Appalling care

My grandmother is 73 years old. She suffers from cancer as well as osteoarthritis,both which has spread through her body already.

She is not from Cape Town, but was brought to Tygerberg hospital on Wednesday due to respiratory problems, nausea and severe pain . Wednesday she was admitted to ward F1.

My mother was promised that my grandmother would be washed and dressed in her own items as soon as she comes back from the scans.

Last night during visiting hours, my mother came to check up, only to find my grandmother sitting in the passage because her bed and person were dried and dirty from soiling herself.

After calling and asking numerous times, the 3 black nurses who stood close to her, refused to help her to the toilet. They never washed her or saw to her wellbeing, they didn't even bring her the water she asked for.

This is heartbreaking and appalling, the way patients are treated worse than animals. The way their dignity is stripped by people who are employed to care for their them.

When called out on the matter, they just turned and walked away. Any job that requires care for others, should be a calling, not just a paycheck.

We don't know how long my grandmother will live and the fact that she is treated this way in a respected hospital and a trauma ward, it's just disgusting and disgraceful.

Shame on health care workers who treat patients, let alone the elderly this way.