By BECKY

PROCTER

THE daughter of an Oakenshaw pensioner says she is watching her elderly father slowly deteriorate at the Alexandra Hospital because there is no NHS funding for a nursing home.

Edward Bishop, 84, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, was admitted to the hospital on May 6 for an operation on a bowel obstruction.

But he is still there, being cared for in a side room on ward 18, where he has been isolated for the past four weeks due to an infection.

Frances Rosser said her father, who is deaf and with little sight, was entitled to NHS nursing home care following an assessment but they were still waiting.

Mrs Rosser added his deterioration over the last few weeks had been marked.

She said: "His is receiving no stimulation and cannot even see any real activity.

''He is desperately in need of suitable care, which he is not receiving in the current situation and which could be provided by the nursing home.

"I consider it cruel and inhumane to keep him in the situation when a suitable alternative is available and I consider it a matter of urgency if he is not to completely lose the will to live."

She added: "We are all desperately upset with what we are faced with.

''Either we watch him die slowly or we fund the nursing home ourselves.

"NHS funding is a mirage. We don't have a choice. We cannot watch a loved one live like that."

Worcestershire Health Authority chief executive Pat Archer-Jones, said: "Mr Bishop has only recently been assessed as a patient who would be suitable for nursing home care.

"He is now on a short waiting list and hopefully he will be transferred to a nursing home within the next few weeks."