A pensioner died after suffering a catalogue of neglect in hospital, his daughter has claimed.

Norma Scott has accused staff at Airedale Hospital of leaving her father John Farrow, 84, malnourished and without proper treatment.

By the time the proper treatment was administered it was too late and her father died from heart failure and renal impairment in March this year, Mrs Scott said.

The hospital says it has fully investigated the claims and will be producing a full report for Mrs Scott.

Mr Farrow, a diabetic, was admitted to the Steeton hospital in February, suffering pain and dehydration.

Mrs Scott said his GP advised that he was put on a drip to cure the dehydration and given injections to cure the pain in his joints.

According to Mrs Scott, he was put on an orthopaedic ward and left without help to eat and drink. He was given hard food - such as apples - to eat, leading to mouth ulcers. He was not put on a drip until he had been in hospital for almost a week. Because of arthritis he could not drink or feed himself properly but, she said, the nurses were too busy to help.

Concerned about her father's treatment, Mrs Scott began to keep a diary of his stay in hospital.

Mrs Scott, of Ben Rhydding, Ilkley, said: "They doped him up and because the doctor was on holiday they could not give him the treatment he should have had. They did not feed him properly, they did not care and his diabetes was ignored."

Mrs Scott said Mr Farrow should have been referred to a diabetic nurse but the referral was lost.

She was critical of the lack of a designated elderly ward place for her father and felt that because her father was on an orthopaedic ward, his care suffered.

"We got the feeling that he had been foisted upon them and they did not want him on that ward," said Mrs Scott.

At the end of three weeks, Mr Farrow, of Addingham, had deteriorated into skin and bones', developed sores in his mouth because his false teeth had been left in, and spots on his feet had turned black and gangrenous. She claims she had to complain vigorously before her father got the care he needed.

Mrs Scott said: "At the end they were running around because we had been jumping up and down. but it was too late then. It was awful - like a nightmare."

After her father died, Mrs Scott wrote to the hospital seeking answers, but is yet to receive a response other than letters acknowledging her correspondence and phone calls.

Ilkley's Labour MP Ann Cryer has also become involved on Mrs Scott's behalf.

Bridget Fletcher, director of nursing at Airedale Hospital, said: "We would again like to express our sincerest apologies to Mrs Scott for the length of time it has taken to respond to her letter. We have been working on providing a very thorough and detailed response to the issues she has raised about her father's care.

"We have fully investigated Mrs Scott's concerns and will be providing her with a comprehensive response very shortly."

Mrs Scott said she hoped her father's case would help put pressure on the hospital to change its system of having outlying' beds for elderly patients on other wards rather than having an elderly ward. "It does not work," said Mrs Scott.

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