A BLIND and vulnerable stroke patient was left abandoned in a hospital car park in the pouring rain in just one incident of what his family describe as an “appalling catalogue of neglect”.

Worcestershire Royal Hospital has apologised unreservedly for the treatment 79-year-old Frank Kelly endured during what turned out to be the last five months of his life.

But his grieving family say they are still “sickened” by how badly he was let down and, despite reassurances from hospital executives, worry that others will suffer similar treatment in the future.

They also want to urge other families to be much more involved in their relative’s care during their time in hospital, rather than waiting for something to go wrong.

Mr Kelly, a retired farmer who moved to Worcester from Ireland in 1958, was taken into the hospital in November 2010 after suffering a second stroke, that left him totally blind.

But his family were soon sick with worry over the “appalling” care they saw him receive and so took it upon themselves to care for him on a 24-hour rota at his bedside.

One shocking flashpoint occurred when his son Martin, 51, from Palmers Avenue, in St John’s, arrived at the hospital to find Mr Kelly in the middle of the car park in the pouring rain wearing just his pyjamas.

He had been left there while being moved between wards and developed pneumonia soon after.

Mr Kelly said that was just one of many shocking incidents during a five-month ordeal where his treatment bordered on “cruelty and a breach of his human rights”.

“He was not fed properly, they didn’t seem to realise that he was blind. He was dehydrated all the time and the communication on the wards was just appalling,” he said. “We were begging for help but he was never given a chance.

“We all believe that with better care we could have had dad home again. It’s so sad to think that he worked his whole life and when it came to it, he couldn’t even get decent hospital care.”

Followng advice from a member of Mr Kelly’s medical team, the family submitted a 17-page letter to hospital bosses cataloguing the mistreatment the retired farmer received and have since received a financial settlement and a hand-written letter of apology from chief executive Penny Venables.

Offering her “heartfelt apologies”, Mrs Venables said many improvements have been made.

“I am acutely conscious that these improvements came too late to positively influence your father’s experience and that is a matter of deep regret,” she said. “I can fully understand how angry and frustrated you must have felt about the care he received at the time and how painful it must have been for you to witness his suffering.”

The family feel the entire system must shoulder the blame for Mr Kelly’s treatment.

They say that nurses made them feel like an “inconvenience” for insisting Mr Kelly was provided with basic care and that ward leaders dodged responsibility for what was going on right in front of them.

They also feel the entire health system suffers from having “too many managers in suits”, at the expense of more nurses able to devote their time to patients on the hospital floor.

However, they are pleased that their complaint has since resulted in the hospital making changes to the way other patients are treated.

“The hospital has admitted a total failure of care and that dad had an awful slice of the cake,” said Mr Kelly. “We didn’t do this for any financial reasons, we did it to try and highlight the failings and ensure this sort of thing does not happen to anyone else.

“We have been told it is improving but we are not convinced and do fear what sort of care we would get if we were ever unfortunate enough to need them again.”

Mrs Venables told your Worcester News: “I have taken their concerns extremely seriously and am determined that standards across the trust will continue to be raised. Everyone is committed to providing the highest quality care for all patients and striving to continuously improve the care we offer.

“We have invited Mr Kelly’s family to visit the ward where he was treated to see for themselves the improvements that have been made. I realise that it may be too soon for them to visit but the offer will remain open to them in the future.”