The son of an 81 year-old man who died after waiting three weeks for an operation, attacked the care his father received as councillors discussed the ‘inadequate’ Russell Hall Hospital.
Cllr Richard Body made his emotional speech as a meeting of the Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Committee quizzed Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust health chiefs.
The local politician for Cradley and Wollescote Ward has since alleged the care his father received contributed to his death in August this year.
His impassioned address came as chief executive Diane Wake spoke to the committee about improvements being made at the acute care centre which is being investigated over 54 deaths.
In April, the Care Quality Commission rated the hospital as ‘inadequate’ with its most serious criticisms aimed at the A&E department.
After Ms Wake spoke of the hospital’s stroke department, Cllr Body compared and contrasted the treatment his father, Dennis, received.
Explaining his father had been admitted in January with a head injury, he said it took three weeks before he was transferred to the the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham for an operation.
Praising the care he received there, he said his father was then ‘swapped’ back to a Russell Hall high dependency unit before being moved to the stroke ward.
Cllr Body claims his father’s condition then rapidly deteriorated.
Speaking directly to Diane Wake, his voice steady and strong as he contained his anger, he said: “You mentioned it, the stroke ward. What a ward! The care was totally terrible, awful, dreadful, one nurse for seven patients."
Criticising the lack of nurses, he said: “My dad was there left on a bed looking at a ceiling.”
Saying he pleaded with staff to get his father out of the bed so he could engage with his surroundings, he went on to explain Dennis then suffered a fall.
Saying he only learned of the accident when he visited the ward and saw his dad’s face was ‘all smashed up’, he added: “From that day on my father was never the same again.”
Following the accident Dennis was transferred to a care home where he received ‘fantastic’ care before returning home where he died two weeks later.
Saying his father worked for the health service for 35 years, Cllr Body added: “I watched him go through hell and he never complained. Never.”
He said he should have prevented Dennis being transferred back to the Dudley hospital from the Queen Elizabeth: “We should have fought, we should have said ‘Don’t let him go to Russell Hall’ but we didn’t, and that’s was were I was wrong.”
In response, chief executive Diane Wake, said she did not have details of individual cases but she added: “What you have described is not acceptable care and I am more than happy to go away and investigate the cases you have mentioned.”
Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Body said he believed the care his father received at Russell Hall ultimately contributed to his death.
“We felt that he was just in the way, we felt he was not wanted.”
Saying he blamed himself for allowing Dennis to return to Russell Hall, he added: “Mom said, ‘If he goes back he’ll die’ [but] I said, ‘No, Mom if he comes back he’ll be one step closer to coming home’.
“Little did I know.”
Following the committee meeting, on Tuesday, chief executive Diane Wake, said: “I would once again like to offer my sincere condolences to Cllr Body and his family for the sad loss of their father.
"Cllr Body raised concerns about his father’s care. I am investigating and will be in direct contact with Cllr Body when I have looked into it.”
