A FRAIL 88-year-old woman who is blind in one eye and vulnerable to falls was discharged from a Hampshire hospital – at 11.30pm.

Today a Hampshire MP has demanded answers after dementia sufferer Rose Sweetman was asked to take a taxi home late at night – despite having no cash on her.

Her 93-year-old husband Leonard, a Second World War veteran, was asked to arrange the journey home – even though he had been under the impression she was being kept in for the night.

Now he has hit out at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital over the care of his wife, even claiming staff had once sent her home “more or less stripped to the waist” in a taxi.

He also claims staff want to transfer her to a care home against his will and is locked in a battle over securing NHS funding for her continued care out of hospital.

Mrs Sweetman has been in and out of hospital since October having suffered frequent falls.

Now the city’s MP Steve Brine has called for answers from Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust – the body that runs the hospital – describing the stress the couple have endured as “totally unfair”.

The trust says it does not discuss individual cases, but urged families to register concerns with them.

Mr Sweetman, who served in Burma during the war, said he wants improved administration on hospital wards, more sympathy shown to relatives by staff, and for there to be a cut-off point for when patients can be discharged from hospital.

He said: “Rose is blind in one eye and cannot see well out of the other, and yet she was discharged once at 11.30pm with no money in her pocket, when I was under the impression she was being kept in.

“They’ve lost her coat and keys, they lost her dentures. One time they sent her home more or less stripped to the waist in a taxi.”

He added he was told it would cost around £1,000 per month for his wife to go to a private care home because she does not qualify for NHS funding.

H e claims the hospital is refusing to allow continuing care for his wife through NHS funding and believes they are trying to keep costs down.

He said: “I get £120 pension per week and after council tax and bills it doesn’t leave much.

“It drove me up the wall. I didn’t know why they were saying this.”

Mr Sweetman, who lives near Winchester, has sight and hearing problems and has an agreement that staff won’t discuss his wife’s treatment with him unless his daughter Anita Welsh, who lives in Canada, or his Royal British Legion advocate, Derek Green, is present.

But he said staff recently tried to get him to agree to more assessments of his wife.

He said: “I said ‘please don’t approach me without my family or advocate here’ but they ignored me. I’m worried about going back now.”

Mr Green, chairman of the Winchester RBL, said he was disappointed with the couple’s treatment.

He said: “I can’t see someone of his age go through this on his own. It’s not fair. These guys pay tax and national insurance all their lives and what are they getting back? Nothing.”

Winchester MP Steve Brine said of the situation: “This has dragged on for far too long and the stress this has caused the family is totally unfair.

“I remain in robust dialogue with the trust to see if we can help because ultimately, in this case, the system is not working.”

Dr Andrew Bishop, chief medical officer at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said the organisation did not comment on individual cases but encouraged people to register concerns.

He added: “We try to work with families and our partners in social and community services to find the best solution for patients who are frail and elderly, when they are fit for discharge from hospital.”