The Royal Free Hospital

• MY husband, an intelligent, erudite, successful professional, was admitted as an emergency to the Royal Free Hospital in early May with an acute condition.

He fell foul of age discrimination from the moment he entered the A&E department. His acute condition was deemed less important than his age and, as a direct result, he was seen by numerous clinicians, moved from ward to ward, bed to bed with an increasing loss of dignity and respect.

Having a bib placed round his neck and forced into incontinence wear at night did nothing for his confidence nor was part of any formal treatment. The opinion of the occupational therapist was deemed more important than that of any clinician.

I had to rescue my husband from so-called geriatric care, find our own specialist to deal with his original acute problem, and we returned home in a far poorer state than when we arrived at the Royal Free a month earlier.

I was told by one nurse that the Royal Free was notorious for moving patients; and by a porter that I should get my husband home as soon as possible. Are bed managers responsible now for patient care, I wonder?

JANE DEAN MA RN RM
Address supplied