What the medics said


In addition, researchers also recorded how patients were being looked after on wards and saw :

* on one occasion, an old man man : ‘He is agitated and frightened, crying with tears down his face. Not one member of staff offers any comfort or reassurance. The staff nurse tuts and reprimands him for losing more weight.’

*  a young woman whose grandmother was in hospital, who said: "We were told by the doctor that people with dementia don’t feel pain as much as somebody who hasn’t got dementia."


Katherine Murphy, Chief Executive of the Patients Association, said:

"It brings shame on the NHS that a consultant can say, in the course of this research, that he avoids talking to dementia patients. Dementia patients need to be treated with dignity and respect but people contacting us tell us about dementia patients that are being ignored by clinicians and who they feel are being treated as second-class citizens. It brings shame on our society that so many elderly people, with and without dementia, are treated so poorly in our hospitals."


What a sad country Britain has become.