Hi and welcome to the forum.  This situation must be very difficult and distressing for both you and your father.  I am not sure how they do things in Scotland but when  my mother was hospitalised and unable to deal with living alone she was firstly assessed by an occupational therapist (they should not discharge anyone who lives alone unless a care plan is in place) and spent some time in a rehab ward.  When this did not improve her ability to look after herself we had to take the decision (I am joint power of attorney) to place  her into residential care (I was looking after my terminally ill husband at this time and could not take on the role of carer for her). I think perhaps it would be a help to speak to your Father's GP (I am assuming that your power of attorney gives you control over both health and financial issues (we had to have two separate documents for this - I am in England).  If there is a local Age UK charity near you or Citizens advice bureau then this may also help you understand what may now need to be put in place.

I hope others will be along soon to offer some support/suggestions so that you can make your father as comfortable as possible during these latter stages of his life.  Regards Jules54

Thank you for your welcome and response. I believe my father's GP will be the doctor on call at the hospital next week, and I am hoping that does make things easier - at least in terms of gaining clarity around the situation and what options we have.Meanwhile, I'm hoping a weekend of no doctors' rounds will help ease his anxiety and calm everything down.

Hi,

What an awful situation to be in, I hope you are coping OK. This isn't an easy question to answer but I noticed you'd only had one reply and thought I'd try to add my bi, I just hope it is of some use. 

I'm not exactly sure of the law in Scotland but no-one has the right to sign off DNR's on behalf of someone else unless the patient does not have the Mental Capacity to decide for themselves and this has been formally assessed and documented. This is covered by EU Human Rights Legislation, so the principle applies in all the countries which make up the UK. 

Even if someone does have the power of attorney (or its Scottish equivalent), the clinician by law needs to take steps to ensure that the patient is consulted as far as is possible given their condition. I know from personal experience just how hard this can be if someone has dementia. 

If there genuinely are no treatment options, the hospital will be keen to move him into more appropriate accommodation for a variety of reasons. Hospitals are busy, noisy, environments and not really the best place to spend your last weeks of life. A care home with appropriate nursing care or a hospice might provide a better, more peaceful, environment. Finally, the NHS across the UK is short of hospital beds. For every patient who is inappropriately placed in hospital there will be others waiting for a bed to become available, people are dying whilst on hospital waiting lists. As a result of this, clinicians are under constant pressure to discharge patients as soon as their treatment is over. If no further treatment is planned the pressure on them will be intense, this might explain why you keep getting asked the same question over and over again.

Best wishes

Dave