If I’d known hospitals are like ‘lobster traps’, my father might not have died on a ward
The IndependentThe best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “If social care was able to do its job in the way we want it to, these poor people wouldn’t be stranded in hospital. But with ward visits totally banned because of Covid, and with busy nurses perhaps understandably taking phones off the hook, it was impossible to get information on his condition, still less an update on when he might be able to make the 10-minute journey home. A nurse who previously treated dad saw him on the ward and, horrified at his condition, called us to say that he was seriously unwell – something that various “practitioner leaders”, “acute care” doctors and “palliative coordinators” had not thought to act upon.
History of this topic
Rapid hospital discharges are leaving patients with more complex social care needs when they get home
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Social care crisis laid bare as quarter of NHS beds occupied by dementia patients
The Independent
‘I sit and cry every day’: How the care system is failing those in need
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