One man explains how his 81-year-old mother was poorly treated during a stay in hospital in the north west.

My mother was admitted to hospital in early November 2005.

She had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease but was only in the middle stages.

For some reason over a matter of days she quickly got much worse, we think she had a stroke but her mental and physical condition deteriorated immediately.

It was obvious from the start that the ward was not equipped to deal with people with patients with dementia.

For that reason we made sure there was always someone there at meal times otherwise the meal tray was put on her table and taken away about an hour later untouched.

Someone also stayed with her overnight as she would get up and wander around as she was confused about where she was.

They still have not been able to cure the sore on her back after several weeks because it had got so bad Patient's son Health system 'neglects elderly'

There were only two nights where there was no one with her, the first she fell and banged her head and the second night she fell and fractured her shoulder.

When we asked the doctor what had happened, we were told this quite often happens with elderly patients as they did not have the staff to monitor them as much as was needed.

It was obvious my mother would be unable to return home so after several weeks my mother was transferred to another ward when we tried to arrange to have moved to a nursing home.

While there she developed a heavy cold and we were unable to get her to eat or drink.

We made the staff aware of this and they said there was nothing to worry about and they would monitor her.

After several days the situation seemed to be getting worse. Again we approached the staff only to be reassured there was nothing to worry about but we requested she was seen by a doctor.

'Frightened'

Two days later she was seen by thee doctor and then had to be re-admitted to the main hospital with severe dehydration and pneumonia.

It took us another few weeks to arrange for my mother to be moved to a nursing home.

On the day she was moved in February we asked could one of us travel with her as she would be frightened and would not know what was going on.

We were told we would not be able to travel in the ambulance with her so we asked could they at least let us know when she would be travelling so we could be at the nursing home when she arrived.

Late afternoon as we had not heard anything we phoned up to inquire what was gong on only to be told she had gone several hours earlier.

We phoned the nursing home and they asked us where my mother's clothes were.The hospital insist they were sent over with my mother but they have not been seen since.

Worst of all the nursing staff were horrified with the open sores on my mother's back and heels.

They said they must not have been moving her at all as she had developed bed sores. They still have not been able to cure the sore on her back after several weeks because it had got so bad.

We have now put in a complaint about her care. My mother is now bed-ridden in the nursing home. They are doing their best to keep her comfortable, but that is all they can do.