How the Nhs Faiiled My Mother ; Neglect. Mistakes. But Above All, a Heartbreaking Lack of Basic Kindness. Ex-Tory Leader's Wife Sandra Howard Reveals How Her Elderly Mother's Last Days in Hospital Have Shattered Her Faith in Our Health Service

Daily Mail › February 10, 2009

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Summary

AS MANY readers will know from personal experience, elderly patients are often treated shabbily and with little compassion. Now a major survey reveals that even the doctors who specialise in the care of older people believe the NHS is institutionally ageist. Here, Sandra Howard, wife of former Tory Party leader Michael, describes how watching her mother suffering has shattered her faith in the NHS ...

THE day I was forced to perch on a hospital trolley while my sick mother lay beside me was the day I finally lost faith in the NHS. No chairs had been provided for relatives at the Surrey hospital where we found ourselves after my mother -- at 89 -- had a fall in her care home.

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How the Nhs Faiiled My Mother ; Neglect. Mistakes. But Above All, a Heartbreaking Lack of Basic Kindness. Ex-Tory Leader's Wife Sandra Howard Reveals How Her Elderly Mother's Last Days in Hospital Have Shattered Her Faith in Our Health Service

The nurses said there were no chairs available. I could either perch on the trolley, which had a habit of rolling about, or choose the floor, on which lurked goodness only knows what kinds of germs.

It was a sad day for me when I felt let down by the Health Service. All my life -- and many people will feel the same -- the NHS has been almost guaranteed to give me a sense of deep pride in my country.

It ha...

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