – including long waits in waiting rooms and “degrading” corridor care.
In one shocking case, a 96-year-old patient admitted to the hospital with a urinary tract infection (UTI) was allegedly left semi-naked and delirious in his hospital bed – before choking on vomit after being sedated without his family’s permission, his daughter told The Independent. Another patient, 99, was traumatised after being left in a bed next to the body of a dead woman.
The investigation was sparked by the horrific story of 73 year old Martin Wild who was left so desperate for pain medication he was forced to call 999 from his hospital bed.
It comes as analysis by the Independent shows the government was warned three times last year by coroners over the increasing risk to elderly patients’ lives amid fears they are not being “effectively safeguarded”.
Source: The Independent, 11 March 2024
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