My father died on a hospital floor

She will never forget the desolation and fury she felt when she realised her proud, strong father had died on a blood-stained mattress.

She knew staff at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton, were doing their best to care for the sick and dying people crammed into the wards on that September night.

But nothing could prepare her for the way her father died.

Geraldine had known for a while that Ian Moy-Loader was seriously ill and close to death. His doctor recommended he be admitted to hospital fearing he may be suffering from a bleed of the brain.

In itself, that was harrowing enough for a woman who loved her father in the way she did.

But the voluntary worker had hoped the 80-year-old former mayor of Hove would pass away with his family around him in his own bed, not lying alone on the floor, covered in blood, with his body exposed and his gown twisted around his neck.

Ian Moy-Loader was an ebullient man whose presence always filled any room.

As mayor of Hove in 1984, he and his wife, Champagne, brought an undeniable sparkle to the town.

In the Twenties, Mr Moy-Loader battled against the poverty of his surroundings as a child in the East End of London.

He was a war veteran who survived being shot and taken prisoner by the Germans after an airborne crossing of the Rhine.

Many years later, he fought back as two raiders bound and gagged him before ransacking his house.

But in the end, he could not fight against a system which Geraldine claims did not care about his history, his humanity and his will to live.

Geraldine said: "What I saw when I arrived at the hospital will haunt me for the rest of my life.

"My father was alone in a side room lying on a bloodstained sheet, on a mattress on the floor. He was effectively naked because the gown he had been put in was around his neck.

"His mouth and lips were dry and cracked and covered in blood, as were his teeth. He was moaning and rolling from side to side."

What upsets Geraldine most is the way she says he was just seen as another old man waiting to die.

She said: "This was the worst kind of ageism. I am certain if I hadn't been there, he would have died alone, discarded in a side room, too old and sick for busy staff to spend any of their valuable time caring for him.

"I think he was neglected. The standards in that hospital are abysmal. My only hope is that he was far too ill to understand what was happening to him. No one deserves to die like that."

Both Geraldine and her crusading father campaigned to represent the rights of the elderly in Brighton and Hove.

Armed with more than ten years' experience as a councillor for Hove, Mr Moy-Loader became chairman of Hove and Portslade Age Concern after losing his seat in 1987.

He said his mission was to help all the elderly women living in slum-like conditions in the town.

In a 1984 speech about ageism, he said: "I come from the East End of London and I can personally remember when old people had a hard time. The old are vulnerable and we should do our utmost to help them."

The irony for this old fighter was that in the end, Geraldine says, no one was there to battle for him.

Now Geraldine knows she will have to take up the battle herself, even if it would be easier to put the devastating experience behind her.

At the time, she felt completely helpless and confused as she watched her dad slip away.

She wanted to stand in the middle of the ward and shout for help but she couldn't.

Now the co-ordinator of Hove's Sixty-Plus Action Group, she is determined to speak out about what happened in memory of her outspoken dad.

She said: "My father was a man who often picked up the cudgels to help other people and I am certain he would want me to take this route."

"I have thought long and hard about involving the Press in this matter.

"But I do not want anyone else's loved one, however old and sick, to die on the floor of this hospital surrounded by de-sensitised staff who are too busy to care."

Mr Moy-Loader was admitted to the Royal Sussex County Hospital on September 3 and died the following day.

Eight hours after he was admitted, he was found a bed in the medical assessment ward. He waited six hours before he saw a doctor.

Geraldine, 50, returned to her home in Brunswick Place at 2am. When she telephoned the ward the following morning, she was told her father had an infection and was feeling muddled and distressed.

She feels angry she wasn't telephoned by the hospital when her father took a turn for the worse.

When she arrived, she said she found her dad on a blood-stained mattress in a distressed state.

She was told her father had fallen out of bed twice in the night and had been put on the floor because it was the safest place for him.

When the shift changed, Geraldine was comforted by a nurse who she described as being 'uncomfortable' with what she saw in the room. Geraldine claims she was the first member of staff who cared about her and the nurse suggested she get a cup of tea while the room was cleaned up.

When she returned to the ward, her father had died.

Geraldine has now made a formal complaint to Brighton Healthcare NHS Trust, which runs the hospital.

In a letter to Stuart Welling, the trust's chief executive, she said: "Brighton Health Care let me father down.

The trust afforded a sick man not treatment, care, comfort and dignity but irritation and disdain."

A trust spokesman said: "We have taken Mrs Des Moulin's letter extremely seriously. Mr Welling has asked for an immediate internal inquiry led by the director of nursing.

"As soon as we have any information, we will produce a report which will be sent to her and she will be offered the opportunity to discuss it with Mr Welling.

"We recognise her distress and we want to get this resolved as quickly as possible."

Geraldine welcomed the trust's response but said she hoped her complaints would mean a change in the working practices at the hospital, so no one else would die like her father did.