Hospital patient not allowed to use toilet

Ian Davey says he was left feeling "humiliated and degraded"

A hospital has apologised after staff said they could not help a patient access a disabled toilet until he was assessed.

Former computer programmer, Ian Davey, was left to soil himself after being admitted to the Royal Berkshire Hospital (RBH).

Mr Davey, 66, said the care he received resulted in his "humiliation and degradation".

The hospital has apologised and said that what happened was not up to its usual standards.

Mr Davey is normally assisted by his partner Sherree Ball

A brain bleed in 2002 left Mr Davey paralysed down his left side and relying on a wheelchair.

But he said he was able to live semi-independently with the help of his partner at the home they share in Caversham, Reading.

A suspected case of septicaemia led to him being admitted to the RBH earlier this month.

When he asked nurses for help in using a disabled toilet, he said he was told he had to be seen first by a physiotherapist, to determine if he could sit unaided.

As a result, he was left to soil himself.

He said staff then took more than four hours to change the dirty pad he was resting on in his hospital bed.

"I was quietly seething," he said. "It got so bad, I had to call my partner (who was at work) for help."

Mr Davey was finally seen by a physiotherapist four days into his week-long stay.

They confirmed it was safe for him to use the disabled toilet.

Mr Davey is now back at home and said there is "no way" he would go back to the hospital

Mr Davey described the ward where he was seen as "toxic", and said elderly patients' calls for help regularly went unanswered.

He said: "That is most distressing and really quite disturbing when you are lying helpless in a hospital bed.

"There is no way, on God's earth, I am going back in that building ever again."

A spokesperson for the RBH said it would be contacting Mr Davey to apologise.

The hospital said: "This is not a standard we accept and we are taking his feedback very seriously."

The hospital also said the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust had a privacy and dignity policy which meant Mr Davey should have received prompt assistance and his experience would be shared with staff.