That's terrible, annsixty. My husband died four months after being diagnosed with a brain tumour. He was sent to hospital after having tremors, which the GP thought was a stroke. He was going to be sent home before having a scan, as the doctor thought it was something to do with his ataxia. He hadn't even bothered to read the letter the GP sent.
After the scan, he was still sent home until another hospital rang up for him to go and have an operation. After that, he never wanted to go in hospital again, and he was looked after at home until he died.
The difference was that we were younger, could argue our corner and had an understanding GP. He had also written an advance directive, just in case he wasn't capable of telling people what he wanted.
I agree that it was a callous way to treat the couple. One reason was possibly because of the financial situation in which the NHS and social care find themselves now. However, I thought that if someone was given less than six months to live, they were automatically given DLA, or its new equivalent. Also, someone in that state should get 100% funding.
I notice that the DH has said it has given an extra £1.1 billion to councils this year to help protect social care services, in response to the Age UK review.
"Council funding is being cut by £11.3 billion
The "formula grant" is the main grant paid to councils by the government: under it, for every £1 received by councils in 2010/11, they got just 73.6p in 2013/14. This is before the effects of inflation are taken into account.
In total the government plans to slash grants to councils by £11.3bn by 2015/16.
More than 500,000 council workers have lost their jobs since 2010."
This is from an article on an austerity website.