Stoke Mandeville Hospital says after 'shameful' treatment of cancer patient

Michael Groves, 77, struggled to get appropriate pain relief, help with going to the toilet and basic comforts at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, the report says.

The Great Missenden man later died in a hospice, where his daughter said he received more care in 90 minutes than in three days at the hospital.

His story is one of 16 which are today detailed in a damning report into poor care in England by the Patients Association.

Mr Groves, a dad-of-two, was suffering from pancreatic cancer and had been transferred from Wycombe Hospital on February 28 this year.

Daughter Carole Brown, a former nurse, described several instances when he was not treated with dignity and respect on Ward 10, an emergency assessment unit at Stoke Mandeville.

At one stage he was in serious pain and she said: "I checked with the nurse who was supposedly looking after him, and asked her when he last had pain relief. She said that he had not had any, as he would have refused it.

"I found this very difficult to believe and asked her to give him some immediately, which of course he didn't refuse."

In another incident her dad was given a small tub of ice cream, but she said there were no spoons on the ward and he was told “he wouldn’t be told off if he used his fingers”.

She said she also found him sitting on a bed pan, after he had been left without a buzzer to alert the nurse when he was finished.

Mr Groves openly praised the hospital staff, but said privately to his family that "nobody cares in here what happens to you".

Despite being warned he could die in a transfer, Ms Brown, of Mount Nugent, Chesham, insisted her dad be moved to a hospice as she was "desperate to get him away from the ward".

The 56-year-old told the Bucks Free Press: “My dad was very special and certainly didn't deserve to be treated like he was....It was like all the articles you read or see on TV and don't think will happen to you.

“Nobody deserves that at a time when they really need to be looked after. When he got to the hospice they were so different and so caring. He was finally treated like a human being.”

Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association, said: "The issues we continue to highlight are human rights issues. They show a lack of compassion and care and a shameful attitude to treatment of the elderly."

Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, which runs Stoke Mandeville Hospital, said in a statement:

"We were incredibly sorry to hear Ms Brown’s concerns regarding her father’s experience in our hospital. Ms Brown has been in touch with the hospital and we have thoroughly investigated the matter and fed back our conclusions directly.

"We understand that it must have been a very difficult time for Mr Grove’s family, and we are sorry if some of our attempts to help keep them informed were not perceived as such at the time.

"We acknowledge that there were some elements of Mr Groves's basic care that fell below the standard we expect on our wards.

"We expect our staff to care for patients with courtesy and compassion and it is clear in some instances this did not happen – for which the Trust and the staff involved are truly sorry.

"We have learnt from the concerns raised by Ms Brown and we have reminded our staff of their responsibility to ensure our patients have a good experience when in our care.

"Although we receive over double the amount of accolades to complaints for the services we provide, we are never complacent.

"We take those instances very seriously where we did not meet people’s expectations and ensure swift action plans are put in place, to learn from the experience of others.

"We have developed service standards that we expect all staff to adhere to and our matrons work hard to ensure they are met in every part of the organisation.

"We believe we have made improvements and a recent CQC inspection into dignity, respect and nutrition for older people concluded that they were satisfied with the care that we provide."