"Care of my late brother, Carl."

My 48 year old brother, who died in February 2014 was admitted to UHCW in January 2014 suffering with end-stage liver disease and (allegedly Hepatitis C). He was hooked up to various drips & one of the nurses took a blood sample from the same arm as that in which the drips were inserted, thus giving a distorted and contaminated blood sample. Inserting the cannula for the drips in the first place, was so ham-fistedly done that my brother's bed and immediate area resembled a scene of ripperesque butchery. He also needed his abdomen draining of fluid, for which a bag was attached to his side. This bag, however, was so infrequently emptied and inexpertly attached that it regularly over-flowed and my brother was forced to lie in soaking wet pyjamas and bedding. When asked to change his bed, some of the nurses complained that they had done so several times already and only reluctantly gave him the attention he needed. My brother also required feeding via NSG tubes, but vomited so violently that the tubes did not stay in place. The consultant surgeon deemed it necessary to attach an NSG to his small intestine in an attempt to keep it in place; the procedure was unsuccessful and the clinicians told him that this was the only hope they had to treat his condition and if it did not work, there was nothing further they could do for him. By this time, my brother was very ill indeed (and had only days left to live, although we did not know this at that time) and said that if that was the case he may as well go home. That very same morning, he was Discharged 'with mutual consent'. "Home" was my elderly parent's house as my brother had recently moved back to Coventry. UHCW clinicians were made aware of the fact that My frail parents had no spare bed or nursing expertise, nevertheless, he was discharged on a bitterly cold February day, to an old couple who had to sleep on their living room floor so that their dying son could have their bed. Despite repeated calls to discuss my brother's illness and to question their reasons for his discharge, no-one gave us any information, except on one occasion when a doctor was asked for a telephone interview with my sister, instead, however, they discussed my brother's case with my elderly parents who weren't able to take in all that they were being told. My brother's GP visited him at my parent's house after his discharge; he was angry and said he that my brother should not have been sent home in his condition. We finally had him admitted to QEH in Birmingham as an emergency on 17/2/2014, where he was put into the CDU ward. His experiences at QEH was markedly different from those at UHCW. The care and love he received from the staff on CDU ward was wonderful, and when my brother died 2 days later, the staff were with him to the last and made his last two days as comfortable as they could. QEH rather than UHCW!